I got it bad!

Back in January, I had a seizure in my sleep at around 12AM. Luckily I was at my Dads and my sister was with me. She heard me not breathing well and when she turned on the light, she said my lips were blue (lack of oxygen). She started CPR on me and called 911. They rushed me to the hospital and from what I was told, I was clinically dead in the ambulance for about 5-10 seconds when they got to the hospital. The paramedics were doing what they could to bring me back and they succeeded.

So, the hospital I was at, they put me on Keppra and I've been taking 2 a day ever since. This was the first seizure I've ever had in my life. I had just turned 60 the month before.

The rage part... I am very irritable now. Anything will set me off and I'm afraid it's ruining my marriage! It's scaring me!!! I know I need to talk to my wife about it and I probably will. Right now my daughter is visiting with my granddaughter and I love them both sooooo much and I love having them here. I still get irritated easily about things and I know my daughter sees me being irritated easily. I probably need to talk to her as well so she understands why I am acting the way I am.

It's like I don't give two shits about anything anymore (with the exception of my daughter and granddaughter). My wife is also on some heavy medications for pain and whatnot and I think that may be having some symptoms of irritability on her as well. I don't know all the medications she's on but a lot of it is pain killers. All prescribed of course.

I've been able to deal with her irritability in the past but now, with the medicine I'm on, it's impossible to do that and that's not even the half of it. I've become less caring of myself. Meaning, if something happens to me, I wouldn't care if I didn't live through it. I know, right? Hard to read someone saying that.

Now, I'm not suicidal or anything like that. I have plenty ways to take my own life but I have no inclination of doing so. But if something were to happen to me suddenly like a car crash or another seizure or something like that, I wouldn't mind if that ended everything. I'm not afraid of dying but I'd never purposely take my own life.

I know, hard stuff to read and I would be shocked reading something like this as well but I really have no fear of death but I'm never going to force it upon myself. But I'm ready if it ever happens.

That's got to be the medicine... right?

I don't want them to put me on something else. I heard that switching meds sometimes has negative implications and I really don't want something bad to happen to me as a result of that. On the same token, if they did change my meds and I had a negative reaction to it, I kinda hope it would just end my misery quickly and painlessly. How I died in the ambulance is kind of how I want to go. I went to sleep and almost never woke up. I never felt the seizure occurring, didn't have any idea my sister was giving me CPR, didn't know the paramedics pulled me off the bed, put me on a gurney and rolled me into an ambulance. All I remember is waking up and seeing the back of an ambulance as I was being pulled out of the ambulance. But if I didn't wake up, I'd have been perfectly fine with that. Zero pain or discomfort at all! I kinda feel like I had that taken away from me a little bit. No one wants to go out with a lot of pain.

I know... Go see a psychotherapist... Well, I wasn't working when this happened and I have no medical insurance. I was turned down by both Medicaid AND Social Security so I have no way to pay Dr Bills right now.

I can start driving again on the 23rd of this month so I can go back to work then. But for now, I really can't do anything.

I'm writing this just to vent. Hopefully it will help me talk to my wife and daughter. I hate feeling this way and I don't want them looking at me as some old geezer miserable a-hole. This is definitely medicine related because I never ever felt this way before in my entire life.

And no one told me of the side effects and what medicines I can take and what I can't take with this stuff. I used to take an allergy medicine and it helped me every day during the spring. I can not take it now because the way it reacts to Keppra. So I've been miserable with allergies all spring and even up to today. I'm hoping this dissipates quickly now that summer is here. Allergies and heat... Not fun!

There's a lot of stuff I can't take now that I used to. I can't take Hydrocodone anymore because it has a serious reaction to Keppra and any other seizure medicine from what I hear. I have a bad back and now a sore shoulder and all I can take is Extra Strength Tylenol... What a joke!

If anyone has some similar experiences and has figured out a trick to get around the irritability thing with Keppra, please let me know your secrets.

S5E5 Dead Freight where they rob the train.

How do they know how far out the tanker will be from the main engine before digging the hole for the water tank and the meth tank?

I'm thinking about becoming certified in Medical Billing and Coding. I already have a few of the classes done (I was studying to become a Radiologist but needed to get back to work at the time so I quit just before the main radiology classes began). I have the medical terminology done as well as a couple other classed. My nephew told me there's 10 classes needed to be certified and I think I'm already close to being half way there.

The Linux part of it, I've been using Linux full time now since 2018. I haven't even looked at Windows 11 and I think I used Windows 10 for maybe 30-45 minutes (it's the main reason I switched to Linux full time). Can I do this job if I do a Work From Home type deal using Linux? If it's all browser based, I probably can. And LibreOffice Calc can work with Excel files rather well on my machine.

