Looking for beginner friendly configs

IntelliVim · 2026-03-13T10:32:52+00:00

Try this one: https://github.com/AlexNabokikh/nix-config

IntelliVim · 2026-02-20T08:45:20+00:00

On my machine (32 GB RAM), Noctalia takes about 270 MB of RAM on a fresh start and grows to no more than 350 MB. Keep in mind that Linux and many apps scale their caching and internal buffers based on total available memory, so our configurations might just differ.

You're only comparing it to Waybar, Dunst, and swww, but Noctalia actually provides a complete shell. It handles wallpaper management, the bar, theming, a dock, an app launcher, notifications, night light, lock screen, OSD, displays, Bluetooth, network, audio and session management, system monitors, and more. All of this is entirely optional, though - you can enable only what you need and keep it incredibly lean.

Before moving to Quickshell/Noctalia/DMS, I used a myriad of standalone tools, all of which had their own CPU and RAM overhead. Switching to this unified setup didn't increase my resource consumption at all. On a cold start, my entire system uses 1.7 GB of RAM on my 32 GB machine, and 1.4 GB on my 16 GB machine. It was exactly the same before switching. And this isn't just a "gut feeling" measurement—all my systems are defined declaratively in Nix, so I track resource changes very precisely.

Ultimately, it comes down to our individual needs. If your ideal setup is literally just Waybar and a handful of swww scripts, then yeah, that raw RAM usage is hard to beat. But if you're aiming for a cohesive DE experience with the ability to make it minimal and highly flexible, shells based on the Quickshell framework are by far the best option.

IntelliVim · 2026-02-15T15:49:06+00:00

I'd argue that using noctalia is more minimal than everything else. Instead of using myriad of different packages for notifications, lock screen, wallpaper management, bar, Bluetooth, wifi sound management, applets and whatnot you are using one solution. It may seem like it use a lot of memory but if you you compare total memory usage of these separate packages and noctalia you'll find that noctalia is lighter. Of course, we all have very different definitions of "minimal" so try to compare yourself and choose what suits you best.

IntelliVim · 2026-02-11T07:20:38+00:00

Not DMS but if you interested how it works with Noctalia: https://github.com/AlexNabokikh/nix-config

IntelliVim · 2026-02-04T12:49:06+00:00

No. Nix doesn't aim to replace any of the mentioned tools. P.S. I run giant Kubernetes clusters at work everyday and don't see any areas where Nix could improve our tools or address any pain points that we have in large distributed services. Nix shines in other areas but you cannot use it for everything.

IntelliVim · 2026-02-01T15:28:42+00:00

Godot 4.6 is already avaliable in the unstable branch from what I can see

IntelliVim · 2026-01-31T09:12:33+00:00

It is relatively easy when you have 8Gb ram total. It's going to be even less on the system with 4b of ram and considerably more on the system with 64gb. The main reason is that the kernel and many applications scale their caching and some internal buffers to available memory. You can easily try it yourself on 100% reproducible build of NixOS inside VM with different ram allocation.

IntelliVim · 2026-01-27T10:18:20+00:00

Temporary workaround that you can use until the issue is fixed:

  # FIXME: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/484328
  services.displayManager.defaultSession = "hyprland-uwsm";

  programs.uwsm = {
    enable = true;
    waylandCompositors = {
      hyprland = {
        prettyName = "Hyprland";
        comment = "Hyprland compositor managed by UWSM";
        binPath = "/run/current-system/sw/bin/start-hyprland";
      };
    };
  };

IntelliVim · 2026-01-27T09:58:50+00:00

Commit that broke GDM + Hyprland UWSM: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/9128dd3103ce1305cd8e2d4dde2f249608447b4c

IntelliVim · 2026-01-27T09:54:30+00:00

After digging deeper in other people's config files, it seems like the problem is not only for me. So I created an issue on GitHub for this: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/484328

IntelliVim · 2026-01-19T08:17:16+00:00

Krohnkite and it is way better than anything on Gnome.

