this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2022
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Learning Nix and NixOS was the best investment I've ever made for my computer use since switching to Linux a decade ago or so.
The barrier of entry is so high I don't blame anyone for not making the leap but I wish more people could enjoy the benefits. All other distros bar GuixOS feel utterly archaic and clumsily designed by comparison.
i've tried nix three different times and find the learning curve so incredibly steep that the productivity gains are simply not worth it for my desktop usage. i'm waiting for the space to mature so i can feel better about picking it up.
Totally understandable. One day we may see a graphical installer and configuration manager and that is the day I can start recommending others to try it
the installation process is actually alright, it's moreso the maintenance that i had problems with. the mental model is still foreign to me and when i tried it last flakes were recommended by most forum users but not in the documentation. almost all public repo's made use of flakes and it just confused me :/
The most confusing part of flakes is that it isn't the default, but sort of defacto is because so many use it (myself included). At this point I feel it should be the default. The installation process doesn't use the flakes feature so it has to be worked around and it isn't straight forward.
Nix(OS) has a case of expert user base that aren't motivated enough to make it easier for those unfamiliar with the concepts to get going.
Nix makes more sense if you understand referential transparency and functional programming. Even then, how a lot of nix expressions are written is quite confusing with all the self-recursive overrides, functions that are somehow also sets etc.
The best documentation and tutorials are probably somewhere other than in the official ones (though official documentation is not bad). Nix Pills and the wiki, especially.
i'll be referencing these next time i want to try it out again. thanks!!