If it's all online, then I should have zero issues using Linux with a browser. But if there is a specific program used for Medical Billing, I may have to use Windows on a separate machine or maybe in a VM here. That (using Windows in a VM) would work too I think.

Is anyone else using Linux in this profession? If not, what is your work around?

TL;DR (I copy / pasted this section from the bottom of my post and moved it up here... This was my final thought)... So the ending stops abruptly because this was my last thought. :)

Directing this mostly towards the seasoned Linux users out there.

So, how do you all feel about all of these questions about which Distro to use and all that? A lot of times I look at a title especially here and in the r/linux4noobs subreddit and think, 'Jeez... Just download a bunch and try them out... It's not like you have to run to a computer show to get Linux anymore...'. Right?

______Rant Starts Here______

This isn't a direct question about Linux itself {oddly placed since I moved my TL:DR to the top... but anyways...}. But rather, a question about how us old time Linux users feel about all these questions about which Linux distros to use that have been popping up lately.

First off, I want to say that I am overwhelmed with the enthusiasm about how popular Linux has gotten in just the last 12 months. Most of it is caused by Microsoft making a bloat AI infested OS that has pulled MANY people away from it. I think it's safe to say that Windows 11 has been the bane of its own existence for sure! In fact, I'm really glad that I've never been introduced to it (Windows 11) myself. I used Windows 10 for about an hour maybe after the TOS for Windows 7 was supposed to first run out (2018 but was extended to 2020 I believe). Anyway, the most productive thing I did with Windows 10 was download the Linux Mint Cinnamon ISO. I didn't really want to run Windows 7 if it wasn't going to get updates anymore. So I switched to Linux full time in the summer of 2018.

But I love the fact that so many people are jumping on board the Linux train. What I don't love is how some of these newcomers are being told to use something like Arch or Gentoo from the get go. This leads them to ask questions about how to do things that are well documented all over the internet. I can understand if these newcomers were first introduced to things like MS-DOS in the 1980s and used floppy disks and whatnot to get things installed. What I don't get is how in the information age there are soooooo many questions about which distro to run.

Yes, I totally get that there are probably 100x the amount of distros out there now than there were in the 80s and 90s (I dabbled in Linux in 1994... with floppy disks). But at the time, we didn't have Google or Yahoo or DuckDuckGo or anything like that. My Google was the SysOp who ran the local BBS and had a lot of Linux experience and was more than happy to help a few people out. The guy literally wrote documentation on how to install Linux with I believe it was the Gnome Desktop which looked more like an older version of Windows 2.0 at the time as I recall.

Today, there's just SOOO much information on the web about Linux and distros in general and these questions are really becoming impossible to answer because there is just a BUNCH of distros out there that look different. They all essentially do the same thing, they just look different doing it. We just can't answer those questions anymore. I applaud the ones who try but, there's just no way of knowing what's best for everyone else.

I used to frequent DistroWatch back in the early 2000s just to see what was going on in the Linux community. It was actually a pretty fascinating page and still is pretty cool to look at even today. In fact, I saw some cool distros on there that I wouldn't mind taking a peek at in a VM one day.

But I sense today, it would be overwhelming to a new Linux user to look for something on DistroWatch that "Fits them". I think the Ranking list had maybe 10 or 15 different distros in it back when it first started. Today it does the top 100... Tell me that isn't overwhelming to someone new.

Reddit in general, when it comes to computers and Linux, mostly has become a black hole for common questions that anyone should be able to answer on their own with a simple web search. I don't think I'm being too harsh saying that either. I'm a hardware (PC) guy. I can build a PC and tell you exactly what you need to run it the best way possible (hardware wise). I was never a software guy. All I could do was run setup.exe or install.com and I could get that computer and software up and running. The way I learned to use the software that came with that OS was to just open stuff up and see what it did, what I liked and what I didn't like about it. Before Windows I was a DOS user. Word Perfect for DOS is one of the main things I remember using. That and Norton Commander (BTW, if you want a great Norton Commander look alike, try Midnight Commander (mc) and it will blow your mind). But yeah, Norton Commander was my file manager of choice. Even in Windows 3.1 I'd drop to a DOS Prompt just to use Norton Commander. In fact, I HATED Windows File Manager back then.

But I learned to use all of that on my own with some help from the SysOp I mentioned earlier. He turned me on to Norton Commander.

