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Something I still don't understand after all these years, is why all the conversation around treats it as a "use it as-is" distro (which it really just isn't very good at!), and not more people are talking about what it could uniquely offer as a technical foundation for an actual end-user OS.

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@joepie91 I feel like with a few changes it also makes a fairly good OS for embedded devices, but it's really not designed for that so you have to fight against it

@joepie91 nix-ld puts the lie to "use it as-is." I love Nix, but from my limited experience, it definitely takes a bit more commitment than out-of-the-box usage.

@joepie91 sometimes i describe NixOS as "it's a bunch of helpful tools and a configuration language for you to build your own personalized linux distro" for exactly this reason

@joepie91 I switched from 30 years in Apple land to picking my own parts, putting together the machine, and running Linux on it.

The point was I wanted a much more personalised computing experience. NixOS was a very natural step on that path - clear manageable overview, but extremely flexible for really making my systems mine. My mix of channels & repos, my patches, my scripts, my central config.

If my needs were met by Ubuntu + Docker, I would probably just run that in stead.

@joepie91 I firmly believe that "it's a Linux distro" statement is the prime culprit for making it seen as just another barely different Linux distro by the Linux majority. Just like Windows users consider Linux a "Windows for geeks": obvious downsides with no upsides. If it was instead marketed as "the only configurable OS that just so happens to use Linux", the world would've been a much better place.

@monk I've been thinking along similar lines, yeah, but I don't have much more than a hunch to go off there.

(I may or may not have a related project in-flight where I intend to try this)

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