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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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NixOS for gamedev (linux.community)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hiya! I'm following a gamedev degree in university. It's been a major challenge doing it from Linux, as everything is Windows stuff (.sln Visual Studio projects, DirectX API, excel graphs...). However I've gotten by by making my own tools and dipping into WINE when it gets too difficult. I'm replacing my laptop due to hardware faults (never buying from ASUS again) and my Framework 16 preorder should arrive in a month or two.

I'm considering trying out NixOS. I currently have Arch on the laptop because it makes it easy to get recent versions of libraries and compilers. However, I've had lots of issues due to inconsistent setup (SDDM theme randomly disappears, KDE apps have black text on dark background, video encoding does not work) and I figured having a declarative config might allow me to set things up better and more consistently. I do have a few worries though, given this is new to me:

Installing proprietary software. For certain courses I unfortunately have to use software like Unreal Engine, Maya, Houdini, Unity, P4V, and a few others. I read NixOS has difficulty with running random binaries. I also could not find an UE5 package in nixpkgs, which Arch does have.
Building binaries. I know nixos does some weird stuff with libraries and binaries. I need to be able to do normal stuff with binaries, and perhaps package and distribute them. It'd be really nice to be able to try out different compilers for my CMake/C++ projects also. Can NixOS do that easily?
VMs. I will be doing dGPU passthrough for testing assignments before handin. I assume this is no problem but it requires some weird stuff so I want to be sure before diving in!

Am I better off just setting up a brittle Arch install again, or is NixOS worth the plunge?

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[–] Shareni 7 points 9 months ago

Skip nixos, it's just going to be a lot of pain for almost no gain. Instead use nix with home-manager on a different distro.

I went from Arch to MX (Debian) + Nix. It's a perfect combo because I get stable system packages, unstable user packages, and I don't have to deal with all of the nixos downsides.