Full NixOS Guide: Everything You Need to Know in One Place!

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

🚀 My Practical Neovim Course (private community included): ampersand.onlinecoursehost.com/courses/neovim ⚙ My NixOS config: github.com/Andrey0189/nixos-config 📝 PhD thesis: edolstra.github.io/pubs/phd-thesis.pdf

[@oglothenerd]

You and Vimjoyer are probably the future of NixOS actually having good tutorials and documentation.

[@callyral]

There are also a lot of unofficial guides online, a lot of them in blogs.

[@aleclowry7654]

I’m gonna bootstrap this comment to represent my other favorite nix KZbinr youtube.com/@librephoenix?si=MzAUufEq6e3PEzEN

[@Microphunktv-jb3kj]

does it work in virtualbox... (some distros literally dont because of not real hardware... or lag hardcore..) i wanna conf a hyprland based nixos.... got nixos installed as windows subsystem, im suspecting it doesnt have all the features... wouldnt want to conf a system first in virtual... before i would move over from windows... win pissing me off for years already... but cant get rid of it because of some software i have to use... but its giving me problems in development... Node / npm ecosystem specifically, weid glitches nad probs... wanna move over to linux anynways, because im not planning to use win11 (win11 might be just be greatest creator of new linux users....) i like the idea of nix.. becausee it reminds me of Node/npm+Docker , you can modularize ur config via home-manager / flakes or smt...

[@StrangerOnTheWeb]

NixOS has no future, at least not a good one

[@oglothenerd]

@@StrangerOnTheWeb It has a future. I just don't see that future being for the desktop. But for the server? Oh yes! I see a future!

[@JaLikon65]

My brother in christ - this is EASILY the best intro to Nix I've ever found! Thank you so much for putting this together. You covered so much ground here, from clearly explaining the benefits of Nix, to the basics of the Nix language (which I've never seen any other Nix video go over), to productively using NixOS. I mean this is seriously just awesome man! Thank you so much for putting this together!

[@rschmidtzalles]

Guides that combine Theory + Practical are a bless for open sources. Great Job and thanks for sharing

[@YingjieWang247]

Awesome! As a linux user, I have heard of NixOS and got interested in it since two months ago, I did install it in a virtual machine, but never really understood what's going on in it, so just put the virtual machine there. This video is so clear and makes me feel like I can play with it again!

[@FedoraSilverblue]

bro how to fully delete firefox and other basic packages?I use this distro but i dont know.And how i can install thorium browser appimage?

[@Jubijub]

This is and by far the best intro material I have seen on how to get started with Nix. Well done ! The practical part of the video should be an official doc...it isn't sadly

[@peterlance6682]

This is one of the most beginner friendly explanation on Nix i have seen so far. I can't thank You enough. Awesome and keep growing.

[@skyguytoronto4869]

best nixos flakes + home manager install guide

[@TheMadSqu]

This was pretty cool! I understood maybe half of what you said there but the way it was presented and explained was done very well! I am using Arch btw.

[@adjbutler]

just tape your eyes open and rewatch again and again until you become truly part of the nix cult! hahahaha

[@kahnshaak]

Nixvim video when?? This is too good!

[@luv2stack]

I knew nothing of nix before this video. It looks evolutionary

[@crackedoutofmymind-h8m]

anime waifu at the side of a nix tutorial sign me up

[@noisetide]

the confiscation of the nix-chan meme made my day!

[@scar6073]

She's cuter than windows-chan

[@ice.songpola]

I'm done with Windows-gaki. Nix-chan is my new waifu!

[@cl4655]

Always a surprise finding Creo enjoyers randomly on the internet

[@Jarx246]

represent

[@animainmilol]

WAIT, ITS CREO?

[@abystrous]

creo mentioned, instant subscribe

Great presentation. Kudos also for wayland vs X11 & hyprland.

[@cariyaputta]

Looking forward to the Nix Drama video.

[@j1d7s]

Thanks for the information-packed video! I tried out NixOS once but did not continue. I may not yet have felt the pain enough on my Arch based system to do the switch, but I am intrigued and may start soon trying it out on a spare laptop.

[@scar6073]

Thank you so much for this! Finding good nix resources is so hard

[@maxreuv]

Excellent intro, thank you!

[@urriell_8069]

Let's hope for more films like this. Thanks for this one :))

[@plbr2]

О, а вот и причина пересмотреть твой видос по NixOS)

[@starrwulfe]

this was the guide I was looking for. Thank you so much-- I've downloaded the transcript and saved it as a doc on my system so I can reference it even.

[@aussois1027]

Thanks for the great idea! *Yoink*

[@randomsearches369]

You are the one, Thanks a lot!

