jordan-bravo/nix-workshop-part-2

Notes for part 2-of-2 of my introductory Nix workshop

Nix Workshop Part 2: NixOS

Notes for part 2-of-2 of my introductory Nix workshop

Link to the recording: https://youtu.be/T58ml5SmkNM

Overview

What you'll learn today:

• What is NixOS?
• How is NixOS different from using the Nix package manager on MacOS or other Linux distros?
• How do you install and configure NixOS?

What is NixOS?

• Start with the Nix package manager / build tool, and build an entire Linux distro from the ground up using Nix.

Installing NixOS

• Download ISO image from https://nixos.org
• Write to USB drive, boot from USB drive
• Follow graphical installer, choose Desktop Environment (DE)

Configuring NixOS

Enable flakes

• Navigate to /etc/nix and notice two files:

/etc/nixos
❯ ls -1
configuration.nix
hardware-configuration.nix

• Edit the file /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
• Add the following line to enable flakes:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports =
    [ 
      ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ];

  # Enable Flakes and the new command-line tool
  nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];

  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    # Flakes use Git to pull dependencies from data sources 
    git
    vim
    wget
    curl
  ];
  # Set default editor to vim
  environment.variables.EDITOR = "vim";

}

Add desired packages

Resources

• https://nixos-and-flakes.thiscute.world
• Watch this to learn how to configure Nix (with Home-Manager) and/or NixOS: https://youtu.be/a67Sv4Mbxmc
• https://nixos.wiki Recording of this Nix workshop (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glQoiK5DOZY