I figured if you sent me that file from your system, I’d get your system exactly how you designed it.
Usually people split up their configs into multiple files for readability/maintainability. But yes, if they sent you their entire configuration repository you would (or at least should) get the same result.
Here are some configs to get inspired by: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Configuration_Collection
There should be no updating unless enabled <…> and never nag the user.
I disagree, at that point you might as well continue using Win10. Security updates are the #1 reason to do this. Most computer use nowadays is networked (actually in a browser), and it’s super important we keep that updated.
If updating is turned on, it should be very conservative, updates hand curated by grandmasnixos, basically never uses software that hasn’t been proven rock solid for at least 6 months
Eh, this sounds like a lot of work. Probably just use the stable channels, and only manually test when switching to a new stable channel.
Rolling back any update should be one-click-trivial
Agreed, should also be very obvious (like a label on the desktop that says “Issues after update?” and gives you a button to roll back and reboot)
The desktop environment should be something occasional win10 using grandma will not get lost in
This is the main question IMHO. I’ve not used any DEs for a while, so don’t really know which one would fit this best while also being simple and robust.
I think we can be even simpler than that. Don’t ask any questions. Simply generate the hardware-configuration.nix and have a single configuration.nix that is unchanged:
configuration.nix)npins update and nixos-rebuild boot, and finally annoys you until you reboot (it should also update to the next stable channel when that becomes available, and make that a big deal so that a user understands it might change some of their workflows)/home, /nix, and wherever flatpak are stored, is wiped on every reboot and recreated from the generation, so that “reboot it” is a viable troubleshooting strategy.Hmm, I’ll pitch this idea to a couple of Nixy lfriends, maybe we can hack something together. Also throw a Linux install party!
I’ve not used Guix but I don’t think any distro has anything close to number of desirable available packages as arch— so be prepared for that
nixpkgs would like a word
Most consumer hardware on earth does already (Android phones). The problem is those drivers are usually proprietary bullshit that’s very difficult to integrate with anything but OEMs kernel fork & Android version. Unfortunately I don’t really foresee that changing in the near future, hopefully if Linux becomes more mainstream, Linux phones become too and then we get some progress.
And for laptops/desktops, I think the situation is pretty good already as well. Many mainstream OEMs have an option with Linux pre-installed now, and the drivers there are mostly FOSS. I’m hoping that the problematic part vendors e.g. NVidia and Broadcom step up and provide sources for their drivers - otherwise they will continue to be a buggy mess that most people hate.
Expect a steep learning curve even if you know Linux inside out. Don’t assume things work the way they did on Arch (or most other distros). If your hardware doesn’t work well, or you otherwise need some proprietary stuff, check out https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix. Good luck!
Is “search in gmaps, copy coordinates, paste into Organic Maps” not a viable solution?
I have no idea about that specific app, but wouldn’t (almost) any OSM app have this functionality? E.g. in OsmAnd you can search for the address, open that point’s description, tap on the coordinates and then copy the openstreetmap.org link from the coordinate menu.
Physical media is the only media you really own.
Hard disagree. You can own any file encoded with an open standard. And it’s easier to index, search, manipulate, back up, etc. It feels more like owning than having the data on a micrometer-thick metal layer sandwiched in a fragile plastic disc that can easily scratch or discrot. There is a reason people have been ripping CDs since PC CD drivers became a thing.
Nah, that shit will probably outlive all of us. As the last humans are struggling to survive in the hot hell they used to call earth, someone somewhere will be making a device with USB A <-> Micro B cable included in the box.
Unless digital artists are replaced with AI entirely, I don’t see that happening. iPads (unfortunately) are kind of the golden standard there. If anything I expect drawing tablets without screens to disappear.
If burned properly they hold storage for a very long time without data loss
They also need very particular storage conditions (temperature and humidity in particular), otherwise they will discrot. But yeah they are likely to store data for longer than solid-state media at least.
Honestly I don’t think that’s tru. There were very few kids who truly tinkered with their computers in the old days too - first because not many kids had computers in the first place, and then because computers started being useful without any tinkering. There are still a lot of youths (12-16) today who are flashing LineageOS on their phone or installing Linux on their Chromebook, or whatever. I know because they keep flooding the NixOS Telegram chat that I’m managing - and I try to welcome them with open arms!
smartphones are a black box.
Many Android phones still have a bit of that tinkering ability to them (you kinda have access to the file system, and you can root them/flash custom android distros), but it’s quickly diminishing because (1) OEMs are locking the bootloaders, (2) it’s getting harder and harder to get hardware working without proprietary OEM hacks, (3) bank apps and other proprietary garbage that’s becoming a necessity in modern times refuses to run on an unlocked phone.
I just hope that something like GNU Taler (which keeps buyers’ privacy and forces sellers to report their earnings properly) becomes the norm, as opposed to the proprietary plastic card transactions we have now. I myself am guilty of switching to that system because cash is just insanely inconvenient, but I also recognize it’s pretty bad.
The most effective policies are often not fancy ones. For example, if you want to fix worker exploitation, you do not establish socialism in a couple countries, but you try to improve labor laws in a few most exploited places.
Communism will not happen. But if you want to reduce the amount of exploitation the most, then you want to try to get capitalists to exploit workers a bit less. Not a few people to join a socialist party.
This is not the way to fix anything. It’s a temporary band-aid on a problem (industrialized mass murder on a scale which makes all other human atrocities combined seem insignificant), that will only get worse with time if not kept in check.
I agree with you that individual veganism is not the (full) solution. And I even agree with you that reducing meat consumption is a good (albeit small) stepping stone towards the solution (kinda like getting someone left-of-center elected, or divesting from Israel financially). However, the full solution is banning animal agriculture entirely.
The numbers suggest that 2025 could be a turning point for Linux on desktop computers
Ah yes, the year of the Linux desktop
(in all seriousness, this is looking really good, my main hope from all this is that hardware manufacturers step up their FOSS drivers game)
That’s how you should do it IMHO. You will miss out on a lot of benefits of NixOS if you don’t understand how the config system works, at least to the point of writing your own config files.
There are lots of examples online that can get you inspired, but ultimately you are building your own system and it’s up to you to write the config. Feel free to copy code from other people, as long as you follow the licenses in the projects (a lot are CC0/public domain, so you can just steal stuff freely with no remorse, but it’s also nice to mention the original author)