[@evo6670]

Great Video! Help me a lot. Want to see the vim video. 😂

[@marvin9346]

+1 for nixvim tutorial

[@liesdamnlies3372]

This is very exciting from the perspective of someone already comfortable with Linux and actual sysadmins. I’m even more interested to see if this declarative method can be brought to a more beginner-friendly distro, or if some enterprising people will create a distro of NixOS that’s at least what endeavourOS is to Arch. I have to get a new laptop soon anyway, I might try NixOS, though imagine I would miss the Blackarch repos pretty quick. (Unless I can find all those tools in the nix repos…)

[@nocodenoblunder6672]

Really like the analogy at the start

[@fsefso7587]

In 17:42 it should be --update instead of update, great vid btw :)

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

You are absolutely right, I genuinely forgot about that 😅

[@squidiebah]

Good video, I''m curious as to the use-case for this type of distro. Perhaps appliances, routers and security roles?

[@tobzdaman619]

Yep, this video is the ONE. Thank you so much! :D

[@alexvarnavsky3739]

Man what a great work 😅

[@BettersonMcgee]

very informative and interesting! Thank you!

[@TheMadMagician87]

Great video mate, thank you!

[@bobmcbob4399]

Thanks for drilling into this. Great metaphors to introduce pure functions and immutability. One concern that I have is at 9:30 We can see a boot selection screen that appears to be UEFI boot selection? Is it UEFI or is it GRUB. Because if, I make several OS snapshot pointers and each of these are entries into the UEFI boot menu - I worry about FlashRom wear levelling. How much punishment can a Bios Flash take before it fails and needs to be replaced on your motherboard?

[@richardminasian983]

Yes, I like to see the Nix Vim guide please.

[@eternalboy1666]

great video! Subbed

[@yash1152]

timestamps (incomplete): == Start == 0:00 Intro == Theory of Nix pkg/conf-mgmt == 0:23 History & Origins 2:20 Nix's Solutions 2:25 Isolate Every Pkg 2:57 Deterministic Nature 3:37 Functional Nature 4:10 Immutability 4:25 Atomicity 4:54 Derivs in primitive lang 6:12 Nix-Pkg: Repo & Channels 6:38 Analogy: Prog-langs & Pac-mgmt 8:20 Extending to NixOS & conf-mgmt == Using NixOS: 1. Live Boot == 09:46 Practical Part: Intro 09:58 Getting the ISO 10:17 Partitioning, Mounting, Gen-Config == Nix Language == 10:39 Nix-l: Intro 10:48 Data Types 11:10 Variables let..in, with, inherit, @ 11:29 Functions == Using NixOS: 2. Finishing Installation == 11:58 Quick Configuration 12:20 nixos-install 12:33 disko Partitioning 14:15 Installing & Finding Packages 14:55 nixos-rebuild switch 15:08 reboot bootloader menu entries 15:30 no-rb subcmd: boot, test 15:44 ... 18:32 home-manager

[@yash1152]

Old Coarse timestamps: 00:00 Intro 09:46 Practical Part of NixOS 18:32 Home Manager 20:01 Nix Flakes 24:49 Modularising config files

[@yash1152]

9:46 practical part of distro

[@yash1152]

20:01

[@yash1152]

24:49 modularising config files

[@narconyx]

Tysm for this, gonna try installing NixOS tmrw hoping it goes better than Arch did -_-

[@derkommentator3348]

If I use "unstable." (17:48) I receive an "undefined variable" error. Did I forget something? :/

[@TheMotorcycleBoy-pe2eg]

Very good presentation

[@e-v-o-l-v-e]

this is an really good video

[@splits8999]

honestly nix seems really cool but the sddm theme i use wasnt on their repo also i feel like i dont need it and i like my system being chaotic but i also like the cleanliness of the single config file and declarative approach. its rly attractive but i think for now im sticking to arch, maybe one day ill feel the urge to distro hop though btw this was the best intro to nix

[@niksingh710]

i need a nix vim guide but i also felt you kindda skipped or tried to compress the content to make it in short time span i would like to see this elaborated

[@JacksonNick-j6i]

Nix approach to isolated packages and libraries leads to high storage usage, doesn't it?

[@yash1152]

6:08 _"log2(32)"_ where did the "32" came from? * if hex, it should be 16 * if alphanumeric, it should be 36 (10 + 26)

[@eduardabramovich1216]

Man, please create more tutorials on flakes to learn the nix language, hopefully you can focus them on customizing the prompt/shell, neovim-nixvim, and many more stuff. You really explained like a Nixgod, but for newbies like me it's difficult to follow your pace. I will watch this video several times.

[@MechMK1]

Nix still feels like such a huge new thing to wrap my head around. Is there any place you can recommend to ask questions?

[@johnr3936]

I would love a deeper dive into flakes. As a software dev they would be very necessary for all my random projects though after a few hours of research its hard to see how they fit into the system.

