[TriLUG] nixos recommendation

[Ken M via TriLUG]

Haven't been around much but just thought I would share a distro
recommendation for the distro hoppers among us. Nixos. Now granted it is
not a new distro but I think the new ideas it brings are pretty cool.

I won't rehash what you can all google about it, but some highlights.

1. As a person who deals with solaris a lot as well as plays in the bsd
world enough the zfs on linux in nixos works really well, and setting up
zfs on root from the install is easy.

2. Again coming from the BSD world, the separation between the os and
the installed packages as far as where the userland sits /nix/store is
similar but even more separated than the bsd view.

3. Being able to allow a user to install software without sudo and just
for them is nice, and to allow that user to use the unstable branch for
their specific packages is nice. If it had a gui that would be even
nicer but not a big deal.

4. The declarative single point configuration is nice as well especially
when setting up multiple machines. sync the config and off you go to the
next machine.

5. All of the above leads to a very good combination of a stable base
system and allowing very bleeding edge software for the things you need.

Some cons though:

1. Not for newbies. Plenty of cli and config file changes to get things
right.

2. The way it ignores to just abandons the standard file system layout
can be annoying, a hinderance, and make setting up certain things a
total failure if you don't embrace the nix way of doing things.

3. the nix language for configuration can take a little bit of a
learning curve.

On another random side note, after years of my usual openbox + compton +
nitrogen + tint2 setup, I have come to just embrace the base kde plasma5
install.

Anyway it has been a while since I have been active around here and I
haven't seem any one mention this distro here. I think it fits the space
for those who want something with the newness of say fedora, sid, or
arch, but want the ability to have a more stable base.

Ken