So, I am always puzzled with all of the questions about, 'Which distro should I use', 'How do I install this', 'How do I change the theme', yada, yada, yada... I too had those questions but i don't think I ever went to a forum to ask those questions. I just started installing Linux distros until I found one I liked. And I played around with the settings until I had it looking nice.

I kinda liked Caldera OpenLinux. I did use that on a second computer back in 1999-2002. I loved it. And I think I was kind of unimpressed with Linux when it just disappeared back in 2002. I was pretty loyal to it too. After losing it, I kinda lost track of where to go after that. Kinda disappointing really to be honest. I think it was the first full featured distro I installed from a CD. It was pretty cool! But then it went belly up and I just stopped using that PC altogether and went back to Windows full time. And I didn't ask anyone about it either. I just bought the CD at a computer show one Sunday (that's where I got ALL of my early Linux stuff back in the day was the monthly computer shows), brought it home and installed it. Read the manual that was on the CD. Seemed pretty straight forward to me and it was pretty simple to use. I've often thought about locating that CD (I know I still have it somewhere in my collection), setting up an old PC and throwing Caldera on it and showing it off with a couple photos of a Color CRT Monitor and PC running Caldera in the r/vintagecomputing Subreddit.

To end this on a positive note, I LOVE helping others but helping people finding a distro that's right for them is like helping them find a pair of underwear that's perfect for them... It's become more of a personal experience I think over the last few years.

The rest of the show is nice and clear. S1E7 is the worst though.

Anyone else experience this before on netflix?

Per the NixOS Fish Configuration page, I've done what it says.

I've tried adding the stuff it says to add to configuration.nix file (I still have that all setup to work in the /etc/nixos folder BTW).

programs.fish.enable = true;
  users.extraUsers.phydoux = {
    ...
    shell = pkgs.fish;
  };

I get this message when trying to run sudo nixos-rebuild switch

error:
       … while calling the 'seq' builtin
         at «github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a0374025a863d007d98e3297f6aa46cc3141c2f0?narHash=sha256-9mUW6gNwoN2SWc/l0fW4svPNOulXLl8ijqKyeSOGgJE%3D»/lib/modules.nix:402:18:
          401|         options = checked options;
          402|         config = checked (removeAttrs config [ "_module" ]);
             |                  ^
          403|         _module = checked (config._module);

       … while evaluating a branch condition
         at «github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a0374025a863d007d98e3297f6aa46cc3141c2f0?narHash=sha256-9mUW6gNwoN2SWc/l0fW4svPNOulXLl8ijqKyeSOGgJE%3D»/lib/modules.nix:305:9:
          304|       checkUnmatched =
          305|         if config._module.check && config._module.freeformType == null && merged.unmatchedDefns != [ ] then
             |         ^
          306|           let

       (stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full, detailed trace)

       error: syntax error, unexpected identifier, expecting '}'
       at /nix/store/lyq25s7mgavpnc3c1fv6wjb423dq1ci2-source/configuration.nix:40:5:
           39|     ...
           40|     shell = pkgs.fish;
             |     ^
           41|   };
Command 'nix --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' build --print-out-paths '/etc/nixos#nixosConfigurations."nixos-btw".config.system.build.nixos-rebuild' --no-link' returned non-zero exit status 1.

I removed that addition to configuration.nix file and run sudo nixos-rebuild switch again and it works fine.

I've tried adding the stuff it says to add to the home.nix file after removing what I did in configuration.nix

home-manager.users.phydoux = {
  programs.fish.enable = true;
};

and I get this error running sudo nixos-rebuild switch

building the system configuration...
error:
       … while calling the 'head' builtin
         at «github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a0374025a863d007d98e3297f6aa46cc3141c2f0?narHash=sha256-9mUW6gNwoN2SWc/l0fW4svPNOulXLl8ijqKyeSOGgJE%3D»/lib/attrsets.nix:1712:13:
         1711|           if length values == 1 || pred here (elemAt values 1) (head values) then
         1712|             head values
             |             ^
         1713|           else

       … while evaluating the attribute 'value'
         at «github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a0374025a863d007d98e3297f6aa46cc3141c2f0?narHash=sha256-9mUW6gNwoN2SWc/l0fW4svPNOulXLl8ijqKyeSOGgJE%3D»/lib/modules.nix:1167:7:
         1166|     // {
         1167|       value = addErrorContext "while evaluating the option `${showOption loc}':" value;
             |       ^
         1168|       inherit (res.defsFinal') highestPrio;

       … while evaluating the option `system.build.toplevel':

       … while evaluating definitions from `/nix/store/9figz32vbiblaw5x3li1hc8q9qwlwf27-source/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix':

       … while evaluating the option `assertions':

       … while evaluating definitions from `/nix/store/q6xgs6skx7cc3cxvc6icq27d41div2yy-source/nixos/common.nix':

       (stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full, detailed trace)

       error: The option `home-manager.users.phydoux.home-manager' does not exist. Definition values:
       - In `/nix/store/9figz32vbiblaw5x3li1hc8q9qwlwf27-source/flake.nix':
           {
             users = {
               phydoux = {
                 home = {
                   programs = {
           ...

