A desktop that's entirely yours
Bars, themes, keybinds and wallpapers all live in your config, so your setup survives a reinstall.
Welcome to The Nix Arms · est. generation 1
Linux without the hangover.
NixOS is Linux you describe instead of tinker with. Write down what you want, rebuild, and if anything breaks, pick yesterday from the boot menu. Pull up a stool and I’ll show you round. Kids and dogs welcome.
Free, open source, and you can try it in a virtual machine first. No commitment.
Tonight's order: one gaming PC
# configuration.nix: the whole machine
{ pkgs, ... }: {
networking.hostName = "the-snug";
services.desktopManager.plasma6.enable = true;
programs.steam.enable = true;
programs.gamemode.enable = true;
environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
firefox discord obs-studio
];
}
House rules
Why people stay
Bad pint? Send it back.
Every change creates a new generation, which is a save point for your whole system. If an update goes wrong, pick the last good one from the boot menu.
Same recipe, same pint.
Your apps, settings, drivers and users are all written down. On a new PC you copy the config across and rebuild, and it’s your machine again.
The biggest cellar going.
nixpkgs has over 100,000 packages, more than any other Linux distro. If it runs on Linux, it’s probably in there.
At the bar
What are you drinking?
Say where you're coming from and you'll get the right guide.
Coming off Windows? You're in good company.
Think of NixOS as System Restore that actually works, plus an app list you can carry to any PC. The guide also lists what won’t come with you.
Read the Windows guide- A graphical installer, so you can get going without a terminal
- Steam, Discord, browsers and OBS are one line each
- What to expect with anti-cheat games, Adobe and Office
You already like control. Now keep it.
Your carefully tuned setup, as code you can git push. No more archaeology in /etc trying to remember what you changed last year.
Read the Arch guide- Hyprland and sway setups kept in your config
- The unstable channel feels like a rolling release
- Overlays and flakes fill the role the AUR played
Same desktops, fewer surprises.
GNOME and KDE work just as you know them, but upgrades are all-or-nothing, so a bad one never leaves you stranded halfway.
Read the Ubuntu guide- Stable releases every May and November
- “apt install” becomes one line in a file
- Try it in a VM first, no commitment
Yes, it games.
Steam with Proton, Heroic, Lutris and gamemode, switched on in a handful of lines. Your library comes with you, mostly.
Read the gaming guide- AMD works out of the box; NVIDIA is one short block
- Proton runs a large share of the Steam library
- Games with kernel anti-cheat still won’t run
Tonight's specials
What's on tap
A gaming rig in a dozen lines
Steam, Proton, gamemode, MangoHud and a couch-ready gamescope session.
Same setup on every machine
A desktop and a tablet built from one repo. Change a setting once and both pick it up.
A home server, one line per service
A media server, photo backup, ad blocking and a dashboard to watch it all. Each is a few lines of config.
Try any app without installing it
Run something once, close the terminal, and it's gone. No leftovers, no clutter.
Fearless experimenting
Try a new desktop tonight. Don't like it? Yesterday's system is still in the boot menu.
Nix jargon, translated
Chalked up for newcomers. No computer science degree required.
Generation
A save point for your whole system. You can boot into any of them.
Rebuild
“Apply my changes.” You edit the file, then rebuild to make it real.
nixpkgs
The cellar. Where every package lives, and the place you search for apps.
Flake
A recipe with the exact version of every ingredient written on it. Same pint, every time.
Home Manager
The same idea, for your own apps and dotfiles rather than the whole system.
Declarative
Saying what you want, not the steps to get there. Like ordering, not brewing.
Propping up the bar
The Regulars
Real configs worth reading, each with notes on what to borrow.
Misterio77/nix-starter-configs
Gabriel Fontes
Minimal and standard flake templates with heavy comments, designed to be the thing you copy on day one.
Worth borrowing: The whole thing. Start your own config from the minimal template.
tomwrw/megadots
The landlord
An AMD gaming desktop and a Surface Pro tablet from one den config, with every feature written as a reusable aspect.
Worth borrowing: The steam aspect: one file that brings in Steam, two extra Proton builds, a binary cache and a persisted game library.
ryan4yin/nix-config
Ryan Yin
From the author of the NixOS & Flakes Book: desktops, servers and macOS, all in one place.
Worth borrowing: Read it next to the book: the chapters map onto real code here.
Last orders
Before you head home
One for the road
Try before you buy
nix-shell -p cowsayOpens a shell with the app available. Type exit and it’s gone again. Nothing was installed.
Undo last night
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --rollbackSwitches straight back to your previous generation, no reboot needed.
Test-drive a change
sudo nixos-rebuild testApplies your config now but leaves it out of the boot menu. Don’t like it? Reboot and you’re back where you were.
A whole PC in a window
nixos-rebuild build-vmBuilds a virtual machine from your config. Run ./result/bin/run-*-vm to try big changes without touching your real system.
Count your rounds
nixos-rebuild list-generationsLists every generation with its date, NixOS version and kernel, so you know exactly what you’d be rolling back to.
Clear the empties
sudo nix-collect-garbage --delete-older-than 14dDeletes generations older than two weeks and frees the disk space they used. You can’t roll back to those any more, so keep a recent good one.
Let the cellar tidy itself
nix.gc = {
automatic = true;
dates = "weekly";
options = "--delete-older-than 14d";
};
Add this to your config and NixOS clears old generations every week, so you never have to remember.
Save space for free
nix.settings.auto-optimise-store = true;Nix spots identical files across packages and stores them once. Add it to your config and rebuild.
Find the right name
nix search nixpkgs obsSearches every package from the terminal (needs flakes). Or use search.nixos.org in your browser.
Run it once
nix run nixpkgs#helloDownloads and runs an app in one go, without adding it to your config (needs flakes).
Pull up a stool
Where the regulars drink
Questions, setups and the odd friendly argument. Come and say hello.
- NixOS DiscourseThe official forum. Beginner questions are welcome. Search first, then ask.
- NixOS on MatrixThe official chat rooms, for quick questions and a natter.
- r/NixOSCommunity-run subreddit: screenshots, setups and help threads.
- The Nix Arms on GitHubFix a typo, add a tip, or submit your config to The Regulars.
New guides and Regulars in your feed reader: RSS feed