The map is open and connectable in all of its dimensions; it is detachable, reversible, susceptible to constant modification. … The map has to do with performance, whereas the tracing always involves an alleged “competence”.

My worlds and systems, a nutrient-rich collection of typos feeding the hungry heads of a talking planet, “oriented toward an experimentation in contact with the real”.

These are my personal configurations and are not intended for use as a template, but you are welcome to do so if you like! I hope visitors manage to find something helpful/inspiring/interesting, but please keep in mind that I have no idea what I’m doing.

Dotfield does not embody “best practices” or “the right way to Nix”. The project exists as an evolving and unstable result of one amateur’s take on identifying and implementing flexible and understandishable patterns or novelties across other sources this amateur has encountered.

If you have questions or feedback, feel free to reach out in the issues or discussions!

This section is incomplete, fragmented, and I don’t remember writing it. However, it seems to contain important reference notes for stuff I always forget.

nix-env -f '<nixpkgs>' -iA nixos-install-tools git bat fd ripgrep tealdeer vim
alias nix="nix --extra-experimental-features 'nix-command flakes'"
export NEW_HOSTNAME=<your-hostname>
export GIT_BRANCH="add-${NEW_HOSTNAME}"

curl "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/montchr/dotfield/${GIT_BRANCH}/machines/${NEW_HOSTNAME}/disk-config.nix" -o /tmp/disk-config.nix
nix run github:nix-community/disko -- --mode disko /tmp/disk-config.nix
# to verify:
mount | grep /mnt

git clone https://github.com/montchr/dotfield.git -b "${GIT_BRANCH}" /mnt/etc/nixos
# absolute paths from `/mnt` would break once booted into the system
cd /mnt/etc && ln -s nixos dotfield && cd nixos
nixos-generate-config --no-filesystems --root /mnt

Integrate any missing configuration from the generator locally, push to remote, and pull on the host.

nixos-install --flake ".#${NEW_HOSTNAME}"

After rebooting, edit ~/.ssh/known_hosts on your local machine to remove the initial entries since the host keys have been reset after installation.

export KEYS_DIR="$PRJ_ROOT/ops/keys"
export NEW_HOSTNAME=<...>
export NEW_HOSTIP=<...>

ssh root@$NEW_HOSTIP -t 'cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub' \
> "$KEYS_DIR/ssh/$NEW_HOSTNAME.pub"

ssh root@$NEW_HOSTIP -t 'cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub' \
> "$KEYS_DIR/ssh/$NEW_HOSTNAME-rsa.pub"

nix run nixpkgs#ssh-to-age -- -i "$KEYS_DIR/ssh/$NEW_HOSTNAME.pub" \
| tr --delete '\n' \
> "$KEYS_DIR/age/$NEW_HOSTNAME.txt"

git add $KEYS_DIR

Add the host to //.sops.yaml, then:

direnv reload
grep "$NEW_HOSTNAME" $PRJ_ROOT/.sops.yaml --before-context=10
sops updatekeys secrets/global.secrets.yaml

After the initial generation with secrets disabled (due to a catch-22/bootstrapping problem), you should then be able to do the following with a smartcard attached.

export KEYID="0x135EEDD0F71934F3"
gpg --recv $KEYID
gpg --list-secret-keys
gpg-agent-restart

mkdir -p $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sops/age
# Required for editing sops files
pass show age--secret-key >> $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sops/age/keys

I still don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe one day I will have enough of an idea that I can write it down with any amount of coherence. Or maybe I’m doing it all backwards…?

• Note taken on [2024-04-10 Wed 20:39]
  I began the process of converting some of these items to Org headings with tags.

Generally in order of frecency, along with an optional description of reasons for inclusion.

