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Looking at the GUI, I have no idea what it does. I'm guessing that you actually need to know Nix to be able to use it, which kinda defeats the "usable for non-

Looking at the GUI, I have no idea what it does. I'm guessing that you actually need to know Nix to be able to use it, which kinda defeats the "usable for non-technical users" goal. I can see the value of it, if I ever learn Nix, and want a quick way to make modifications without having to google every possibilities.

whateveracct 5y ago
It literally says what each field does.. Just because it doesn't have an obvious minimal modern UI doesn't mean it doesn't do its job. Gotta read I guess .. but then again Nix also in general has a prerequisite of "calm down and read." But then again, so does Linux! The only thing you need to do to be Nix-competent is not flip the table and blame the tool when you get an error you don't understand. (Same goes for Haskell.) That said, my years of industry experience has shown that that is a rare attribute - doubly so amongst those with experience and therefore egos. People in this thread act like Nix users are out of touch. Maybe, but I'd rather be out of touch and learning than grumpy that I had to read.
- dmitriid 5y ago
  > Make NixOS usable for non-technical users through a settings / package management GUI. ^ emphasis mine. What exactly does a non-techical user have to read to understand whatever's on the screenshot? Forget non-techincal, explain this to a technical person. Apparently this has something to do with sound? Have you or any nix-person ever seen a sound configuration screen for non-technical users? I mean this one is by no means perfect, but do compare: https://www.techrepublic.com/a/hub/i/r/2016/10/05/a7dba7dd-32a0-4e48-aaec-ab97f219e753/resize/1200x/061ddf8281dfbdd21c7ac03e0381d40e/macsoundeckel092016.jpg https://www.techrepublic.com/a/hub/i/r/2016/10/05/a7dba7dd-3...
  - whateveracct 5y ago
    KDE provides that already in NixOS. So yeah .. we do see it all the time :) This config is for a different layer - one a non-technical user probably wouldn't ever modify in most OSes. Hence, the value.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    This is exactly the same, although their choice of "sliding buttons" with text and color inside is a bit weird compared to checkboxes.
    - seoaeu 5y ago
      What? They're nothing alike. One has normal, logical options like selecting sound effects and output devices. The other has useless things like how much the media keys adjust the volume by and whether to entirely disable sound on the system, and is littered with technical jargon like 'undefined' and 'boolean'.
      - whateveracct 5y ago
        You don't select your output device with your configuration.nix. You use it to configure the underlying OS. So doing this stuff with a GUI? Unheard of in the mainstream. Unnecessary maybe too, but still. Not the same.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  You can be "grumpy you had to read" or "grumpy about other being complaining they have to read". You chose that latter and I think it's a good choice :).
Zababa 5y ago
> I'm guessing that you actually need to know Nix to be able to use it, which kinda defeats the "usable for non-technical users" goal. I don't think that's true. Excel is usable by non-technical users. Part of it is due to the GUI, part of it is due to the easy packaging. But you still need to know spreadsheets to use it. This project does the same for Nix.
- kaba0 5y ago
  Is it? There would not be several courses on it otherwise.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    There's a difference between "usable" and "having a deep knowledge" I think.
lappa 5y ago
Unfortunately Nix-Gui hasn't yet achieved it's tagline. Hopefully https://github.com/nix-gui/nix-gui/issues/77 https://github.com/nix-gui/nix-gui/issues/77 letting users configure a predefined list of options relevant to completing a task will bring us closer to that goal.

whateveracct 5y ago

It literally says what each field does.. Just because it doesn't have an obvious minimal modern UI doesn't mean it doesn't do its job. Gotta read I guess .. but then again Nix also in general has a prerequisite of "calm down and read." But then again, so does Linux! The only thing you need to do to be Nix-competent is not flip the table and blame the tool when you get an error you don't understand. (Same goes for Haskell.) That said, my years of industry experience has shown that that is a rare attribute - doubly so amongst those with experience and therefore egos. People in this thread act like Nix users are out of touch. Maybe, but I'd rather be out of touch and learning than grumpy that I had to read.

dmitriid 5y ago
> Make NixOS usable for non-technical users through a settings / package management GUI. ^ emphasis mine. What exactly does a non-techical user have to read to understand whatever's on the screenshot? Forget non-techincal, explain this to a technical person. Apparently this has something to do with sound? Have you or any nix-person ever seen a sound configuration screen for non-technical users? I mean this one is by no means perfect, but do compare: https://www.techrepublic.com/a/hub/i/r/2016/10/05/a7dba7dd-32a0-4e48-aaec-ab97f219e753/resize/1200x/061ddf8281dfbdd21c7ac03e0381d40e/macsoundeckel092016.jpg https://www.techrepublic.com/a/hub/i/r/2016/10/05/a7dba7dd-3...
- whateveracct 5y ago
  KDE provides that already in NixOS. So yeah .. we do see it all the time :) This config is for a different layer - one a non-technical user probably wouldn't ever modify in most OSes. Hence, the value.
- Zababa 5y ago
  This is exactly the same, although their choice of "sliding buttons" with text and color inside is a bit weird compared to checkboxes.
  - seoaeu 5y ago
    What? They're nothing alike. One has normal, logical options like selecting sound effects and output devices. The other has useless things like how much the media keys adjust the volume by and whether to entirely disable sound on the system, and is littered with technical jargon like 'undefined' and 'boolean'.
    - whateveracct 5y ago
      You don't select your output device with your configuration.nix. You use it to configure the underlying OS. So doing this stuff with a GUI? Unheard of in the mainstream. Unnecessary maybe too, but still. Not the same.
Ericson2314 5y ago
You can be "grumpy you had to read" or "grumpy about other being complaining they have to read". You chose that latter and I think it's a good choice :).

Zababa 5y ago

> I'm guessing that you actually need to know Nix to be able to use it, which kinda defeats the "usable for non-technical users" goal. I don't think that's true. Excel is usable by non-technical users. Part of it is due to the GUI, part of it is due to the easy packaging. But you still need to know spreadsheets to use it. This project does the same for Nix.

kaba0 5y ago
Is it? There would not be several courses on it otherwise.
- Zababa 5y ago
  There's a difference between "usable" and "having a deep knowledge" I think.

lappa 5y ago

Unfortunately Nix-Gui hasn't yet achieved it's tagline. Hopefully https://github.com/nix-gui/nix-gui/issues/77 https://github.com/nix-gui/nix-gui/issues/77 letting users configure a predefined list of options relevant to completing a task will bring us closer to that goal.