       Did you mean `home-manager.users.phydoux.home-files', `home-manager.users.phydoux.home' or `home-manager.users.phydoux.manual'?
Command 'nix --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes' build --print-out-paths '/etc/nixos#nixosConfigurations."nixos-btw".config.system.build.toplevel' --no-link' returned non-zero exit status 1.

I've even tried adding both and I get errors.

I don't get what the problem is here. I've added these files to my configuration.nix file

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [    
    fishPlugins.fzf-fish
    fishPlugins.forgit
    fishPlugins.hydro
    fzf
    fishPlugins.grc
    grc
   ];

and it appears to have installed the necessary files for fish. I can type fish at the bash prompt in the terminal and fish starts fine. So, I don't get what I'm missing here...

I haven't gotten to the extra sections because I have yet to get configuration.nix or home.nix to rebuild correctly. From what I can tell, I don't see anything that requires flakes. So I don't know what the issue is.

I'm running this in a VM BTW because these are the issues I was having on my main system. Other than just adding programs to my environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ section, I can't get anything else to work properly. I keep getting these errors and even while adding code from the official NixOS page, I get these errors.

The VM I am using I installed using the minimal install process as performed in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QjzI5dXwDY

I have flakes and home manager installed and all seems to be running well with those installed.

Lastly, Here are my 4 config files in their entirety...

configuration.nix

{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:

{
  imports =
    [
      ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ];

  boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
  boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;

  networking.hostName = "nixos-btw";

  networking.networkmanager.enable = true;

  time.timeZone = "America/New_York";

  services.xserver = {
      enable = true;
      autoRepeatDelay = 200;
      autoRepeatInterval = 35;
      windowManager.qtile.enable = true;
     # configFile = /home/phydoux/.config/qtile/config.py;
};
services.displayManager.ly.enable = true;

  users.users.phydoux= {
    isNormalUser = true;
    home = "/home/phydoux";
    extraGroups = [ "wheel" ]; 
    packages = with pkgs; [
      tree
    ];
   };

programs.firefox.enable = true;
#programs.fish.enable = true;
#  users.extraUsers.phydoux = {
#    ...
#    shell = pkgs.fish;
#  };

nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;
 
environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
     vim
     wget
     git
     alacritty
     fastfetch
     firefox
     rofi
     dmenu
     geany
     emacs
     nixd
     pcmanfm
     picom
     discord
     eog
     nitrogen
 #
    fishPlugins.done
    fishPlugins.fzf-fish
    fishPlugins.forgit
    fishPlugins.hydro
    fzf
    fishPlugins.grc
    grc
    # Use 3rd-party fish plugins manually packaged.
#    (pkgs.callPackage ../fish-colored-man.nix {buildFishPlugin = pkgs.fishPlugins.buildFishPlugin; } )
  
  ];

  fonts.packages = with pkgs; [
    nerd-fonts.jetbrains-mono
  ];

  nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
  system.stateVersion = "26.05";
}

home.nix

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
      home.username = "phydoux";
      #home.HomeDirectory = "/home/phydoux";
      programs.git.enable = true;
      home.stateVersion = "26.05";
      programs.bash = {
  enable = true;
  shellAliases = {
      btw = "echo I use NixOS, BTW";
};
     };

#home-manager.users.phydoux.home = {
#  programs.fish.enable = true;
#};

}

flake.nix

{
description = "NixOS The Arch Way";
inputs = {
            nixpkgs.url = "nixpkgs/nixos-26.05";
    home-manager = {
url = "github:nix-community/home-manager/release-26.05";
inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};
    };
outputs = { self, nixpkgs, home-manager, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.nixos-btw = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
system = "x86_64-linux";
modules = [
    ./configuration.nix
    home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager
    {
home-manager = {
    useGlobalPkgs = true;
    useUserPackages = true;
    users.phydoux = import ./home.nix;
    backupFileExtension = "backup";
        };
    }
              ];
         };
    };
}

