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Official NixOS Wiki Launched

51 points by adham-omran 2y ago

adham-omran 2y ago
The announcement on discourse can be found here https://discourse.nixos.org/t/wiki-nixos-org-is-now-live/42570 https://discourse.nixos.org/t/wiki-nixos-org-is-now-live/425...
keybored 2y ago
https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Overview_of_the_Nix_Language https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Overview_of_the_Nix_Language > The Nix language is designed for conveniently creating and composing derivations – precise descriptions of how contents of existing files are used to derive new files. I’m getting Wikipedia math vibes.
- lenerdenator 2y ago
  Reminds me of the Haskell entry on the Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages [0]. "1990 - A committee formed by Simon Peyton-Jones, Paul Hudak, Philip Wadler, Ashton Kutcher, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals creates Haskell, a pure, non-strict, functional language. Haskell gets some resistance due to the complexity of using monads to control side effects. Wadler tries to appease critics by explaining that "a monad is a monoid in the category of endofunctors, what's the problem?"" Math people: "What if we made software code more like mathematical proofs?" Idk. What if you had dated before age 38? [0] http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-m...
- yencabulator 2y ago
  You've only scratched the surface. > pkgs.mkShell is a specialized stdenv.mkDerivation that removes some repetition when using it with nix-shell (or nix develop). https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#sec-pkgs-mkShell https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#sec-pkgs-mkShell
chiffre01 2y ago
Early days, but it would be nice if the install guides were written out, not just links to videos.
- kkfx 2y ago
  IME videos + examples (repo of various configs for many common and less common scenarios) are much more effective (if up to date) than classic guides, specially for on-screen usages, while books are far more effective for the printed world. Producing books demand a significant effort, especially if it's a teaching book, not a mere reference and still cover enough, keeping it up to date in a modern project it's almost a nightmare, so videos and examples remain the quickest and easiest solution. Personally the main issue I have with NixOS is: - the Nix language, especially compared to Guix System - the lack of quickly digestible AND still deep enough docs I've using NixOS as my main desktop and homeserver since some years and I still have to know Nix enough to be really "confident enough"...
  - Asraelite 2y ago
    I often like videos simply because it's impossible to leave out crucial information; everything is shown. Text guides will often skip steps because they assume the reader will know what to do.
    - hammyhavoc 2y ago
      Wikis by their very nature allow for people to catch these problems and let people know where there's shortcomings. As anybody can just hit record on a video and log the entire thing, having a reference video for a process is easy enough, as is turning a video into a transcript automatically that can then be embellished upon. Screenshots can also be taken from videos if there's something visual that may be lost in text.
- hammyhavoc 2y ago
  Yes, videos are not good for accessibility, and a lot of people in software don't get on with videos. Same goes for people whose first language is not English.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
uyzstvqs 2y ago
I will definitely bookmark this. I've been meaning to try out NixOS. It seems like a really interesting alternative to using containers for deploying servers. Both much simpler and much more powerful.
dcchambers 2y ago
Good wikis take time, a good community, and consistent leadership. Seeding content is hard and good content takes time to write and effort to maintain. I think NixOS needs a wiki like this, so I am glad to see this project started. Hopefully it succeeds!

51 points by adham-omran 2y ago

The announcement on discourse can be found here https://discourse.nixos.org/t/wiki-nixos-org-is-now-live/42570 https://discourse.nixos.org/t/wiki-nixos-org-is-now-live/425...

keybored 2y ago

https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Overview_of_the_Nix_Language https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Overview_of_the_Nix_Language > The Nix language is designed for conveniently creating and composing derivations – precise descriptions of how contents of existing files are used to derive new files. I’m getting Wikipedia math vibes.

lenerdenator 2y ago
Reminds me of the Haskell entry on the Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages [0]. "1990 - A committee formed by Simon Peyton-Jones, Paul Hudak, Philip Wadler, Ashton Kutcher, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals creates Haskell, a pure, non-strict, functional language. Haskell gets some resistance due to the complexity of using monads to control side effects. Wadler tries to appease critics by explaining that "a monad is a monoid in the category of endofunctors, what's the problem?"" Math people: "What if we made software code more like mathematical proofs?" Idk. What if you had dated before age 38? [0] http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-m...
yencabulator 2y ago
You've only scratched the surface. > pkgs.mkShell is a specialized stdenv.mkDerivation that removes some repetition when using it with nix-shell (or nix develop). https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#sec-pkgs-mkShell https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/stable/#sec-pkgs-mkShell

chiffre01 2y ago

Early days, but it would be nice if the install guides were written out, not just links to videos.

kkfx 2y ago
IME videos + examples (repo of various configs for many common and less common scenarios) are much more effective (if up to date) than classic guides, specially for on-screen usages, while books are far more effective for the printed world. Producing books demand a significant effort, especially if it's a teaching book, not a mere reference and still cover enough, keeping it up to date in a modern project it's almost a nightmare, so videos and examples remain the quickest and easiest solution. Personally the main issue I have with NixOS is: - the Nix language, especially compared to Guix System - the lack of quickly digestible AND still deep enough docs I've using NixOS as my main desktop and homeserver since some years and I still have to know Nix enough to be really "confident enough"...
- Asraelite 2y ago
  I often like videos simply because it's impossible to leave out crucial information; everything is shown. Text guides will often skip steps because they assume the reader will know what to do.
  - hammyhavoc 2y ago
    Wikis by their very nature allow for people to catch these problems and let people know where there's shortcomings. As anybody can just hit record on a video and log the entire thing, having a reference video for a process is easy enough, as is turning a video into a transcript automatically that can then be embellished upon. Screenshots can also be taken from videos if there's something visual that may be lost in text.
hammyhavoc 2y ago
Yes, videos are not good for accessibility, and a lot of people in software don't get on with videos. Same goes for people whose first language is not English.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

uyzstvqs 2y ago

I will definitely bookmark this. I've been meaning to try out NixOS. It seems like a really interesting alternative to using containers for deploying servers. Both much simpler and much more powerful.

dcchambers 2y ago

Good wikis take time, a good community, and consistent leadership. Seeding content is hard and good content takes time to write and effort to maintain. I think NixOS needs a wiki like this, so I am glad to see this project started. Hopefully it succeeds!