• Integrate777@discuss.online
    10·
    3 hours ago

    NixOS consist of a bunch of options that you define using the nix programming language. Since it’s a programming language, everything is well defined and organised into single place.

    Technically, someone could build a GUI configuration editor with sane defaults and clearly organised pages of settings, which generates a configuration for you. This could immediately change NixOS from the most tedious to a relatively easy to use distro.

  • palmtrees2309@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    3 hours ago

    I am daily driving nixos. It is for those users who have already used atleast couple of beginner distros. Get familiar with packages terminal and other. It is just arch but stable even at the unstable branch. It has saved from breakdowns during important work. But nixos needs time to mature it’s flakes and home manager.

  • PotatoesFall
    431·
    10 hours ago

    I mean isn’t it accepted that NixOS is a terrible pick for a beginner, especially a non-technical one? I feel like even the Nix community doesn’t recommend the distro to complete beginners.

    • TheFANUM @lemmy.world
      2·
      42 minutes ago

      I wish. People recommend Arch to beginners all the time. And then wonder why there’s so many “Linux is too hard” comments everywhere

    • Johanno@feddit.org
      24·
      6 hours ago

      I use Nixos BTW.

      And I can’t recommend it to anyone. Not even veterans.

      I can only say if you like souls like games nixos might be your thing…

    • NatanoxOPEnglish
      20·
      9 hours ago

      I really wish everyone thought like that, but I still see people recommending Nix, Arch, Void… and some go the ideological route and start recommending systemd-less only like Artix or ranting against anything that uses Flatpak. Those discussions can get messy, and they always alienate the person who asked. Unfortunately those with ideological reasons are always the loudest and present in basically every “Beginner’s Help” group.

      • TwilightKiddy@programming.devEnglish
        91·
        8 hours ago

        I wouldn’t recommend vanilla Arch only because of the installation process. CachyOS that simplifies it is an extremely good pick for a person who already knows what a computer is, but wants to try a proper OS.

        Arch mostly got it’s reputation in the early days. Today some things are a lot easier to do on Arch than on other distros, especially because AUR exists. Also, it built one of the best wikis over all that time.

    • ne0phyte@feddit.org
      3·
      5 hours ago

      The code of the packages is the documentation. So the newcomers better start learning Nix language and reading the paper about how Nix works under the hood before they get started! /s

      But seriously, I used NixOs for about 2 years almost 10 years ago and while it was/is fascinating when you have everything setup, getting there and maintaining everything across so many packages that each have their own way of configuring them took hundreds of hours. I’m back on Arch using a custom tool I wrote to fully manage my configs, packages, dotfiles etc.

      The way I remember it is that there is no consistency across Nix packages and it all feels like a giant puzzle for people who enjoy spending time configuring more than actually using the computer. And I say that as someone who actually enjoyed getting into that when I had unlimited time.

      • Laser@feddit.org
        1·
        29 minutes ago

        I dunno man. I spent way less time configuring my machines on NixOS because it just works. But in fairness, that is after I have spent a lot of time learning it (compared to classic systems that is, not a lot compared to NixOS maintainers who write way better module than I do). Now that there is a foundation, I just run the updates. It’s almost scarily stable. And the ability to group related settings together is such a bliss because you no longer wonder about “what did I do to enable X”, just open the file, it’s all in one place. Stuff that could be three completely different things (e.g. a service specific config file, a PAM entry and the service activation itself in effectively 5 lines. Want to do something for multiple services? Just map over their list. Etc

        I happily used Arch for 15 years and after trying NixOS on a decommissioned machine for one day I switched over everything as fast as possible. And I did try out Ansible on Arch, so it’s not like I didn’t try management via a tool. But using a system like NixOS just solves sooo many potential issues.

        It obviously comes with downsides, for example there is no quick configuration change. Changing something small requires another evaluation. Still worth it

    • Laser@feddit.org
      11·
      8 hours ago

      Did you know that the suffix for nix documentation files is, coincidentally, .nix?