flake.lock

{
  "nodes": {
    "home-manager": {
      "inputs": {
        "nixpkgs": [
          "nixpkgs"
        ]
      },
      "locked": {
        "lastModified": 1781319724,
        "narHash": "sha256-ZGuxexEMo4Xv28KJ0dX/m/PHN4oZIOnxHZpNTyrvx4M=",
        "owner": "nix-community",
        "repo": "home-manager",
        "rev": "8355f0a16b2dbb06a97959a918af5b239bbe05ae",
        "type": "github"
      },
      "original": {
        "owner": "nix-community",
        "ref": "release-26.05",
        "repo": "home-manager",
        "type": "github"
      }
    },
    "nixpkgs": {
      "locked": {
        "lastModified": 1781216227,
        "narHash": "sha256-9mUW6gNwoN2SWc/l0fW4svPNOulXLl8ijqKyeSOGgJE=",
        "owner": "NixOS",
        "repo": "nixpkgs",
        "rev": "a0374025a863d007d98e3297f6aa46cc3141c2f0",
        "type": "github"
      },
      "original": {
        "id": "nixpkgs",
        "ref": "nixos-26.05",
        "type": "indirect"
      }
    },
    "root": {
      "inputs": {
        "home-manager": "home-manager",
        "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs"
      }
    }
  },
  "root": "root",
  "version": 7
}

Hopefully that's all the info you need to help me solve this. I just don't know why I am unable to copy paste from the text from the NixOS site. It just doesn't work. Did the video I followed do something differently? I read all over that this is the guy to follow for this NixOS stuff.

So, currently as it sits, I have the fish shell running (had to type fish in the bash shell so I am technically using bash to run fish... Not optimal I'm sure).

So, fish is there. But I can't get it to automatically start when I launch a terminal. What do I need to do to accomplish this with my setup?

After a reinstall of NixOS on my main machine this morning and then screwing it up again earlier this afternoon, I took a break from it and watched some TV and thought about my next step. I'm back to using Arch again. But I really wanted to see if it was truly a Noctalia thing or a me with NixOS thing. It's most definitely a me with NixOS thing.

So, after dinner this evening, I went back to Arch Linux. Installing it the Arch way (at the command line how it's supposed to be done, right?) and I got it back up and running. I really wanted to see if I personally was having issues installing Noctalia V5 on NixOS or was it just a PITA to install. Well, I'm here to say I have Noctalia V5.0.0 installed and running on Arch perfectly fine.

So, the Me vs NixOS thing needs to be dealt with. I plan on setting up a VM tomorrow morning and taking a stab at NixOS in a VM. I'm not afraid of hardware differences (VM hardware vs actual system hardware) because the hardware is controlled separately from the programs and NixOS itself. So, technically, if I do get NixOS and Noctalia running together in a VM, I should be able to put my configuration.nix, flake.nix, and home.nix, along with any .lock files up on my git-lab account and install them on any system and have an identical system using those files.

I'm pretty sure I'm correct about the hardware configuration file. I need to use the one that was configured for my system with the installer. Not one that came from my VM. That might make matters difficult. So I am not going to bring the hardware file with me to another system if I get the VM up and running. I may back it up but I don't think it's a good idea to use it on a different system.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE:

Today I did get NixOS setup in a VM (I had to drop to a TTY though... it wouldn't accept my user password because I setup the user and password the Arch way I guess. So I did it the NixOS way and was able to log in). I have flakes and home-manager up and running (further than i got with my physical machine so that's great actually)!

I have it running qtile which is something I haven't used in a while. So I need to re-acclimate myself with it again. But I have a Tiling WM going and I do feel more comfortable with that than I did KDE Plasma.

I did have some typos in there. More }'s missing again or in the wrong place. Can't remember each one. But with vim, I figured out that if I move the cursor over to a { or a [, it'll show me where the closing bracket is. That's how I found out that I was missing a };. So, that's a neat trick actually and I think that'll help with any copy/paste I do.

But I am trekking along. I'm a little further than i was so, I guess that's pretty good progress. Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll look into seeing how Flakes and Home Manager work better hopefully. Maybe by the end of the week I can figure out how to get Noctalia running on that VM. That would be nice!

Thanks for the help everyone! The links and the advice... It really helped a lot I think!

https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/aur-general@lists.archlinux.org/thread/FGXPCB3ZVCJIV7FX323SBAX2JHYB7ZS4/

It's hard for me to dislike Chuck (Michael McKean's character) because I've pretty much loved everything he's done since Laverne and Shirley. Spinal Tap was probably the BEST thing he ever did. And now he's a prick to his brother and has this weird thing with electricity... I love him, but not too much in this show. As pivotal of a role he has in this show, he's kind of a downer really. Probably because he's such a great actor. He knows how to let someone else take the lead role while he's sort of the gel holding the other parts together somewhat.

