this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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NixOS is the new Arch. I'm surprised nobody here has said they use it yet.
As a NixOS user...yeah don't recommend it. Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore NixOS but suggesting people switch to it when their current distro works perfectly fine for them is a disservice.
NixOS makes the hard things easy, and the easy things hard. It's incredibly frustrating trying to get something that should be insanely easy to work on NixOS. A good example of which is Neovim with Lazyvim. on every other distro it's not a big deal, it should be easy to install right? on NixOS you'll be pulling your hair out trying to get the meson tree-sitter crap to work correctly. Or you'll find stuff that has been specifically re-packaged or put into a flake to work for NixOS. ok that's fine, that'll work on SOME peoples configurations but if yours is ever so slightly more unique it won't. And then you start to wonder and question if your configuration is wrong but the thing is with NixOS there's no right or wrong with the configuration. Some people will suggest you use flakes, some people will say don't bother. Some will say you should put every single thing in modules, some will say don't bother.
So the problem is with NixOS is that when you start using it and understanding it going to another distro feels like you're somehow reverting. BUT there's the potential issue of getting stuck in the rabbit hole that is constant NixOS configuration adjustments to try and get that most perfect and smooth config out of your system. Currently I'm on Arch because I'm taking a "vacation" from NixOS. I have some important projects that are due soon and I just needed to get into a distro that will allow me to focus on them. In a couple weeks time however I know I'll be back on NixOS.
Ive noticed this, arch almost just works but my nixOS friends are always complaining about something
Yessss...
Come to Gentooooo.
Come.
Muahahahhahaha. *Lightning & Thunder!*
Gentoo is easy and almost user-friendly.
Specially coming from Arch it should be a breeze.
Plan9 sounds like a more exclusive deal.
As someone who installed Gentoo from nothing but a Stage 1 iso and kernel tarball back in 2003, this is crazy to read. I was able to squeeze so much performance out of a 300mhz embedded board back then though compared to most distros... after the 6hr kernel build.
Stage 1 and 2 are no longer available (I mean technically you could, but it's not suggested). Stage 3 was super easy, even with kernel from source.
It takes time, sure, but it can compile on background. I got 16 threads on my CPU, so leaving 12 for emerge, I can still use the PC.
I get that people joke about 'days of compiling', and maybe it's real for a huge mass of packages, but even if, it doesn't stop me from working.
Remember, the days of compiling was back when we were running this on 300-500Mhz single core CPUs with 5400RPM spinning rust and RAM amounts in the hundreds of MB.
The embedded system I was putting this on was a 300Mhz single core low power AMD processor with 256MB and a laptop 4200RPM 4GB drive. And yeah, it probably took over a day to compile everything... but it ran much faster than a stock kernel as I could customize the system to only have what it needed and leverage the on-chip ssl and video acceleration support. I used it for a NAS and home server for years.
I know, but that's so long ago, yet the jokes are here anyway.
Which is shame, as it seems to be scaring away potential users.
Less prone to randomly biting your head off anyway.
More tame.
Takes more petting though, to get it to settle.
Really?
I never tried Arch, so I can't compare.
Apart from initramfs from install, which took more time, it felt like everything else just worked. Including installing Steam.
Yes. Gentoo really is like that compared to arch.
Oh.
That^ made it seem to me like you had.
I just read a lot of Wiki.
But when I discovered how cool it is to compile stuff, I went straight to Gentoo, assuming it's mostly the same apart from packaging.
Before I tried gentoo (or rather sabayon, for 3 years before gentoo proper), from all the "you have to compile everything", I imagined that as a lot of running "make". I didn't realise it's even easier^1^ than other package managers.
^1^
emergeis shorter to type than e.g.apt-get installNixOS user here; please do not recommend NixOS.
I don't use NixOS btw.
i use nixos, i dont recomend nixos.
I use nixos and I do recommend it cause it's cool. You will waste a lot of time, pulling hair trying to fix your config and regret all your life choices but guess what, it's cool.
I thought the whole point of Nix was that it makes system management simple with the declarative config.
Simple? lol. It is easy if it works, a single command to replicate an entire system. But without an extensive upto date documentation like arch and having to learn a new programming language, it can be quite difficult for someone new.
After about a thousand commits in my config I no longer know how to do stuff the normal way. A few days ago I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to run python with modules without resorting to shell.nix
I didn't - I was just commenting on how its users are the new Arch users. It isn't a compliment.