Personal NixOS configuration

NixOS and home-manager config files are merged.

DWL

Installaion

Install NixOS

1. Follow the manual and install NixOS with any desktop environment and reboot.

2. Update the generated nixos configuration in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix.

   The new configuration must have: user configuration, flakes enabled, cachix (optional), git, git-crypt, internet setup, firewall disabled

   Check the configuration.nix example

Install host config

Reboot into NixOS, login with the user you created

1. Connect to internet

   # The following commands will work if you enabled `networking.networkmanager.enable = true;`
   $ nmtui
   $ ping google.com
   

   If ping google.com doesn't work, try updating your DNS

   $ vim /etc/resolv.conf
   # add `nameserver 8.8.8.8` to `/etc/resolv.conf`
   

2. Use local cachix, if you have 2 machines using the same nix config/channels (optional)

   # Run on another machine, with nixos installed
   $ nix-serve -p 8080
   
   # On current/new machine, test
   $ curl http://192.168.x.x:8080/nix-cache-info
   

   On the current/new machine, update nix.settings.substituters config, add http://192.168.x.x:8080, then restart

3. Clone this repository into /home/<username>/.config/nix-config

   $ git clone https://github.com/wochap/nix-config.git ~/.config/nix-config
   

4. Rebuild nixos with the host's specific config, for example, heres's a rebuild for my gdesktop

   WARNING: First nixos-rebuild with device config can take several hours, maybe you want to disable some modules

   # Go to nix-config folder
   $ cd /home/<username>/.config/nix-config
   $ nixos-rebuild boot --flake .#gdesktop
   # or if you want to switch to a specialisation
   # $ nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#gdesktop --specialisation hyprland-specialisation
   

   Reboot so changes take effect

   NOTE: If you encounter an error related to home-manager, it is likely due to a file collision, and you will need to remove a file. You can identify which files are in conflict with the following command: systemctl status home-manager-<username>.service. After resolving all the collisions, you can restart the home-manager-<username>.service.

5. Set password for new user <username> if you haven't

   # for example
   $ passwd gean
   

Post install

1. Install ssh keys

   Copy .ssh backup folder to /home/<username>/.ssh

   $ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/*
   $ ssh-add <PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY>
   

   https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-manage-multiple-ssh-keys/

2. Unlock secrets folder

   Copy git-crypt-key backup

   $ cd /home/<username>/.config/nix-config
   $ git-crypt unlock /path/to/git-crypt-key
   

3. Install gpg keys

   $ gpg --import private.key
   

4. Enable autologin (optional)

   $ sudo touch /etc/security/autologin.conf

5. Setup Syncthing (http://localhost:8384)

6. Setup desktop wallpaper (optional)

   $ swww img ~/Pictures/backgrounds/<IMAGE_NAME>
   

7. Setup Neovim configuration

8. Setup qt look and feel Open Qt5 Settings and update theme and icons

   • icon theme: Tela-catppuccin_mocha-dark
   • color scheme: Catppuccin-Mocha-Mauve
   • style: Lightly
   • change font size to 10

9. Setup betterdiscord (optional)

   $ betterdiscordctl install
   

   enable theme from discord > betterdiscordctl settings

10. Enable WebRTC PipeWire support in chrome (wayland only)

    Go to chrome://flags/ and enable WebRTC PipeWire support

11. Sync vscode, firefox, chrome (optional)

12. Setup mail

    Generate App passwords in Google Account settings Copy App password (16 digits) to secrets/mail/

13. Setup calendar

    A browser should open automatically asking for google credentials, otherwise run:

    $ vdirsyncer discover
    $ touch ~/.config/remind/remind.rem

14. Waydroid (optional)

15. Flatpak (optional)

16. Setup steam (optional)

    Run steam, login, setup proton.