  • tomjuggler@lemmy.world
    17·
    12 hours ago

    I have this exact situation with my wife’s work laptop, which can’t upgrade to windows 11. The requirements are pretty simple, something that runs Chrome and Dropbox as well as Microsoft Office 2007.

    I’m going with Mint Cinnamon for her (I use arch & kde btw) - was pleasantly surprised to see Dropbox now has Linux support actually, haven’t looked at it for years!

    Almost everything she uses her computer for runs in Chrome.

    • kameecoding@lemmy.world
      2·
      7 hours ago

      Now? i am pretty sure I have had dropbox on my linux machine like 10 years back, definitely back when AntergOS was still a thing and even before I remember having it

      • thatonecoder@lemmy.ca
        1·
        1 hour ago

        There is also LTSC, which is much lighter than regular Windows 11, and does not have the ridiculous requirements.

    • lilith267@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      9·
      13 hours ago

      Alpine just feels like everything on my system is there for a reason (and somehow makes arch feel “bloated”) so I 100% understand wanting a full config file for everything on your system. But DAMN THE DOCS SUCK. Also NixOS locks you into systemd…

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        591·
        18 hours ago

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_From_Scratch

        Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a type of a Linux installation and the name of a book written by Gerard Beekmans, and as of May 2021, mainly maintained by Bruce Dubbs. The book gives readers instructions on how to build a Linux system from source. The book is available freely from the Linux From Scratch site.

        LWN.net reviewed LFS in 2004:[19]

        Linux From Scratch is a wonderful project. It should become a compulsory reading material for all Linux training courses, and something that every Linux enthusiast should complete at least once. This would also create another interesting side effect: people who tend to be quick in expressing dissatisfaction on the distributions’ mailing lists and forums would probably show a lot more respect for the developers. Installing a ready-made distribution is a trivial task. Building up a set of 4 CDs containing a stable, secure and reliable operating system, plus thousands of applications, is most definitely not.

    • Grenfur@lemm.eeEnglish
      57·
      18 hours ago

      What’s funny to me here is that, as a long time Arch user, I have been considering switching to NixOS. One of the most terrifying thoughts to me is that after using the same Arch install for 2 years I will spend ages trying to recreate it if I ever have to. Oh, that and Nix letting you test packages seems like a cool feature.

      • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
        10·
        12 hours ago

        The nice thing is that NixOS will keep your setup and all your tweaks if you ever need to reinstall. It’s designed to solve that exact problem.

        One way of switching over would be to carry over your homedir and just starting with migrating packages and config as a first step.

      • harsh3466@lemmy.ml
        31·
        17 hours ago

        I’ve been on arch around a year now and also considered the jump to NixOS. I was actually dual booting it with arch for awhile and I found pretty quickly that the shit documentation was a huge turn off for me. I ended up nuking the nix partition and reclaiming it for arch.

      • AugustWest@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        14 hours ago

        I am about to switch away from arch that I installed 5 years ago. It’s a daunting thought isn’t it?

  • AZX3RIC@lemmy.world
    281·
    17 hours ago

    I have an old MacBook for 2012, can barely open terminal, installed Pop!_OS, and I love it!

    Am I a terrible person?

  • madame_gaymes@programming.devEnglish
    41·
    18 hours ago

    I swear, I’ve only recommended it to one newbie, and they were an engineer! I had a reason!

    Hilarious that this is the new norm, though. NixOS is so not typical at all. Arch is more normal at this point.

  • MasterOKhan@lemmy.caEnglish
    16·
    17 hours ago

    Big nix fan here, I love being able to define my system from a couple configuration files and not scrounging around the file system for the right dot file

    • srestegosaurio@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      5·
      14 hours ago

      And also it let’s you do crazy things that would be impossible in other imperative distros tho.

      I am thinking about root-on-tmpfs, conditional configuration and doing all sorts of crazy things with packages while remaining manageable.

      It is simply another whole tier.