(see screenshots dir for more)
| Shell: | zsh + zgenom |
| DM: | lightdm + lightdm-mini-greeter |
| WM: | bspwm + polybar |
| Editor: | neovim |
| Terminal: | xst |
| Launcher: | rofi |
| Browser: | Librewolf, Qutebrowser and Chromium |
| GTK Theme: | Fluent Dark |
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Acquire NixOS 21.11 or newer:
# Yoink nixos-unstable wget -O nixos.iso https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-unstable/latest-nixos-minimal-x86_64-linux.iso # If you don't know how to boot an iso than NixOS is most likely not for you.
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Switch to the root user (very important)
sudo su
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Clone this repository
nix-shell -p git git clone https://github.com/Obscurely/NixObscurely exit cd NixObscurely
- Run format_mount.sh script (example script for my
main pc, change accordingly)
./scripts/format_mount.sh
- Format your partitions as desired, a few utils and command that might interest
you:
sgdisk -Z /dev/sdXto zap a drive (deltes all partitions)sgdisk -a 2048 -o /dev/sdXto make a new gpt partition tablecfdisk /dev/sdXto do your partitioningmkfs.FS -f /dev/sdXN(FS is a placeholder for the actual file system)- Also just take a look at the format_mount.sh script
- After doing your partitions mount them to
/mnt, example:Again, just take a look at the format_mount.sh script.# Mount root mount /dev/sdX /mnt # Make necessary dirs mkdir /mnt/boot # makes boot dir mkdir /mnt/home # makes home dir # Mount boot and home part mount /dev/sdY /mnt/boot mount /dev/sdZ /mnt/home # Turn on swap swapon /dev/nvme0n1pX
- The users are immutable, meaning it is automatically created on install and
set a fixed password. Currently the config has a set password (hashed) and an
user called netrunner. In order to change this, follow the next steps:
- With your favorite text editior open the file
modules/options.nix - First replace netrunner with your desired username
- Second where you see hashedPassword and inside the quotes a hash, replace
that hash with the one of your desired password. In order to get a hash run
the following command in your terminal
mkpasswd -m sha-512, and after inputing your password it will give you the hash.
- With your favorite text editior open the file
- Run run_in_nix_shell.sh script (example script
for my main pc, change accordingly)
./scripts/run_in_nix_shell.sh
# Set HOST to the desired hostname of this system
HOST=...
# Set USER to your desired username (defaults to netrunner)
USER=...
cd ..
cp -r NixObscurely/ /etc/dotfiles/
# cd into that the dotfiles dir
cd /etc/dotfiles/
# Create a host config and add it to the repo
mkdir -p hosts/$HOST
nixos-generate-config --root /mnt --dir /etc/dotfiles/hosts/$HOST
rm -f hosts/$HOST/configuration.nix
cp templates/hosts/desktop/default.nix hosts/$HOST/default.nix
vim hosts/$HOST/default.nix # configure this for your system; don't use it as it is, take a look at least!
git add hosts/$HOST
# Installing NixOS
USER=$USER nixos-install --root /mnt --no-root-passwd --impure --flake .#$HOST
# move dotfiles to the mounted host
cp -r /etc/dotfiles /mnt/etc/dotfiles
# Reboot system
reboot- Start being productive already god damn it! you already wasted hours reconfiguring your system!!!
Because of some nixos limitations and me being scared of giving away my passwords on the internet, it has to be configured manually. This is a one time thing only and all the docs needed are in config/librewolf/settings.md
There are some nvidia settings that I recommend you do, the reason they are not done automatically is because I am little lazy to figure out how, but this is a one time thing anyway.
- OpenGL Settings: set Image Settings to High Performance
- PowerMizer: set Preffered Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance
Hey, a script i stole from here hlissner/dotfiles, more on stealing (inspiration) later.
