Would NixOS be a good fit coming from Project Bluefin?
I've used Windows most of my life, but around 6 months ago I switched to Project Bluefin and I've been happy with it.
What I like most about Bluefin is the clean, image-based approach. The base system is mostly left alone, while apps and tools live in Flatpaks, containers, Homebrew, etc. I like keeping things separated instead of constantly modifying the host system.
Recently I've started looking at NixOS.
I'm not completely new to Linux. I've worked with Linux systems before, but I definitely wouldn't call myself an expert. I'm aware that NixOS has a learning curve, and I'm fine with that if there is a real benefit to it.
What appeals to me about NixOS is:
- Declarative configuration and keeping my system config in Git
- Reproducibility and knowing what is actually installed/configured
- Generations and rollbacks if I mess something up
- Keeping Flatpak for sandboxed GUI applications where it makes sense
- Using Nix/Home Manager for CLI tools and configuration
- Using containers when actual container isolation is useful
- Having much more freedom to customize the system than I currently do on Bluefin
One thing that's especially appealing is having a known system state. On more traditional systems I sometimes worry that I've accidentally changed, deleted, or configured something incorrectly. I've even reinstalled an OS before simply because I wasn't sure whether everything was still configured correctly.
NixOS seems like it could help with that. I could keep a known-good configuration in Git, see exactly what I've changed, test changes, and roll back if something goes wrong.
At the same time, one of Bluefin's biggest strengths is that I don't really have to think about the OS. Drivers, firmware, updates, security defaults, desktop integration, and most of the underlying setup are already taken care of.
So I'm wondering whether NixOS actually sounds like a good fit for me, or whether I'd mainly be trading Bluefin's simplicity for additional maintenance.
For those using NixOS as a daily desktop, how much maintenance does it realistically require once your configuration is set up? And does the declarative/rollback model actually make experimenting with the system feel safer in practice?