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57 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
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---
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layout: post
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summary: "I tried out NixOS this month and it was the best Linux experience I've ever had"
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title: "NixOS encounter"
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img: /posts_media/2023-07-28-nixos-encounter/screenshot.webp
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toc: true
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---
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## What is NixOS?
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[NixOS](https://nixos.org) is a Linux distro based on Nix package manager (wow). Nix (as package manager) provides the ability to create reproducible environments using functional programming language Nix.
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Note: Nix could be used without NixOS on generic Linux distros and macOS.
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## My first steps in NixOS
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### Step one: Installation
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I recently got a free (for me) laptop with Astra Linux preinstalled, used it for 10 minutes in a row and caught myself thinking that I could try to install NixOS on it (I had never had experience with NixOS before, until I came across [Delroth's configs](https://github.com/delroth/infra.delroth.net)).
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Flashed USB. Booted up. `nixos-generate-config`. `nixos-install`.
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#### Encryption
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I didn't do a very wise thing by installing NixOS on an encrypted partition (because I've never installed NixOS before), but it didn't bring me any problems, Nix (`nixos-generate-config`) did everything for me (which was a bit surprising).
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### Step two: Refactoring configuration
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Two-file configuration is good for first time, but Nix provides the ability to split configs into modules that I immediately took advantage of. Initially I thought of using a simple script to deploy systems, that copies configs, but then I learned about Nix flakes and any need to use additional scripts has disappeared.
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I created `common/` for common configurations (like Nix (as package manager), laptop and user-specific configs), `roles/` for system roles (like gaming (which installs Wine, Steam and enables 32-bit support in PipeWire and Mesa), development (that installs IDEs and compilers), graphical (that enables my sway configuration) and Yggdrasil (that configures Yggdrasil to use [my peer](https://github.com/yggdrasil-network/public-peers/blob/master/europe/russia.md#saint-petersburg))) and `machines/` for machine-specific configuration.
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### Step three: Configuring more machines
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Now, when I have separate modules, I can build a working system just by configuring disks, setting the right hostname and creating machine-specific configs using `nixos-generate-config`.
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## Using NixOS
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### Config changes
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Each time you rebuild NixOS it doesn't affect your previous build and if you do something wrong, you can always roll back to the system with previous configuration.
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### GTK things
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Setting up GTK themes was a real pain in the ass because I never read the README about the themes and icons I was trying to install :).
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### Dotfiles
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Currently, I'm installing [my dotfiles](https://github.com/ivabus/dotfiles) using my script, but it doesn't seem a right thing, so I should do something about it (or not, I'm good with it).
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## Summary
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NixOS is the perfect Linux distribution that I could use as a daily driver. It took only 68 generations to create an ideal habitat for yourself. My configs are available on [GitHub](https://github.com/ivabus/nix).
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<img alt="Screenshot with neofetch" src="/posts_media/2023-07-28-nixos-encounter/screenshot.webp"/>
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Special thanks to [Delroth](https://delroth.net) for providing the beautiful configuration reference.
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