[Nix-dev] new user impressions

[Roman Cheplyaka]

* Michael Raskin <7c6f434c at mail.ru> [2008-05-20 15:27:11+0400]
> 1. Booting into NixOS will give you little good anyway for now, as
> there is no pppd in NixPkgs yet. Maybe I will try to add it soon as
> there is demand, but then you'll have to test it (as you seem to be
> the only one with PPPoE)

No problem for me.

> 2. Current install CD requires Internet connection for installation
> and also is generated in a way that lacks flexibility. The expression
> that allows building a network-independent DVD (1.5 GB with sources
> and a bit of X applications and all that live accessible) is
> accessible (and should be usable for building it by Nix on Debian..),
> but it is not yet made the official ISO expression.

That's not an issue (at least until NixOS is widespread distro :), I
just wanted to say that under such circumstances internet tools should
be the priority.

> If you are interested in experimenting from the beginning, you can
> always chroot into NixOS and build a fresh installation medium.
> 
> 3. /boot/grub/menu.lst should still be created by nixos-install, so
> you can see both the kernel command line and initrd. You have
> /boot/nixos-grub-config that provides shorter names for first attempts
> to boot. Note that booting through LILO can cause minor glitch with
> nixos-rebuild switch - it will always boot you into first global
> system generation.
> 
> 4. I'd probably - for now - boot Debian and then chroot into NixOS.
> That is usable (I even did the same trick with coLinux (and a small
> official tuned Debian image to handle its quirks)). At least until
> pppd is working..
> 
> 5. Specify details of your disk layout. What FSes do you use? If Eelco
> Dolstra is right, try checking out the latest tree and

I did nixos-checkout before nixos-install, if you mean this.

crematorium:~% sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3c5991aa

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        1245    10000431   83  Linux
/dev/hda2            2491       19457   136287427+   5  Extended
/dev/hda3   *        1246        2490    10000462+  83  Linux
/dev/hda5            2491        2739     2000061   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda6            3119       15567    99996561   83  Linux
/dev/hda7           15568       19457    31246393+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

crematorium:~% sudo tune2fs -l /dev/hda3
tune2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Filesystem volume name:   <none>
Last mounted on:          <not available>
Filesystem UUID:          ad8a2f54-165b-4a4c-b640-26278051a97a
Filesystem magic number:  0xEF53
Filesystem revision #:    1 (dynamic)
Filesystem features:      ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype sparse_super large_file
Filesystem flags:         signed_directory_hash 
Default mount options:    (none)
Filesystem state:         clean
Errors behavior:          Continue
Filesystem OS type:       Linux
Inode count:              625856
Block count:              2500115
Reserved block count:     125005
Free blocks:              2214839
Free inodes:              519797
First block:              0
Block size:               4096
Fragment size:            4096
Reserved GDT blocks:      610
Blocks per group:         32768
Fragments per group:      32768
Inodes per group:         8128
Inode blocks per group:   508
Filesystem created:       Sun May 18 16:06:58 2008
Last mount time:          Sun May 18 16:53:06 2008
Last write time:          Sun May 18 17:48:14 2008
Mount count:              2
Maximum mount count:      28
Last checked:             Sun May 18 16:06:58 2008
Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
Next check after:         Fri Nov 14 15:06:58 2008
Reserved blocks uid:      0 (user root)
Reserved blocks gid:      0 (group root)
First inode:              11
Inode size:     256
Default directory hash:   tea
Directory Hash Seed:      ddd8dae0-f8c3-4077-94e4-5e3949b6af85


> NIXOS_INSTALL_GRUB=1 nixos-rebuild switch
> 

-- 
Roman I. Cheplyaka :: http://ro-che.info/
...being in love is totally punk rock...