[@fabianoslack4269]

4:19 ok, i get the idea regarding to binaries. But what about config files. Maybe package 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 will receive instructions from a config file and this can create an struggle here, right? Lets say config file for 1.1.0 have a property while config file for 1.2.0 have same property and once these two different are executed , they crash due to common values touching each other on the system… Im new to nixos (found it few hours ago, so i dont know if my question is dumb or not). Let me know. Nice video and thank you!

[@CrazyMineCuber]

Configuration is normally treated completely separately from the binaries on NixOS. Configuration is instead treated through the NixOS module system, which compiles the /etc directory and creates symlinks from /etc to the configuration files in /nix/store. For configs in your home directory, NixOS by default does not manage your home directory. That is what home-manager is for. Normally, you do not have multiple versions of the same application installed. If you do, both versions are probably configured to read from the same config file, so they will just use that one. If you somehow manage to convince the NixOS module system to generate two versions of the same config file, you will get a compilation error and you have to fore chose which version to use.

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

Yeah, basically, both packages read from the same config. If these configurations are incompatible between versions, it can lead to conflicts and crashes. But I personally haven't encountered crashes because of the different package versions

[@sharukhrahman7925]

Hi im new to linux and i want to (just learn) how to do a minimal install.. if possible can you make a video of that in the future?

[@ludawig_]

Thanks for your Guide. Is it possible to use a default.nix file instead of a bundle.nix file, so you can just import the folder name. e.g. imports = [ ./modules ./plugins ]? Should be possible, but I'm not 100% sure.

[@hyquiemistheg.o.a.t1671]

Can you do a video with impermanence setup?

[@ФеофанЭтополедолжнобытьзаполне]

I've heard some transessses' kicked out creator of nixos. Is this true?

[@Cypekeh]

After I moved my config to ~/nix, can I remove the files in /etc/nixos?

[@aussois1027]

/etc/nixos/ is where your configuration.nix lives. It is the spot where nixos-reload looks for a config. hardware-configuration.nix should stay there too. Why would you want to delete the files in /etc/nixos?

[@yash1152]

i dont run "nixos-rebuild switch" every time. i run "nixos-rebuild test", and the switch one i run only at last while finalizing the config after allll tweakings and testing of the options.

[@nerdg2]

thank you!

[@grzesjedrzejak399]

Question to creator if video! Can you list me advantages that nix os has over debian? But, be real i dont need a reproducaple system and i use linux to work (hardware design and embedded). I am planning to use nix at arm, is it good idea?

[@crackedoutofmymind-h8m]

Debian is just shit man if not nixos might as well use arch but not debian no good support or community you gotta figure it out thru old arse forums + not that great of a package manager too

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

If you want a really stable system where you control almost everything, then you'll like NixOS more than Debian. Also, if you are going to use multiple ARM devices, Nix's declarative approach ensures that your setup can be reproduced reliably across them. There are fewer resources specifically tailored to using Nix on ARM compared to x86. However, this gap is gradually narrowing as interest in ARM-based systems grows

[@grzesjedrzejak399]

@@Ampersand-xc9jp Thank you.

[@chickenonaraft508]

If this was around earlier, we wouldn’t have needed Docker

[@edhyjoxenbyl1409]

The pacakge manager graph is slightly out of date, we are that 92000 packages :)

[@adjbutler]

we are over 100k now. so only 92000 :( on graph. the graph needs updating!!!!!

[@edhyjoxenbyl1409]

@@adjbutler repology does not count the package number the same way as nixpkgs does. the channel json file as about 118k packages in it

[@cat47]

funny how you blur out your email at 19:50, when anyone can just clone the repository in the description, run git log, and see your email on every commit

[@originzz]

We need an r/unixwaifus

[@yash1152]

9:46 practical part of distro

[@yash1152]

14:10 "run 2 commands" well, u forgot the disko related command at 13:46

[@aviatoFPV]

​@@yash1152 This is where I'm running into issues as well, at 14:00 after running sudo nixos-generate-config --root /mnt && nixos-install I get writing hardw.nix and conf.nix and then I get mktemp failed to create directory via template /mnt/tmp.xxxx: permission denied I seem to be able to get past it by making myself superuser first with su - This command also seems to generate a new configuration.nix would it be possible to use an already existing configuration.nix instead of generating a new one? Or is it always build first with generic and then do a nixos-switch with the updated config?

[@TheAmazingPlankton]

Can i Switch from KDE Plasma to Hyprland? How simple is this?

[@vintagegenious]

In nixos really easy iirc

[@КатяМухина-л2о]

thank you for your hard work

[@Nerd2Ninja]

Alright watched the video. It was okay I guess. I take things really slow though. Kinda wish there was a video series for flakes the same way there are video series to learn other programming languages. I know it sounds like "why?" like it should be too simple for that at first, but really go over every programming language edgecase. How do you install a node.js program with a flake, how do you install a golang package? I think the most basic flake tutorials only cover installing C programs right? and then it could progress from there into dream2nix or something after all those cases are covered.

