NixOS Config

Hosts

penguin (Acer 713-3W Chromebook NixOS)

• Thin client notebook
• Mainly for web browsing, tinkering, note-taking, and light coding

Development

The initial setup is pretty simple now thanks to disko.

1. Boot the minimal disk ISO onto a computer

2. Clone the repository from GitHub

   # First get `git` since it isn't a default package
   nix-shell -p git
   
   # Clone the repo
   git clone https://github.com/suasuasuasuasua/nixos-config /tmp/nixos-config

3. Use disko to partition and format the drive

   sudo nix --experimental-features "nix-command flakes"    \
        run github:nix-community/disko/latest               \
        -- --mode destroy,format,mount                      \
        # replace the HOSTNAME with the name duh            \
        /tmp/nixos-config/configuration/nixos/${HOSTNAME}/disko.nix
   
   # Ensure that it worked
   mount | grep /mnt

4. Install the NixOS onto the system

   nixos-generate-config --no-filesystems --root /mnt
   
   # Move the system config into the /mnt dir
   mv /tmp/nixos-config /mnt/etc/nixos
   
   # Navigate over to the /mnt directory
   cd /mnt
   
   # Install NixOS with some $HOSTNAME
   nixos-install --flake ./nixos-config#${HOSTNAME}

5. Prepare the passwords and ZFS pools

   # Set your password
   nixos-enter --root /mnt -c "passwd ${USERNAME}"
   
   # Export the zpools so that they can be used by the actual computer (not the
   # installer!)
   zpool export -a
   
   # Reboot to your new system!
   reboot

6. Make changes and rebuild the system

   # Rebuild the system after any changes!
   nix run .#activate

Overview

Welcome to my NixOS config! This repo contains configuration files that defines computers and profiles that I use. The configuration includes development tools, general purpose applications (think web browsing, chat, video editing, etc.), desktop environments, and more. Defining my systems in this way allows for greater reproducibility, reliability, and elegance. Gone are the days of forgetting obscure changes you made months ago because every configuration is plainly expressed in nix.

What's nice about nix is sheer amount of packages available for use. For example, it's as simple as nix-shell -p cowsay to get up and running with any program in my shell (even GUI ones though this is sometimes unstable). I regularly search through nixpkgs to see new programs that I'm learning about, and 99% of the time these programs are natively supported; and if the package isn't there, you can make a packaging request or do it yourself. What I probably like the best about NixOS is organizing the modules into logical files; it scratches a part of my brain like no other distro can do.

That isn't to say that nix and NixOS are the greatest things on the planet. The learning curve is so steep that it probably requires you to have 3 Ph.D's, but that's beside the point. I've stared at infinite recursions (thank you functional programming), crazy error logs, and near non-existent documentation. The module and flake system is super confusing too, and I've spent a long time following import-traces; a lot of it still feels like wizardry. I've sunk (far too) many hours to count at this point organizing the modules, researching what options and pacakges are available, and learning best practices from other users.

I have to admit though that it has been rewarding and definitely changed the way that I look at computers and software engineering. As an aside, it's more than just a NixOS configuration since any Linux distrubition may at least use the home-manager setup, and MacOS can use nix-darwin and home-manager. NixOS is just where I personally started somewhere in the Fall of 2024.

Inspired by the this unified template and this config. See the template for more details on how to set it up!