Usage: hey [global-options] [command] [sub-options]
Available Commands:
check Run 'nix flake check' on your dotfiles
gc Garbage collect & optimize nix store
generations Explore, manage, diff across generations
help [SUBCOMMAND] Show usage information for this script or a subcommand
rebuild Rebuild the current system's flake
repl Open a nix-repl with nixpkgs and dotfiles preloaded
rollback Roll back to last generation
search Search nixpkgs for a package
show [ARGS...]
ssh HOST [COMMAND] Run a bin/hey command on a remote NixOS system
swap PATH [PATH...] Recursively swap nix-store symlinks with copies (and back).
test Quickly rebuild, for quick iteration
theme THEME_NAME Quickly swap to another theme module
update [INPUT...] Update specific flakes or all of them
upgrade Update all flakes and rebuild system
Options:
-d, --dryrun Don't change anything; perform dry run
-D, --debug Show trace on nix errors
-f, --flake URI Change target flake to URI
-h, --help Display this help, or help for a specific command
-i, -A, -q, -e, -p Forward to nix-env
- NixOS Manual great resource to get started fast.
- NixOS Options being able to search for an option it's really useful and helped me a ton.
- hlissner's dotfiles without this guy's dotfiles I wouldn't have ever switched to NixOS because it has a very steep learning curve (understanding how to setup flakes and home manager with how little resources are available is a nightmare), luckily I found these, which after looking at a lot of other configs they were the perfect fit for me. I only used them as a very basic base, the structure and for a script or two. Most of the config (90%+) is my work, but it wouldn't have been possible without his work.
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Why NixOS?
Well, for a few reasons. First I have a tendency of formatting and reinstalling my OSes on my main computer quite often which until now has been done by using a very handy set of scripts i wrote for Arch Linux (ArchObscurely). Problem is every so often there would be a problem, changes, or simply random (one time) errors that will take a lot of my time to debug and restart the install. By using NixOS this is solved since as long as the flakes aren't updated this will always install.
Second there is no way, no matter how configured your system is, that at one point you will not find a new useful program, make some changes to your system, and with NixOS this ain't a problem make the changes, rebuild the config, push the changes to your git cloud and done, they are saved. When I was using Arch I always had to remember to back up my dotfiles, to remember to make the adjusments to the scripts which was just a pain.
Third I don't only use a computer, I use a couple and being able to easily have the same config, same software across all of them, easily syncable is a must for me.
Fourth, because of the nature of NixOS and the way you configure it, it makes it more configurable than other distros (imo), while also sort of helping you configure it right.
Fifth, being able to go back to a previous configuration in case an update broke something and continue on with my critical (must do now) work, then take the time to fix it is a life changer. -
Should I use NixOS?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: no really. Don't.
Long long answer: I'm not kidding. Don't.
Unsigned long long answer: Alright alright. Here's why not:
- Its learning curve is steep.
- You will trial and error your way to enlightenment, if you survive long enough.
- NixOS is unlike other Linux distros. Your issues will be unique and difficult to google.
- If the words "declarative", "generational", and "immutable" don't make you fully erect, you're considering NixOS for the wrong reasons.
- The overhead of managing a NixOS config will rarely pay for itself with fewer than 3 systems (perhaps another distro with nix on top would suit you better?).
- Official documentation for Nix(OS) is vast, but shallow.
- Unofficial resources and example configs are sparse and tend to be either too simple or too complex (or outdated).
- The Nix language is obtuse and its toolchain is unintuitive. This is made infinitely worse if you've never touched the shell or a functional language before, but you'll need to learn it to do even a fraction of what makes NixOS worth all the trouble.
- A decent grasp of Linux and its ecosystem is a must, if only to distinguish Nix(OS) issues from Linux (or upstream) issues -- as well as to debug them or report them to the correct authority (and coherently).
- If you need somebody else to tell you whether or not you need NixOS, you don't need NixOS.
If none of this has deterred you, then you didn't need my advice in the first place. Stop procrastinating and try NixOS!
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How 2 flakes?
I only used the NixOS official documentation and hlissner's dotfiles as a base. I learned flakes by playing around with the config which for me wasn't a problem. But if you want to learn more about flakes I will leave here the resources hlissner left too in his readme.
- A three-part tweag article that everyone's read.
- An overengineered config to scare off beginners.
- A minimalistic config for scared beginners.
- A nixos wiki page that spells out the format of flake.nix.
- Official documentation that nobody reads.
- Some great videos on general nixOS tooling and hackery.
- A couple flake configs that I may have shamelessly rummaged through.
- Some notes about using Nix
- What helped me figure out generators (for npm, yarn, python and haskell)
- Learn from someone else's descent into madness; this journals his experience digging into the NixOS ecosystem
- What y'all will need when Nix drives you to drink.