[@adjbutler]

when it comes to programming developer environments I had to stop thinking about "installing" node or python or whatever globally and fully embrace nix-shells for programming in. It is the best way to work as a programmer anyway.... I work with about 15 different programming languages and it is really nice to have a nice clean shell for each version. just start with making a very simple shell.nix file that has node as a package and run nix-shell in the same directory to start.

[@adjbutler]

you don't have to use flakes for everything or at all to get started with nix. just start with configuration.nix and shell.nix I have been using nixos for about 18 months, become a package maintainer and a few other things, and I still do really use flakes as much as I want to.

[@adjbutler]

@Ampersand-xc9jp maybe a video on how to setup a basic shell.nix file for simple dev env>?>??? to help here>?

[@areweevensomeoneoutthere]

14:12 This doesn't work, you are generating the config with nixos-generate-config ...

[@JoshuaT902]

All we need is a useful wiki - instead of having everything organized in video form or forum posts.

[@louisunruh2386]

nice one

[@2Kaleb]

Dude have timestamp?

[@rimenahi]

That's it. I switch.

[@AlaaSaidAhmad]

Nice wallpaper how can I download it

[@Redyf]

NixOS MENTIONED

[@adjbutler]

lets gooooo!

[@yash1152]

💩💩 > @adjbutler: _"lets gooooo!"_

[@AshliBlattgold]

Ich finde Nix gut

[@Edgar-pu1lc]

Theme and icon name in neovim ?

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

Oxocarbon

[@BlackTakGolD]

Some of the description's links are not formatted correctly.

[@adjbutler]

NixOS!!! NixOS!!! NixOS!!! NixOS!!! NixOS!!! NixOS!!!

[@narpwa]

thanks

[@yash1152]

14:10 _"run 2 commands"_ well, u forgot the disko related command at 13:46

[@Rthabett]

U r config link is broken

[@wanmixc2968]

Need more tutorial ricing...

[@88farrel]

based

[@Dev-f8y]

hmm interesting I will stick with fedora 40 for now

[@the_mong_]

This is the video

[@casadogaspar]

What's this with Nix users and anime girls?

[@iblamefps]

I think it's almost time to divorce arch

[@rwz]

This video could only get better with chapters!

[@lodyllog]

Переводил нейросеткой или у тебя реально такой чистый английский?

[@lainmaxxing]

это сценарий называется...

[@lainmaxxing]

а так, условного б1 хватает для такого

[@lodyllog]

@@lainmaxxing произношение довольно чистое, совсем не на б1

[@MaksimBorzik]

Nvidia drivers breaks argument "if it doesn't work there it won't work anywhere")))

[@Nerd2Ninja]

Sorry, I'm gonna watch the whole video, but right now I want you to know, it would have been glorious if you talked like a VTuber the whole time lmao.

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

Noted

[@mangoherpson]

12:38 lmao

[@Adiee5Priv]

Yeah, i'm probably too lazy to bother, lol

[@henryofskalitz2228]

I switched to nix because they don't follow CoCs like gnomes

[@henryofskalitz2228]

Disregard they just forced a trans only seat I'm done

[@NeftisIsHere]

snowflake

[@teodordjuric6323]

What

[@henryofskalitz2228]

@@teodordjuric6323 they forced the creator to leave the put a seat on the board exclusively for trans people

[@DoYouSeeAmin]

а де руский амперсанд

[@FodaseGoogreorio-h7v]

Wait wait wait! Anime waifus is only for Arch Linux! And furys too! 😡😡😡😡😡😡

[@zombizombi]

It's this kind of irrelevent weeb stuff that puts so many off Arch/Nix

[@eli1882]

I want to like your channel, but the anime girls are repulsive

[@CulturalCrime]

Thumbnail convinced me to move from Arch to Nix

[@LukasSmith827]

nix creatures when I `pipreqs && pip install -r requirements.txt` (the project didn't support linux (I ain't learnin allat))

[@greob]

Nice walkthrough thanks for sharing

[@edhyjoxenbyl1409]

do you have a discord?

[@Ampersand-xc9jp]

Not yet, but I'll create a server it at some point

[@fabianoslack4269]

By the way, what is the best discord channel for nixos?

[@kiaragrouwstra4250]

@@fabianoslack4269 they have a matrix server, check their website

[@TheTastefulThickness]

Doesn't the flatpack already solve this problem introduced at the beginning of the video?

[@StaffyDoo]

I learned so much from this video -- thanks my dude for taking the time to make it! Cheers from Argentina 🧉