Upgrating NixOS

Update inputs on flake.nix, then:

$ cd /home/<username>/.config/nix-config
$ nix flake update --recreate-lock-file
$ sudo nixos-rebuild boot --flake .#gdesktop

Development Workflow

• Setup a project with nix-direnv

  $ nix flake new -t github:nix-community/nix-direnv ./
  $ direnv allow
  # update flake.nix
  

Troubleshooting

• Chrome like apps with blank screen or vanishing text on scroll

  Clear GPUCache, in ~/.config/google-chrome/ShaderCache

  source: electron/electron#40366 source: https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/chromium-based-browsers-display-garbled-web-pages-after-mesa-is-updated/83438

• Slow zsh startup

  # print all zsh scripts that are being loaded
  $ exec -l zsh --sourcetrace
  

• Fix Virtual Machine Manager network default is not active error

  $ sudo virsh net-start default
  $ sudo virsh net-autostart default
  

• Fix bootloader

• Read and write NTFS partitions

  disable fast startup in windows

• Search a package version in nixpkgs

• Generate Nix fetcher calls from repository URLs

  $ nurl https://github.com/nix-community/patsh v0.2.0 2>/dev/null

• Inspect systemctl services

  $ systemctl cat --user swayidle.service

• Reload .desktop files

  $ nix shell nixpkgs#desktop-file-utils -c update-desktop-database -v ~/.local/share/applications

• No wifi device at startup

  $ nmcli r wifi on
  

• Sync Bluetooth for dualboot Linux and Windows

  # on windows, turn off `fast startup``
  # mount your disk with windows, then:
  $ sudo bt-dualboot --sync-all --backup
  

• No bluetooth device at startup

  $ sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth
  

• Bluetooth sound glitches

• Clear /nix/store

  $ nix-collect-garbage -d
  $ sudo nix-collect-garbage -d
  

• Delete nixos system profile

  # delete everything on
  $ /nix/var/nix/profiles/system-profiles/*
  
  # Clear store and rebuild
  

• Check packages size

  $ nix path-info -rSh /run/current-system | sort -nk2
  

• Firefox doesnt load some websites

  Enable DNS over HTTPS

• Wifi keeps connecting and disconnecting

  Disable ipv6 connection.

• Copy installed icons unicode

  E8E4 is the unicode.

  $ echo -ne "\uE8E4" | xclip -selection clipboard
  $ echo -ne "\ue92a" | wl-copy
  

• Transform svg icons to png

  $ for file in *.svg; do inkscape $file -o ${file%svg}png -h 128; done
  

  #!/usr/bin/env bash
  
  symlinks=$(find ./ -lname "*.svg");
  
  for file in $symlinks; do
    linkpath=$(readlink $file);
    newlinkcontent=${linkpath/svg/png};
    newlinkpath=${file/svg/png};
    ln -sf $newlinkcontent $newlinkpath;
  done
  

• Get key terminal code

  $ kitten show_key -m kitty
  $ kitty +kitten show_key
  $ showkey -a

• Get key actual name

  $ xev | awk -F'[ )]+' '/^KeyPress/ { a[NR+2] } NR in a { printf "%-3s %s\n", $5, $8 }'
  

• Cannot add google account in gnome > online accounts

  In gmail settings, enable IMAP

• Create udev rule

  # monitor uevent
  $ udevadm monitor --property
  
  # print devices ids (vendor, product, etc)
  $ lsusb
  
  # get env values
  $ udevadm info -q all -n /dev/input/eventX
  
  # get attr values
  $ udevadm info -n /dev/input/eventX --attribute-walk

Resources

Inspiration

• https://github.com/phenax/nixos-dotfiles
• https://gitlab.com/dwt1/dotfiles
• https://github.com/JorelAli/nixos
• https://github.com/nrdxp/nixflk/tree/template
• https://github.com/kampka/nix-packages
• https://github.com/sgraf812/.nixpkgs
• https://www.reddit.com/r/NixOS/comments/k7e9sg/newbie_desktop_nixos_setup_for_developer/

To learn

• https://www.secjuice.com/wayland-vs-xorg/
• https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-to-set-the-xdg-mime-default/3560
• https://awesomeopensource.com/projects/nixos

Rice resources

• https://bennymeg.github.io/ngx-fluent-ui/
• https://fontawesome.com/cheatsheet
• https://fontdrop.info/
• https://coderwall.com/p/dedqca/argb-colors-in-android
• https://github.com/zodd18/Horizon
• https://www.iconfinder.com/search/?q=F028
• https://www.online-toolz.com/tools/text-unicode-entities-convertor.php
• https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/786dr7/how_do_i_identify_firefox_ui_elements/

Others

• Learn nix
• https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Home_Manager
• https://superuser.com/questions/603528/how-to-get-the-current-monitor-resolution-or-monitor-name-lvds-vga1-etc
• https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/#use-as-a-interpreter