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NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

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Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#21

Post by microtonal »

ar_lan wrote: post #18
k_bx wrote: post #11

I wonder if Nix is finally OK to use with LLMs. Used to be such a pain and just hours of googling to make simple things work. I think even ChatGPT didn't work well at the time for me, but now at least the try-and-fail can be done by the LLM itself.

Nix is fantastic with Claude Sonnet.

I would be a bit careful, it generates piles of Nix code that may work, but are not great. E.g. it often likes to generate imperative hacks (like setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH, etc.) that break things down the line.

Use it as a teacher to learn to understand Nix deeply yourself. I would absolutely recommend everyone to start with the Nix Pills though, it's a great way to learn the language and understand the basic building blocks.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#24

Post by tom89999 »

mhitza wrote: post #6
dangus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the Atomic Linux approach is already a better fit for desktop usage. Flatpaks for most user software along with other options to install packages with different methods if there are special/legacy requirements. I think the only negative aspect of the approach is the sheer quantity [1] of package installation options available. [1] https://docs.bazzite.gg/Installing_and_Managing_Software/

Flatpak makes it very hard to see who packages what. There are apps that look official, buy are built in third-party repositories. With distributions packages, there's a bigger barrier to entry which is at least better in avoiding sneaky malware from easily creeping in.

But its used to create the illusion that linux can be used by typing handymen.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#25

Post by brainlessdev »

Author here, posting a self-review.

I've realized most of my blog post is not really about NixOS, it's just about this particular TUXEDO laptop requiring special tweaks to work properly. I've set up Debian 13 with Nix (plus Home Manager) in a VM to try it out and have realized that on the real laptop I would need to perform the same tweaks: install special drivers, install the TUXEDO Control Center (albeit using a supported .deb), and add those same kernel params. The only "care-free" option would be using TUXEDO OS, which I could explore. I've run NixOS on e.g. an AMD ThinkPad T14 and it was seamless, with no tweaks needed.

I suppose using something other than NixOS would indeed make some things easier (in my case Vanta, `pinentry` programs, Playwright and Cypress) and would perhaps let me live a more hands-off experience. I currently run `nix flake update` on my system way too often... but other than that, NixOS is not really getting in the way, at least as far as using this laptop goes.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#26

Post by jowea »

rgoulter wrote: post #2

The author mentions it in the conclusion, but I think "nix package manager on non-NixOS Linux" would be the best of both worlds. You'd avoid the friction of having to deal with software that doesn't 'just work' on NixOS, but still be able to make use of things like devenv. Though, an understated benefit from using NixOS is that the specific fixes taken are now available "as code".

> You'd avoid the friction of having to deal with software that doesn't 'just work' on NixOS

I'm not sure what type of software you're talking about, but Linux native software usually works with 'steam-run', which is really the "pretend to be Ubuntu" command.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#27

Post by ar_lan »

microtonal wrote: post #21
ar_lan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nix is fantastic with Claude Sonnet.

I would be a bit careful, it generates piles of Nix code that may work, but are not great. E.g. it often likes to generate imperative hacks (like setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH , etc.) that break things down the line. Use it as a teacher to learn to understand Nix deeply yourself. I would absolutely recommend everyone to start with the Nix Pills though, it's a great way to learn the language and understand the basic buildin…

Heard!

I've been running NixOS as a daily driver for about 5 years so I'm somewhat comfortable with it. So far, I haven't seen many odd configurations as you suggest, but I'll keep my eye out.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#28

Post by cosmic_cheese »

microtonal wrote: post #22

Motorcomm YT6801 LAN drivers Why does a Linux laptop brand ship with an Ethernet NIC (Motorcomm YT6801) that requires an out-of-tree driver? (And a hack to fix ACPI issues.) I think I know the answer, but...

If I were designing a laptop specifically for Linux it’s hard to image going for anything but Intel for networking, but it’s possible Tuxedo’s ODM doesn’t give them the choice.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#29

Post by throitallaway »

jowea wrote: post #26
rgoulter wrote: post #2

The author mentions it in the conclusion, but I think "nix package manager on non-NixOS Linux" would be the best of both worlds. You'd avoid the friction of having to deal with software that doesn't 'just work' on NixOS, but still be able to make use of things like devenv. Though, an understated benefit from using NixOS is that the specific fixes taken are now available "as code".

> You'd avoid the friction of having to deal with software that doesn't 'just work' on NixOS I'm not sure what type of software you're talking about, but Linux native software usually works with 'steam-run', which is really the "pretend to be Ubuntu" command.

Software that has only dynamically linked binaries available for it (and no source) are one such example. The main Azure CLI tool is built in Python but it downloads binaries for certain actions on the fly if it needs them. These are a major PITA (or impossible) to get working correctly on NixOS.

Re: NixOS on a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 AMD Laptop

#30

Post by tombert »

rgoulter wrote: post #2

The author mentions it in the conclusion, but I think "nix package manager on non-NixOS Linux" would be the best of both worlds. You'd avoid the friction of having to deal with software that doesn't 'just work' on NixOS, but still be able to make use of things like devenv. Though, an understated benefit from using NixOS is that the specific fixes taken are now available "as code".

A lot of people say this, but honestly this kind of sounds like someone who doesn't understand the ethos around NixOS. NixOS isn't just a vanilla Linux distro with Nix preinstalled

The whole point of NixOS is that the entire system is managed by Nix. The entirety of everything is declarative in your configuration file(s) and the entire system can consistently be rebuilt from the configuration. The root system is immutable after being built and as such it is trivial to snapshot.

This isn't just a trivial implementation detail, it changes the entire way that you use the computer. Boot parameters, drivers, installed programs, everything is done via configuration, as opposed to installing Nix on Ubuntu where most stuff is still managed haphazardly and mutably.

You might not think that's good or worth it, but I dispute the notion that installing Nix on a non-NixOS distro gives you the "best of both worlds". They're very different things.

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