Hi everyone,
I’ve been a happy user of Fedora Workstation since Fedora 36 on my Surface Go 1.
I really enjoy Gnome and everything is set up the way I want to.
Since I was really happy with my setup I just wanted to be able to replicate it easily through Clonezilla so that I could port it on any future computer I’d get.
Sadly, even with the help of really helpful and knowledgeable users on Lemmy, it hasn’t worked (sh.itjust.works/post/25963065).
So now I’m left wondering if there could be a distribution that I’d enjoy and which would be easy to deploy on another computer as I’d hate to have to configure everything on every computer I’d get.
I love Gnome but I wouldn’t be against trying something else if necessary.
What distribution could meet my needs?
(nixos more or less requires you understand programming syntax for writing your system config)
It's technically not a real programming language but an expression language. The difference is that the former is a series of commands to execute in the specified order to produce arbitrary effects while the latter is a declaration of a set of data. You can think of it like writing a config file i.e. in JSON format.
The syntax isn't really the hard part here. You can learn the basics that comprise 99% of Nix code in a few minutes.
The actually hard part is first figuring out what you even want to do and then second how the NixOS-specific interface for that thing is intended to be used. The former requires general Linux experience and the latter research and problem solving skills.
It's hard to say whether it's difficult or not coming into it already knowing how to program
More people than not struggle to come to terms with what a variable is let alone all the stuff you can do in nix
There are definitely other hard parts, but I didn't want to write a wall of text lol
I’ve managed to create an archive with SaveDesktop, but only on my internal disk drive as I think the external drive was what was creating the problem.
Do you know what would be the difference if I backup or don’t my home file? I’d have to find a way to back it up outside of home, but it’s complicated since it doesn’t work with an external drive.
I mean I don’t think I can backup home with Savedesktop inside home, so I’ll have to look at my file structure once I can get back in front of my computer.
While that's certainly true, using NixOS usually does not involve many advanced concepts or requires you to understand them.
You can set foo = bar
in a .conf file without knowing what a variable is either.
I think the reason why it didn’t work on your external drive is that is a different permission to system files. Something to do with usb stuff.
When it comes to backing up your home files, I’m not sure what you mean by home file? Do you mean the home folder? Cause if so I don’t think SaveDesktop can do that as that includes all your files, not just your configs. You’d have to use another tool to move those folders.
Sorry as I’m struggling to express clearly.
SaveDesktop has the option to backup your home folder.
I was thinking that the save destination had to be outside of the home folder if I wanted to also backup my home folder. Otherwise it could end up in some kind of loop where the archive would contain itself and get bigger and bigger. That’s why I thought the SaveDesktop archive with the home folder shouldn’t be saved inside home.
I hope It nakes more sense 😅
Because the only way to have a functioning NixOS system is to have it be reproducible. That's the only way it works; Nix is reproducible by design.
The ability to reproduce a system implies the ability to replicate it.