The indoctrination of windows is extreme. Windows is just as hard as linux, harder even with all the layers of obscurity.

And yet… linux is hard, and users decry RTFM as “not growing the userbase”

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    2 days ago

    My wife is on NixOS, because she wanted a system that would be exactly the same if it died. She doesn’t know Linux from Mac or Windows; She doesn’t care about privacy or where apps come from, only that it operates the exact same everyday. (And Windows could not satisfy this requirement)

    • PoolloverNathan@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      A pain point I’ve seen with NixOS for new users is the focus on editing files — how easy is it for her to install applications that way?

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 days ago

        She doesn’t install apps, Her config is what she needs. But nixOS install is pretty simple if you can copy paste text.

        You go here https://search.nixos.org/packages

        Search for a package, and click if you want permanent or ephemeral app and paste the code into the shell or into your config file.

        Run a rebuild

        Pretty easy

        • PoolloverNathan@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          Yeah, I’m used to NixOS — however, having to edit the config (instead of e.g. a package manager) is a common pain point I see when others use NixOS, and it often leads to them switching distros.

          • BCsven@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 day ago

            Yeah, I find it simple, but I’m used to text edits driving batch files etc. Daily driver I use Tumbleweed, the Yast zypper GUI gives you select and apply for pqckages, no command line needed.

      • Russ@bitforged.space
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 days ago

        IIRC, flatpaks do work with NixOS so long as it’s enabled (and you’ve installed GNOME Software / Discover / etc - since I assume they’re not using the terminal to install programs, and that’s assuming that they don’t need more than a web browser).

        So, if OP already set that up, then if Flathub has all you need, then it would make sense.

        Though the Nix philosophy would disagree because that’s imperatively installing software rather than declaratively. You could probably wire up something to dump flatpak list to a file every so often and then load that in from configuration.nix or a Flake, but I’m not well versed in Nix at all haha