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For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled. NixOS also has tools and options which are not all pure and declarative, they're just not considered,

For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled. NixOS also has tools and options which are not all pure and declarative, they're just not considered, "the way." I find NixOS to have a bit of a high learning curve, but worth it for the power and reproducibility.

rgoulter 4y ago
> For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled. https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total In terms of total number of packages, nixpkgs unstable is at 72k, while AUR is at 68k. I'd bet there are many caveats, though.
- hailwren 4y ago
  An unfortunate huge one is any way to interact w/ Intel Optimus. I can't be the only dev that wants to eat my gpu cake and have my battery life optimization cake too. Bumblebee and optimus-manager both solve this in the aur.
  - pxc 4y ago
    Bumblebee is well-supported in NixOS. My last mobile NVIDIA hardware has died, but I used it Bumblebee on NixOS for years. https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&from=0&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=bumblebee https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&from=0&size=5... https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&show=hardware.nvidia.powerManagement.finegrained&from=0&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=nvidia+prime https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&show=hardware...
    - hailwren 4y ago
      Oh, this is great info. Thank you. I use optimus-manager and it's 100% not, so I thought I was just SoL.
      - pxc 4y ago
        It'll probably still be a bit of a pain to work out. I hate getting NVIDIA Optimus stuff working on a laptop for the first time, lol You might want to consult the unofficial wiki: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nvidia https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nvidia (You probably want PRIME in offload mode rather than Bumblebee, which wasn't available when I set up my old NVIDIA system.)
        whateveracct 4y ago
        PRIME offload + the nvidia-offload script works great for me. sync mode actually stopped working for me, but that's not a big deal since the offloading works so well. I always use my GPU when I need it.
- soraminazuki 4y ago
  A direct comparison with AUR is meaningless though. AUR is very unusual because it allows anyone to freely upload packages without going through review. So there are many duplicates and packaging quality varies wildly.
- enoyls 4y ago
  I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. AUR is a supplementary set of packages, and it looks like you're comparing it to the total number that Nix supports. Wouldn't a more fair comparison would be official Arch packages + AUR to nixpkgs?
  - soraminazuki 4y ago
    No, because that would be comparing the number of official packages + third party packages with duplicates in Arch against the number of official packages in Nixpkgs. That's as fair as comparing the number of official Nixpkgs packages + every unofficial Nix package on GitHub against the number of official Arch packages.
tjoff 4y ago
> * For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled * No it is not. Please don't spread that nonsense. Tons of packages don't work. Many are not maintained. Debugging packages are a huge pain. I've never had so much problems on any distro related to packages as on nixos. Which is expected! Nixos is novel and a niche, few develop for it and tons of stuff break because assumptions that work on all other distros don't. But please don't try to give people the idea that nixos package situation is great or even good. It is only hurting the cause.

rgoulter 4y ago

> For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled. https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total In terms of total number of packages, nixpkgs unstable is at 72k, while AUR is at 68k. I'd bet there are many caveats, though.

hailwren 4y ago
An unfortunate huge one is any way to interact w/ Intel Optimus. I can't be the only dev that wants to eat my gpu cake and have my battery life optimization cake too. Bumblebee and optimus-manager both solve this in the aur.
- pxc 4y ago
  Bumblebee is well-supported in NixOS. My last mobile NVIDIA hardware has died, but I used it Bumblebee on NixOS for years. https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&from=0&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=bumblebee https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&from=0&size=5... https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&show=hardware.nvidia.powerManagement.finegrained&from=0&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=nvidia+prime https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=22.05&show=hardware...
  - hailwren 4y ago
    Oh, this is great info. Thank you. I use optimus-manager and it's 100% not, so I thought I was just SoL.
    - pxc 4y ago
      It'll probably still be a bit of a pain to work out. I hate getting NVIDIA Optimus stuff working on a laptop for the first time, lol You might want to consult the unofficial wiki: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nvidia https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Nvidia (You probably want PRIME in offload mode rather than Bumblebee, which wasn't available when I set up my old NVIDIA system.)
      - whateveracct 4y ago
        PRIME offload + the nvidia-offload script works great for me. sync mode actually stopped working for me, but that's not a big deal since the offloading works so well. I always use my GPU when I need it.
soraminazuki 4y ago
A direct comparison with AUR is meaningless though. AUR is very unusual because it allows anyone to freely upload packages without going through review. So there are many duplicates and packaging quality varies wildly.
enoyls 4y ago
I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. AUR is a supplementary set of packages, and it looks like you're comparing it to the total number that Nix supports. Wouldn't a more fair comparison would be official Arch packages + AUR to nixpkgs?
- soraminazuki 4y ago
  No, because that would be comparing the number of official packages + third party packages with duplicates in Arch against the number of official packages in Nixpkgs. That's as fair as comparing the number of official Nixpkgs packages + every unofficial Nix package on GitHub against the number of official Arch packages.

tjoff 4y ago

> * For x86, the package availability is almost unparalleled * No it is not. Please don't spread that nonsense. Tons of packages don't work. Many are not maintained. Debugging packages are a huge pain. I've never had so much problems on any distro related to packages as on nixos. Which is expected! Nixos is novel and a niche, few develop for it and tons of stuff break because assumptions that work on all other distros don't. But please don't try to give people the idea that nixos package situation is great or even good. It is only hurting the cause.