I've been using NixOS now for a few hours on my main machine using KDE Plasma as my main setup so far. figuring out what I need to do to get Noctalia Shell installed next. I pretty much have all the software on it I need/want. I've got Niri installed but not Noctalia v5 yet which is my ultimate goal.

Been having some issues adding things to the configuration.nix file. Errors and whatnot. But I hope to figure that out tomorrow. It's been a fun day. I love that I can just add a program to the main configuration file and it installs after I rebuild the system with the changes. That's pretty neat actually. Much different from using pacman or apt to install stuff.

Has anyone here ever installed Linux on a friend or relatives PC only to have them switch it back to Windows without telling you?

I installed Linux on my nephews PC a few months ago. Debian 13. There was one instance where an update changed his default printer on him. I fixed that. Then another update removed his printer altogether. A simple reboot brought it back. I told him to try a reboot after an update if it happens again.

Today he calls me and asks me if I have Microsoft Office... The last time I used MS Office was Office 97... I doubt that'll work on Windows 10 or 11 (I just searched to see if it does. It does work, but it would have to be installed in Windows 95 or 98 compatibility mode. That just sounds like a big ol' headache to me. And obviously it's no longer supported anymore either). Anyway, I told him MS Office won't run on Linux. That's when he told me he took the computer back to the place he bought it from and they reinstalled Windows on it and upgraded the RAM I believe.

But all that said and done, I hate to say it but he's pretty much on his own if something happens to it. I know little about Windows 10 and practically nothing about 11. I can probably navigate it. But solving issues using programs I've never used before or that have changed drastically... I'd be living in Google the whole time looking for a solution. He probably knows more about Windows 10 or 11 than I ever will. I suppose I would try to help him but if I can't find a solution, what do I tell him?

...If ya want my help, you should have stuck with Linux...

EDIT: I forgot to mention, HE asked me to put Linux on his machine for him because I've been using nothing but Linux. He dumped Windows for the same reason everyone else is. I did not force it upon him. I even told him I'd help him with it which I did.

Last week I was contemplating moving from Arch to NixOS. I didn't see a reason why I shouldn't give it a whirl. So I backed everything up over the weekend and I finally was able to get this installed about 30 minutes ago.

So, I installed the KDE Plasma version as I did on my secondary machine (went flawless in both that secondary machine and the VM I made prior to doing that).

It booted up just fine. Made some slight modifications like positioning my monitors correctly, setting it to dark mode, etc...

So, I wanted to put the /etc/nixos/configuration.nix file in a folder under my /home/nixos-config folder so I could edit it without being harassed for a password. Well, I think I messed something up because I can't just add programs under environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ right now.

I keep getting this after trying to add programs (vim, git, etc...)

error:
      … while evaluating the attribute 'config'
        at /nix/store/aglmrkgngasa33hk99i06cxn5rfp1fpk-nixos-26.05.889.b51242d7d436/nixos/lib/modules.nix:402:9:
         401|         options = checked options;
         402|         config = checked (removeAttrs config [ "_module" ]);
            |         ^
         403|         _module = checked (config._module);

      … while calling the 'seq' builtin
        at /nix/store/aglmrkgngasa33hk99i06cxn5rfp1fpk-nixos-26.05.889.b51242d7d436/nixos/lib/modules.nix:402:18:
         401|         options = checked options;
         402|         config = checked (removeAttrs config [ "_module" ]);
            |                  ^
         403|         _module = checked (config._module);

      (stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full, detailed trace)

      error: syntax error, unexpected ',', expecting '.' or '='
      at /home/phydoux/nixos-config/configuration.nix:5:9:
           4|
           5| { config, pkgs, ... }:
            |         ^
           6|
Command 'nix-build '<nixpkgs/nixos>' --attr config.system.build.nixos-rebuild --no-out-link' returned non-zero exit status 1.

This is what I did.

First I ran this command

sudo mv /etc/nixos ~/nixos-config

which that actually copied the files. It didn't move them...

Then this one...

sudo chown $USER ~/nixos-config

That seemed to work fine since it set my username as the owner.

