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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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Is anyone using NixOS as their daily driver? (ymmel.nl)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm currently running Arch and it's great, but I'm noticing I'm not staying on the ball in regards to updates. I've been reading a bit about Nix and NixOS and thinking of trying it as my daily driver. I've got a Lenovo x1 xtreme laptop, I don't do much gaming (except OSRS), use firefox, jetbrains stuff, bitwarden, remmina, obsidian, and docker.

Is anyone running NixOS as their daily? How are you liking it and are there any pitfalls / stuff you wish you knew before?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I can understand how the system config can be back in that short amount of time. How does data backup and restore work in Nix? Is it different than other distros?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Data wise, it's mostly the same. i use syncthing to a couple different systems, one of which is essentially a storage server. The main difference for me is the app installations. apt install all the apps, then configure each. Kills a whole day for me. I'm sure it can be automated, maybe ansible / salt / . But the way I use it, Nix enforces that I always update my configs in a manner that is easily restorable.
Copy my backed up system into /etc/nixos/
Run nixos-rebuild boot. Reboot.
Setup syncthing. ? Profit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Instead of doing nixos-rebuid boot and rebooting, you can just do a nixos-rebuild switch and not reboot.

Of course, depending on what you're doing it mifht be a good idea to reboot, but if you're just adding a package to your config file, it doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah, for the restore process, I install a couple drivers for some USB devices. So a reboot is required. Otherwise, I has an alias for switch.