dotfiles

My set of files for OS and packages configuration. I'm using NixOS.

My hardware:

• main laptop named "Spectre"
• secondary laptop named "Veteran" + external VGA monitor
• Raspberry PI 2 B+
• old stationary PC (with Windows and hard drives that I cannot use or format)

Installation

On a fresh NixOS installed on laptop "Spectre", I run:

nix-shell -p git
git clone https://github.com/robert-dorna/dotfiles
exit
cd dotfiles/nixos
nixos-rebuild -I nixos-config=./host-spectre.nix boot
reboot

And then after reboot:

cd dotfiles
./install.sh

On "Veteran" laptop I do the same but for ./host-veteran.nix.

Custom ISO for bootable LiveCD/USB stick

See: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Creating_a_NixOS_live_CD.

I'm using this feature to create a custom .iso for USB boot with docker, ngrok and other devops stuff, which I sometimes use on my old PC to host my dockerized apps without affecting PC hard drives.

TODO: livecd.nix should be defining a normal iso optimized for being run from pendrive without installer logic.

build image

cd nixos
nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos>' -A config.system.build.isoImage -I nixos-config=livecd.nix

test image locally on VM

requires qemu package (run nix-shell -p qemu if you don't have it)

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 256 -cdrom result/iso/nixos-*.iso

write image to USB stick

replace sdX with your USB stick (you can run lsblk before and after plugging in USB stick to see which it is)

dd if=result/iso/nixos-*.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fdatasync

TODO

• Utilize Nix, Docker, Nushell and AI more, reduce Bash etc.

• One command to get .iso on USB stick (potentially download or generate, and setup), and one command inside that .iso to install my OS on new machine.

• Sync all my private data between computers and encrypted on cloud

• I could be using nix user profiles (additional environments) and not just define all programs as system packages (system environment)

• I could use nix to define/handle more stuff (e.g. neovim settings, bashrc, vscode extensions, python modules, i3 config, ...)

• I could use Flakes cuz AFAIK they are important and maybe a way to go right now: In 2023, you shouldn’t be using nix-env or niv or shell.nix but rather just use ... | Hacker News

• sync screen lock and maybe unlock (that could be risky) between laptops and with my phone

• automatic locking when away and general synchronization with phone

• any computer on any screen via remote sharing, e.g. xrdp, but also needs to be secure