More recently, I’ve aimed to reference sources with comments and SPDX headings in relevant files.

https://github.com/lovesegfault/nix-config

nixos

https://github.com/srid/nixos-config

nixos, nix-darwin, vms, simple, nixos-shell

https://github.com/viperML/dotfiles

nixos, flake-parts, structure

https://github.com/TLATER/dotfiles

home-manager, structure

https://github.com/d12frosted/environment

nixos, nix-darwin, world-building, emacs, docs

https://github.com/colemickens/nixcfg

nixos, extensive, fun

https://github.com/cole-h/nixos-config/

nixos, media server

https://github.com/kclejeune/system

nixos, home-manager

https://github.com/Xe/nixos-configs

networking, extensive

• https://github.com/sei40kr/dotfiles

https://github.com/hlissner/dotfiles

nixos, libs, original, structure, homes w/o home-manager

https://github.com/malob/nixpkgs

nix-darwin, docs

• https://github.com/ahmedelgabri/dotfiles

https://github.com/cmacrae/config

nix-darwin, nixos, emacs

Work laptop running NixOS via github:tpwrules/nixos-apple-silicon via Asahi Linux kernel. It’s amazing. 10/10 would recommend. Daily driver.

I would give it 11/10 but I have issues with audio input/output on video calls, and I had to get a DisplayLink hub to use an external display monitor. Those aren’t dealbreaking issues because I know that the Asahi Linux people are working on improving those things and I have workarounds for the time being.

Ryosuke is a “ghost of the circuit”, a denizen of Kairo, LoBE.

PCPartPicker Part List

The Ryzen 9 5900X processor and mini-ITX Teenage Engineering Computer-1 case are the stars here.

As of <2024-01-22>, Ryosuke is serving as a living room HTPC. I’ve also brough it to the office as a “laptop”.

A towering fiend.

Originally built in 2015, recently revamped.

PCPartPicker Part List

Workstation desk has the following devices:

seadoom@boschic ~ % dmesg | grep -i -B 3 focusrite
[    1.567008] usb 5-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1235, idProduct=800c, bcdDevice= 4.4c
[    1.567011] usb 5-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    1.567012] usb 5-1: Product: Scarlett 18i20 USB
[    1.567013] usb 5-1: Manufacturer: Focusrite

seadoom@boschic ~ % pw-dump | grep node.name | grep alsa
        "node.name": "alsa_input.usb-046d_Brio_501_2235LZ52HK58-02.analog-stereo",
        "node.name": "alsa_output.pci-0000_0c_00.4.iec958-stereo",
        "node.name": "alsa_input.pci-0000_0c_00.4.analog-stereo",
        "node.name": "alsa_output.pci-0000_0a_00.1.hdmi-stereo",
        "node.name": "alsa_output.usb-Focusrite_Scarlett_18i20_USB-00.multichannel-output",
        "node.name": "alsa_input.usb-Focusrite_Scarlett_18i20_USB-00.multichannel-input",

seadoom@boschic ~ % lspci | grep -i audio
0a:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GA102 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
0c:00.4 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller

seadoom@boschic ~ % lsusb | grep -i scarlett
Bus 005 Device 008: ID 1235:800c Focusrite-Novation Scarlett 18i20

The 18i20 is connected to KRK Rokit 5 studio monitors via the interface’s L/R monitor output channels. Unfortunately, ALSA resets the monitor output level to muted status each time the device is reconnected.

See /var/lib/alsa/asound.state for the state of ALSA settings as of last boot. According to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#ALSA_and_systemd, updated values will be written on shutdown.

Possible culprits for the mute status:

(note that this one is not the 18i20, which is USB):

State.Generic {
...
    control.18 {
        iface MIXER
        name 'Auto-Mute Mode'
        value Enabled
        comment {
            access 'read write'
            type ENUMERATED
            count 1
            item.0 Disabled
            item.1 Enabled
        }
    }
...
}

And for the 18i20 itself:

State.USB {
...
    control.9 {
        iface MIXER
        name 'Master 1 (Monitor) Playback Switch'
        value.0 false
        value.1 false
        comment {
            access 'read write'
            type BOOLEAN
            count 2
        }
    }
...
}

Source should be PCM 1

An early-2014 15-inch MacBook Pro who has seen quite the life. ~Mostly unused for the past several years due to the availability of more portable work laptops. It is now living out its life in a declarative retirement home.~

Update [2024-04-10]: This laptop was my primary computer for a couple months until switching to tuvok since aarch64-linux support has improved since tuvok’s initial provisioning.

nixos-rebuild is very slow, even with the binary cache and ryosuke as build host.

MacBookPro11,3 (Late 2013) (Dual-Graphics Retina Display)

Tip: to determine Apple model within Linux, run grep -h . /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/board_v*.

