Excited to announce that I'll be speaking again at #lfnw2025 #lfnw LinuxFestNW!
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"As Linux users, we often install Linux for friends and family, but many struggle with updates, packaging quirks, and system maintenance—leaving you to fix issues and them frustrated.
Instead of simply suggesting they get a Chromebook, what if we could create a similar experience with NixOS? My Nixbook project delivers automatic updates, easy Flatpak app installs, and sane defaults for everyday users.
In this talk, I’ll share how I built it and made it work flawlessly."
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chfkch :nixos: :rust:replied to Mike :nixos: last edited by
@codemonkeymike
I followed along a bit, so i have one question: How do you deal with breaking changes to the config? Like renames and such, when your system will not update anymore by itself?edit: typo corrected
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@codemonkeymike I think the atomic Linux distros, especially things like ublue are a good way to do this.
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@codemonkeymike very cool - I think your Nixbook project is dope
is the talk going to be shared online after?
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@codemonkeymike KDE Linux. Simple updates, easy roll back without any technical knowledge if there are issues and Flatpaks.
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@codemonkeymike nice idea! Am I too pedantic if I remind you that Linux is the kernel and the OS is GNU/Linux? Maybe teaching the difference is even more valuable for our family a d friends. Maybe talking about the four freedoms and what is free software is even better.
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@stefan thanks so much. And past years were shared. I assume this will be as well!
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@justin in my experience, most novice users get very turned around in kde. Myself included get rather annoyed with plasma.
For better or worse, cinnamon mimicks what most users are used to and I've found adoption to be much better.
But KDE Linux is also great
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@thedoctor agreed. That's pretty much what we're doing with nix here. Only we get to build the image ourself. And then completely automatic updates in the background unseen to the user.
But yes, totally going for the atomic model here. ALOT to like there
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Mike :nixos:replied to chfkch :nixos: :rust: last edited by
@chfkch part of the update is updating it's own config from the git repo. This is how the channel is changed for upgrades, and I'm also just about to push live an update because some gnome packages changed names.
I have a testing branch of this that always gets tested here on vms and hardware before it's mainlined.
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@ficcionrara thanks! And yes you are 100% correct. And 99% of people id give this nixbook project too wouldn't care one bit.
But maybe. Just maybe they'll love it so much they start to get into it. Just like I've seen people get into Linux / GNU after owning a steamdeck.
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@codemonkeymike I really never understood this. I've always found Plasma to be very easy to use. It's got sane defaults, sure there's lots of settings but most users will never need to touch them.
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@justin you're used to it. But coming from gnome or cinnamon, you right click on something and are blown away by the options.
It's good. Don't get me wrong. But I'm telling you. Most users nope right out of there.
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@codemonkeymike I would honestly think most users aren't diving into the options. I wasn't always used to it. I learned to use Plasma, the same as I learned to use a computer. I really think you're making something sound scary that's really not. They're settings, not nuclear weapons.
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@justin I agree with you. But to someone like my dad, setting ARE nuclear weapons lol
