[dlyons]

I tried to make Nix as easy to adopt as possible by creating Nix commands and a step by step guide (600+ stars): https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config

I love Nix. I use it every day to manage multiple local dev environments. And I use devenv instead of docker for sharing project-specific environments with others.

Who wants to use docker on a Mac anyway?

[bloopernova]

I am intrigued by this line in the description:

"Super Fast Emacs: Bleeding edge Emacs that fixes itself, thanks to a community overlay"

Could you possibly tell me (or link to the explanation) what's special about that Emacs instance?

https://github.com/dustinlyons/nixos-config/blob/main/module... -- This file appears to be part of it, but I'm not very experienced with Nix so I am unsure of how to find the file that says: "install Emacs by doing this, that, and the other".

I use this homebrew cask and have been very happy with it thus far, but I'm always up for some new exploration. https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus

EDIT2: oh lordy, this snippet:

  (setq org-todo-keyword-faces
    `(("TODO" . ,dl/green-color)
      ("STARTED" . ,dl/yellow-color)
      ("WAITING" . ,dl/light-grey-color)
      ("DELEGATED" . ,dl/teal-color)
      ("DEFERRED" . ,dl/dark-grey-color)
      ("SOMEDAY" . ,dl/purple-color)
      ("DONE" . ,dl/dark-grey-color)
      ("CANCELED" . ,dl/dark-grey-color)
      ("PROJECT" . ,dl/blue-color)
      ("APPT" . ,dl/green-color)))

Do you use all of those? Interesting that you are using the state as a kind of tagging system. Very cool! I'm also envious of your org tangle setup.

oh and the links at the top of that file are 404s.

[LanternLight83]

I don't see anything about that in the .org or adjacent .el file, but it could be an outdated (or just as-yet-unseen) reference to using a community overlay of emacs-next that rolls back from breaking changes.

[bloopernova]

interesting, thank you for the info.

[dlyons]

The project uses this overlay: https://github.com/nix-community/emacs-overlay

What that means is if something is broken in Emacs, the community will fix it, and all I need to do is run `nix flake update` to grab the latest commit and then `nix run .#build-switch` to alter my system. Easy.

Thanks for the heads-up on the 404s! I've fixed those links.

In re: to org-agenda, I don't use that as much anymore. But I heavily, heavily using org-roam w/ org-roam-dailies everyday to build my own networked graph of notes. For tasks, nowadays I just use simple docs for projects and Asana to keep a catalog of everything.

[heywoodlh]

> Who wants to use docker on a Mac anyway?

For a long time, before really doubling down on Nix, Docker Desktop was my go-to for getting a Linux runtime whenever MacOS wasn’t sufficient for what I needed. It was slow, but way more portable than having a Linux VM running all the time.

Fast forward to now (since I’ve really invested in Nix) and Nix+Nix-Darwin makes my Mac feel just as configurable and extensible as NixOS/any Linux distribution.

Nix makes me an extremely content MacOS user. :)

[dlyons]

Same. I initially started with Guix, because I'm a Lisp hacker at heart, but once I learned about nix-darwin I jumped ship and there was no going back ;)

Keeping my NixOS machine on my desk and Macbook in sync seamlessly is also super cool.

[tripdout]

Yeah, I use a Linux machine at home, but being able to get my work-provided Macbook up and running with an identical Neovim & ZSH setup almost instantly, without having to figure out how that would all work on MacOS (in terms of package installation, changing the shell, etc) it's super awesome.

[drakerossman]

Could you tell me your secrets in achieving so many stars?

I have a similar albiet differently-structured guide at https://github.com/drakerossman/nixos-musings, but nowhere near the amount of stars you have.

[dlyons]

1. In the beginning, it's very slow. But just iterate and make your project better and better.

2. Use your README to grab the attention of the user. I have a list of features, videos, etc. at the top.

3. I regularly post on various subreddits, Hacker News, etc. trying to support new Nix users. Sometimes I link to my project as an example of code that may help them. I've done this over a couple of years, so there's now a collection of posts people are finding and driving traffic.

4. My experience was that in the beginning, I had to grind out each star one by one. The project never went "viral". But after a certain growth point, Github will pick it up and start recommending it to others.

5. Reddit and Github are now my biggest sources of traffic.

Hope this helps!

[pbronez]

Cool project!

Last time I tried Nix on MacOS it did not end well. Maybe I’ll try this in a VM and see how it goes…

[dlyons]

Feel free to open an issue if you have any questions! I'll be happy to help.