[kesor]

Instead of re-inventing Linux distributions for FlipperOS on top of Debian. They should just choose to base it on NixOS which already has these "profiles" as a built-in feature called "Specializations" https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Specialisation

[projektfu]

I have a couple NixOS machines but I never put "just" and "NixOS" in the same sentence.

[everforward]

I strongly disagree here. On the technical side, I'm sure it works, I almost never hear about Nix not working.

On the practical side, "learn Nix" is a _massive_ onboarding task. Without Nix, I'd probably pick one up assuming I'll find something to do with it. With Nix, I'd wait until I have a project I know is worth figuring out Nix.

If this were my project, I'd probably go with the absolute most simple answer: multiple SD card readers. Install the base OS on one card, allow hot-swapping the other card, do some mount point stuff with the other card (like maybe it auto-mounts to /usr/local, and have packages install into /usr/local). Or maybe some kind of overlayfs with the other card. SD cards are cheap, and I'd rather glue an SD card holder to the back of a Flipper than learn Nix.

[kesor]

It is just a Linux device. Other people will install NixOS on it anyway, and use specializations if the whole idea of swapping device roles in-and-out is viable. I don't really understand why would the team that already got a full plate decide to also invent a whole new Linux system while they're creating their hardware device.

[everforward]

People that want NixOS should absolutely be free to install it, I just think making it the default makes the system dead on arrival. There are hordes of people using Arduino's editor on esp32 boards because they don't want to learn esp-idf (not a judgement, Arduino works fine enough for most uses).

> I don't really understand why would the team that already got a full plate decide to also invent a whole new Linux system while they're creating their hardware device.

Honestly, I just wouldn't solve that. Nix makes the product way harder to sell, and home-building a solution is either a) an entire product all by itself, or b) shitty, in the "it only works on very specific happy paths" sense.

I also frankly just don't think it's a feature worth as much to consumers as it costs to make. At worst, it's a minor inconvenience to reflash a Pi card. If I'm really lazy, I just disable systemd services for whatever was on it and layer the new stuff on top. It's like 5 commands to get it back to "close enough to fresh".

[__MatrixMan__]

I had the same thought. Their stated goals are very much in line with what nix is all about.

Sadly, I totally get why they didn't. The nix way still isn't ready for "hey everybody, I'm making a thing, let's work on it together."

The hurdles are just too high for non-nix-nerds to pick it up while simultaneously trying to learn the underlying project.

It's a better way, currently only for those primarily in search of a better way.

[thrd]

They already tried it and got so much pain that they decided on an easier way.

[rrvsh]

Really? I'd love to see a link (not being facetious)

[yjftsjthsd-h]

I daily drive nixos and I have no idea what specializations are and reading that wiki article didn't help. Am I just looking at a way to drop in chunks of predefined config?

[kesor]

It is a way to switch into a different configs. Just like when you switch to a new set of packages when you update your channels (or flake) and you get activated with the new versions. Same thing with specializations, just you can choose to have a different set of packages activated and enabled in each different specialization. Like having multiple different configs in one.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

Oh, like docker compose --profile (loosely). Is that useful here? I'd think they would just make a flake/module that adds Flipper stuff and include that to the initial config.

[kesor]

It depends how much of that is services. If the device is hardware constrained, having an option to boot into a different set of services can be useful. Like a way to have more than a single lean thing, instead of a single bloated one.

[jagiammona]

I came here to say this, too.