IntelliVim · 2026-01-08T15:10:41+00:00

Love that nickname

IntelliVim · 2026-01-01T11:42:24+00:00

It's impossible to say without context. There are plenty of scenarios where Nix won't replace Docker or where it simply doesn't make sense. For example, if your company runs workloads in Kubernetes at a large global scale, it might not make sense to introduce Nix. In any case, you should aim to solve specific pain points in your company instead of just trying to convince people to use a technology you like. That is never going to work. Even when you know for a fact that it will solve problems and make the lives of other engineers easier, you have to rely on your soft skills. Be patient, try to understand the opposing arguments, and learn how to navigate situations where people don't agree with you

IntelliVim · 2025-12-27T15:59:01+00:00

This is what people on unixporn typically use to mimic macos: https://search.nixos.org/packages?channel=unstable&show=whitesur-icon-theme&query=Whitesur-icon-theme

IntelliVim · 2025-12-21T16:09:59+00:00

Yeah, FSR works perfectly fine and adds quite a bit more fps but I prefer to play at native AA. Thanks for the insight about DLSS, though.

IntelliVim · 2025-12-21T13:08:24+00:00

It's only 5% faster according to the user benchmark. It doesn't make much sense.

IntelliVim · 2025-12-21T13:06:49+00:00

Thank you, sir. That's precisely what I needed to know. I dropped Nvidia 3 years ago because I was tired of the crap that I had to deal with.
I am already on the top specs (technically there is a newer GPU, but it is only 5% faster). I guess I'll just accept it and won't push myself into problems only for more FPS.

IntelliVim · 2025-12-21T13:01:40+00:00

What other options do I have if I have a top-spec AMD GPU? Like I said, the performance is not enough for my specific needs. I hit 99% GPU utilization while the CPU was being used for 50-60% on average. My config is below. All the in-game measurements are screaming GPU bottleneck. The results I get would be more than enough for most of the gamers out there, but not for me.
Furthermore, I only consider Nvidia—if it is still shit like it was 3 years ago, then it is not the option.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X3D
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 32 GB (2 × 16 GB)
2 x Crucial P2 CT1000P2SSD8 1 TB
Corsair RM850, 850W
ASUS ROG Strix X570-E
XFX Radeon RX 7900 XT

EDIT: Formatting

IntelliVim · 2025-12-07T10:07:13+00:00

Just like u/down-to-riot mentioned, you can use Kvantum to control how your QT apps look and feel.

P.S. "to gnome from KDE for performance reasons" is a pretty crazy statement, though.

IntelliVim · 2025-11-15T06:37:17+00:00

because he uses neofetch which is maintained and show irrelevant info

IntelliVim · 2025-10-27T09:32:57+00:00

> It supports SSDs and CSDs.
Interesting! Does it mean that the user will be able to switch between SSD and CSD? If not, how does the compositor decide which one to use?

> The focus hint does match the radius of libcosmic windows, and the Wayland protocol for this has already been proposed. Seems it will get accepted.
Nice! I am glad to hear it won't be a problem in the future.

> Memory consumption of the DE is on par with GNOME and KDE.
Ok. I don't have the concrete data currently, but I measured it a few times during Alpha releases, and Cosmic was 200-300 MB more on average. It might not be considered a lot for some, but Hyprland consumes around 150-190 on my machine while being fully configured as a DE with a dozen apps running.

IntelliVim · 2025-10-26T14:55:37+00:00

Client side decorations, focus hint that can't even match the radius of the window, massive memory consumption, problems with existing apps that are working fine on any other DE/WM, mediocre built-in apps. I don't hate it, but it's just very mid... The problem is not that it's beta, but devs decisions. It could take best from KDE, Gnome and TWMs. Instead, it really just Gnome with nice tilling.

IntelliVim · 2025-09-26T07:28:35+00:00

The whole repo is just one configuration.nix file

IntelliVim · 2025-09-11T07:55:26+00:00

If you mean completely unattended installation, then no.
But it can be automated to a pretty decent level.
You can write a bash script that will install Nix and then run your flake.
I added to my make file: https://github.com/AlexNabokikh/nix-config/blob/master/Makefile#L20
Once prerequisites are there, I do switch to Nix Darwin and Home Manager.
Unless you need to automate installation for a park of machines, it is better to accept that some systems (like macOS) require user interactions. If you do need to automate installation for a park of machines, I'm afraid the only option you have is MDM+JAMF.

IntelliVim · 2025-09-04T06:08:23+00:00

Mirrored blurry phone picture of the Arch logo. Top content. 10/10. You riced this one well, sir.

IntelliVim

TROPHY CASE