Then, I think this is where I screwed up... I ran this command...

sudo ln -s ~/nixos-config /etc/nixos

After that I ran

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

which gave me this

[phydoux@nixos:~]$ sudo nixos-rebuild switch
building the system configuration...
Checking switch inhibitors... done
activating the configuration...
setting up /etc...
reloading user units for phydoux...
restarting sysinit-reactivation.target
the following new units were started: fwupd-refresh.service, fwupd.service, network-online.target, NetworkManager-dispatcher.service, N
etworkManager-wait-online.service, sysinit-reactivation.target, systemd-tmpfiles-resetup.service
Done. The new configuration is /nix/store/79hf0djp9pwgb96f0031c47c40idiw6k-nixos-system-nixos-26.05.889.b51242d7d436

Looked okay. No errors

So I think running the symlink command was different from when I set it up on the secondary PC. I don't remember doing that.

I removed the symlink

sudo unlink /etc/nixos

and I'm still having this issue.

Anyone know how to fix this?

EDIT: Okay, so I fixed it (well, I did a reinstall and did it the correct way...)

So, I did it the same way I did i on my second system which was

cp -r /etc/nixos/ ~/nixos-config

cd nixos-config/

sudo rm -rf /etc/nixos

sudo ln -s ~/nixos-config/ /etc/nixos

and finally

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Reading the comments, I know this isn't a popular way to do it but I can edit the configuration.nix fle now in emacs without having to use sudo to open it.

So, now it's working. My goal is to get Niri and Noctalia-Shell v5 installed sometime this week. Something I haven't been able to do on the secondary machine yet. I may try and get it all setup on that machine first before messing up this one. I've got way too much stuff on this machine to accidentally screw something up.

I know I can just copy the config file over from the other system to this one once I get things going on that other machine. So I may give that a whirl as well.

Thanks for all the insight. It's greatly appreciated!!!

I've been using Arch now for 6+ years and I would like to give NixOS a try. I know I can just install it and go. I'm actually running NixOS in a VM right now and I kinda like it (I'm creating this post from the NixOS VM right now).

I like the fact that to install something you just need to add the package(s) into the /etc/nixos/configuration.nix file after installing it. That's kinda neat I think. No command line sudo pacman or sudo apt install stuff in a terminal. Just add it to the file and run the sudo nixos-rebuild switch command and it's installed!

Is there a way to have the NixOS installer install packages during the initial install or is that something I should just do after the initial install and I'm logged in as my user account? It's not a big deal. That's usually what I do with Arch anyway. Get the main distro installed, reboot, log into my account and start installing stuff. But I'd like to get the alacritty terminal and Thunar installed just because those are my 2 main programs I use all the time. That and now Emacs (but I can't edit the configuration.nix file in Emacs without loading Emacs as Root)

My main reason for wanting to try this is simply because, I want to try something new, something different. Arch has proven to be very reliable for me over the years. I've heard good things about NixOS and not many bad things about it. So, I'm willing to give it a try. I'll be backing stuff up this week and maybe do an install this weekend and getting it (my system) back to where it was with Arch (all of my programs and whatnot) rather quickly using NixOS.

One other thing I want to do is install the new beta release of Noctalia Shell v5. I've been running 4.7.8 now for a while. It's great and I really like it. But as far as I know, they're done making modifications to v4.x. They're working heavily on v5.x now so I want to be using v5 now. I've had some issues trying to get v5 installed on Arch (it's just not starting v5 at all and somehow now it keeps loading DMS by default so now I have to kill DMS and start noctalia-shell manually every time I reboot. Kind of a PITA really).

I have thought about just restarting my system from scratch with Arch but something in the back of my head is pushing me to try NixOS. I'll probably switch to NixOS and if I don't like it, I'll probably go back to Arch. But I really want to give NixOS a shot.

Has anyone else been in this same boat before switching to NixOS? If so, how hard was it mentally to commit to the change. Am I overthinking this? I think I am. But I am ready to rip the Arch band-aid off and go with NixOS and see how it goes.

My wife has a table at a fair coming up and told me I need to try and sell some of my photos. I have some really nice ones too that look great on canvas.

I was thinking about setting up an Etsy account and send people to that to buy/order any prints. I have a few samples I can bring (stuff I have hanging on my walls at home) that I can set out n the table for people to look at. I was thinking of having a pile of cards (business card style) stacked on the table with a link to the site.

Has anyone else done this? If so, what was the response like?

I have either field mice, chipmunks, or squirrels pulling the insulation from under the hood of my car daily building a nest on top of the valve cover chewing on wires and bringing acorn nuts under the hood of the car. What can I put under the hood that won't catch fire while the car is running or won't stink up the inside of the car while it's running to keep these animals from destroying the only reliable car I have?

I've seen them eating their acorns and nuts on the tire of my truck before but they haven't built a nest under there yet...

I've heard of people putting moth balls under there or spraying it with peppermint or something like that to keep them away. Would that work and not make a bad smell inside the car while driving it?

