dotfiles VS nixos-config

Now that this binary installer exists I would definitely recommend it.

I’ve deleted Homebrew from my system and I’m now using the same home-manager setup for my macOS laptops as well as my WSL installation on windows.

It’s so great to have the exact same tools and shell configuration installed everywhere.

I have not used flakes yet but if that will help me deal with the differences between my systems I’m definitely for it!

E.g I have a work Mac, personal Mac, personal PC with WSL.

When on my work machine, usernames are different and my Git config should identify me as me, and I shouldn’t have access to my personal credential for personal GitHub, RSA private keys for personal servers, etc.

But all else should be the same.

Mostly there but the credentials part I am still figuring out.

If you want to check it out, it’s here: https://github.com/leonbreedt/dotfiles

Won’t work for you out of the box tho as it depends on private repo for sensitive configs.

I’ve been using Nix directly on MacOS with minimal issues for a few years now. Works great.

I hate using docker on Mac and have since replaced it with flakes and devenv.

My configuration with a step by step guide (600+ stars): https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

I tried to make Nix as easy to adopt as possible by creating Nix commands and a step by step guide: https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

I love Nix. I use it every day to manage multiple local dev environments. And I use devenv instead of docker for sharing project-specific environments with others.

Felt (still am, actually) this problem too. Started with the same approach (Vanilla Emacs) a few years back in order to really learn the ins-and-outs after giving DOOM and others a shot and feeling like I didn't have the faintest what was really going on with all the magic. I somehow did end up falling in love with Emacs again[^1].

Won't lie... there was a fair amount of cursing involved and, despite the love, I wouldn't recommend many to venture down this road[^2].

Now I have gone the literate config way in my dotfiles https://github.com/vidbina/dotfiles/tree/main/emacs and I jump between Cursor (vscode-based), Neovim and Emacs for different tasks on a daily. I also found dustinlyons/nixos-config (https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config/blob/main/module...) just a few days ago and figured that could be a fun resource when you're building yours up.

Take it as a hobby. There are a bunch of nice things that I picked up from Emacs (a. literate configs, b. comfort around working with LISPs, c. bigger appreciation for parts of the GNU ecosystem, d. more in-depth understanding of how my editor works which helps me debug issues in Neovim or vscode when I see them) but I still think that I'm cursed by wanting to go down this road so badly. Wish I could just vscode my way through live and build dope stuff, unencumbered.

1: Used Emacs heavily in college over 12 years ago when I would boot the Windows + Novell groupware school computers into my own Ubuntu config with my Emacs and embedded dev toolchain from my pendrive.

2: The single-threaded-ness and related ocassional unresponsiveness/hangups still grind my gears.

Here is my flake using home manager on Mac: https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

What do I need to do to switch from an official Nix install to using nix-installer on macOS? Just uninstall the current nix and install using nix-installer?

My config is loosely based off https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config if this matters. Using nix-darwin.

My configuration uses Nix.

Not my personal notes, but how I do my writing and organize my thoughts. This is my Nix configuration that powers my Macbook, Linux PC, and home lab server. Emacs + org-roam to capture everything. https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config