McArthur, 2 years ago (edited 1 year ago)

This is a selling point I don’t often see people discussing but it has killed my need to swap distros… Possibly forever. I’ve been using it for a year now and have such a clean well organised config file. Version controlled, broken up into modules, with separate configurations for desktop laptop and server. Unlike any other distro, at any moment I can just hard reset to what that config describes. If I swap DEs, or python versions, or whatever else, the system no longer slowly builds up clutter and random arcane bugs and bloat. It feels like today my system is better, newer, and cleaner than when I started with it. And at any moment I can install my exact system down to every little detail on a new device. Nix is legendary for long term system maintenance.

That’s what I love about it, among all the other good things everyone talks about.

Even better it’s the first time I’ve actually felt the desire to learn to package apps that aren’t available, because the nix language makes it so easy.

Of course there is definitely a learning curve, compared to other distros. Going from… at the time arch/fedora to nix felt like just as big a change as going from Windows to Linux in the first place, such a big shift in how I did everything. But definitely worth it.