I have done this every year now for the past 21 years. Our AC system usually needs about 2.5 lbs of Freon. Our technician uses 407C on my unit. I see that it costs $425 for a 25 lb can/tank. I paid $287 for him to top off my AC system today.

Is it more practical for me to invest in a set of gauges and hoses and a tank of Freon and recharge it myself every year and save around $300 per year?

Will that 25 lb tank of 407C Last or will if eventually just go bad on me if I leave it in my storage shed? If all I'm using is about 2.5 lbs per year, that 25 lb tank should last a long time if it doesn't ever go bad.

I have watched him do it the last few times he's been here and it looks pretty simple to do really. I know the high side needs to be a certain range and the low side needs to be a certain range. I've seen where letting the Freon in slowly is the best way to charge these AC Units. The unit has to be running to charge it. I know Freon can literally burn you if you let it spray you... Talking with the guy today he said he's had blisters on his hands a few times doing this work.

I know the basics pretty much. Is it practical to do this yourself and save maybe a few thousand dollars over time doing it yourself? Or is that just a terrible idea?

EDIT: Interesting to see the comments about the leak. We've had this thing charged every year since it was new. Was it installed incorrectly? I did not install it. It was installed with the brand new house. I just assumed that they lost Freon normally. Reading the comments, that doesn't seem to be the case. I will see if I can find someone else to come out and find the leak (assuming my regular guy won't bother to tell me there is a leak and everything is fine so he can keep charging my system every year).

Thanks for the insight there! Really appreciate that!!!

This is pretty new to me.

My nephew asked me to troubleshoot a printing issue he started having after an update. He's running Debian 13 which I installed for him but he installed the drivers for the printer. He said it was working fine but after he updated Debian, all of a sudden his printer wouldn't print anymore. I tried to print a document but got a print error. Can't remember what it was but I looked up the solution and it said to install the Brother Printer driver for his model. I downloaded the .gz from the Brother website, unzipped it and installed it but I could not add it to the printer list of devices. He has no other printer devices attached to the computer. It's a laptop that is kind of slow. I didn't check the specs.

So, I am thinking maybe this is a typical Debian Update that has broken something.

I need any suggestions on what to try to get his printer up and running again for him tomorrow.

Like I said, I reinstalled his printer driver, I reinstalled bluez-cups I think it was, I re-enabled and re-started bluetooth, rebooted the computer and all that and it does not recognize the printer. Now, when I looked at his printers, he had a model number that started with MV... His is actually an HL-... And I guess he was using it fine with the MV... driver? I tried to use the sudo rfkill list command to see if his printer was locked but rfkill was not installed. I tried to install it with apt but couldn't install rfkill with the

sudo apt update
sudo apt install rfkill

Didn't work.

As I said also, I installed the Brother Printer installer. That installed with gzip fine. But when I tried to install the program with bash and sudo bash, It just timed out. So, I have no idea what's going on.

I'm going to try and see if I can find any other solutions that I haven't tried yet and hopefully I can find the right answer or maybe someone here has had to deal with this recently.

He says it used to work. Then he updated Debian and it no longer works... So, my guess is it is a broken update. Is there a way to go back if it was a broken update?

I've been trying to figure out how to do animated lines that are 1920x10 (yes, thin horizontal lines) that have 2 - 4 colors in it scrolling left to right. I almost had it figured out with GIMP yesterday but I couldn't get it to do linear movements. It was all radial or circular kind of.

But anyway, I did make an interesting border using layers in GIMP. But it's not quite what I was looking for.

So last night, I was looking at OpenShot and that just seemed too complex for the simple thing I wanted to make. OpenShot looked more like an animation for pictures and text and stuff like that.

I thought about other ways to try and create this animated thin line of different colors and had an idea about using something I am not a big proponent of and that's AI... I'm not getting into my whole thing on how I think AI is bad for us. But I used ChatGPT last night to see if it could do what I wanted, and it came really close. I got a nice thin line in MP4 format (not a gif but it's a much nicer looking animated line for sure) and when it spit out the information, it actually gave me a command line code using ffmpeg. I was pretty sure I had that installed so I went to a terminal and pasted in the ffmpeg commands and voila! I have a line with animated scrolling colors that is 1920x10 pixels. I LOVE IT!

That's what brings me here today. Now I want to learn the ins and outs of ffmpeg. I watched a couple YouTube videos and it looks like it is a very versatile little program. Like something I could use on a bunch of stuff.

So, yeah. It looks like something I'm going to try and use more and more once I figure out the commands and whatnot.