Technically, there is also an integrated Intel graphics card in addition to the discrete NVIDIA card. However, Apple decided to force the integrated Intel GPU to be disabled unless running macOS. There are ways around that (apparently rEFInd can help), but I don’t think it’s worth the extra effort.

This issue was originally reported on the grub-devel mailing list, but it doesn’t look like the patch was ever merged (but I don’t yet understand how these mailing list workflows operate so it’s pretty unclear to me what the actual “status” is).

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2013-12/msg00442.html

For more info:

• https://gist.github.com/stefanocoding/c6dbf4489f330021bd9335d655c9fbbf
• https://github.com/0xbb/apple_set_os.efi

Flickering with gnome 3.22.2-1 + gdm on macbook pro / Applications & Desktop Environments / Arch Linux Forums

Start the machine with the power adapter unplugged (either boot or wake).

Whenever I’ve had the flicker today I’ve fixed it by: Unplug power cable, shut the lid, allow it to suspend (wait for the apple logo light to go out), open the lid, re-plug power cable. This process has removed the flicker the two times I’ve had it today.

Note that this is not specific to GNOME, but affects KDE Plasma and SDDM too (according to one user’s report).

The discussion resulted in a chain of bug reports leading here:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/759

The discussion and bug report also pertain to AMD graphics, which doesn’t apply to the MacBookPro11,3 model. And yet the power adapter workaround still seems to help resolve the issue with this machine’s NVIDIA graphics…

Dead but dreaming.

Laid to indefinite rest when one of the cats, seeking human attention, chewed through the LCD screen. We did not speak for a week.

Still works, but unusable without external display. Suffers from congenital Butterfly Keyboard Syndrome.

Mostly opinions and rants, some of which will likely be removed in time.

It’s been the default desktop environment for my graphical NixOS configurations, but only because it “just works”. In actuality, while it “works”, it just works. Its primary method of configuration is based on the state of user-selected options in GUIs, hiding the configuration behind opaque UX

There is, I’m sure, a specific term for this particular application design fallacy, perhaps best summarized by WordPress’ infamous “decisions not options” aphorism and embodied in Apple software and hardware. While it looks pretty and looks like it has “good UX”, like macOS (and Apple software in general), it has so much useless clutter and ends up breaking in weird ways.

gsettings is a command-line interface for dconf schema introspection. It’s useful for getting/setting the current value of a setting and for scripting necessarily-stateful settings like theme appearance variants.

dconf is the underlying backend, a database store.

“dconf Editor” is a GUI application for quick and direct interaction with available settings, similar to Firefox’s about:config page.

Use gvolpe/dconf2nix: 🐾 Convert Dconf files (e.g. Gnome Shell) to Nix, as expected by Home Manager in combination with home-manager/modules/misc/dconf.nix at master · nix-community/home-manager

Unreliable and clunky.

On multiple occasions, I’ve gotten locked out of the default keyring, which is supposed to be the same as the login password. Deleting a couple files resets it:

rm ~/.local/share/keyrings/{login.keyring,user.keystore}

NixOS/nixpkgs#174099

When I first activated the Nextcloud Client application on boschic, I was prompted to unlock the default keyring. But because I was locked out, I needed to dismiss the prompt. The prompt immediately reappeared.

Because the GNOME prompts are “accessible”, there is no way to escape focus other than pressing cancel. That means that a process can spam request a prompt indefinitely, with no way to kill the process from within the GNOME session. I had to resort to C-M-F1 to switch to the virtual console / getty.

On that note, considering that I’ve disabled getty@tty1 when autologin is enabled (due to a NixOS issue), switching tty might not work in those scenarios…

I really do want a browser to “just work”, but with the option to configure frustrating things like… keyboard shortcuts… which Firefox does not support. The question is: do any browsers? I am not yet sure.

TL;DR Nope, forget it.

https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1381773

there is no way to customize internal keyboard shortcuts. this should be considered a bug, not a feature request. but it’s considered an “idea” in a community feedback forum, with no indication as to whether it matters to Mozilla or not.

i wonder whether the community forum is intended to act as a buffer zone / feedback echo chamber to keep users out of the internal bug trackers. Mozilla has to actually consider and prioritize user feedback from this forum, otherwise why does it exist? Is there any evidence of such a process?