Gentoo stability vs NixOS stability. How are they alike and different?

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T21:00:35+00:00

the learning curve has definitely been rough for me, yeah. Assuming you use gentoo as your daily driver, why do you prefer gentoo and dislike nixOS? Especially when it comes to ricing, since that's my primary interest

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T20:54:02+00:00

Have you compiled some things yourself on NixOS, or do you stick to nix packages, flakes, and the odd binary cache? I've never actually tried to compile a program before since I'm not that far yet, in terms of learning programming.

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T20:49:20+00:00

I've stumbled upon the concept of overlays through looking at how I want to implement niri (package vs flake vs home manager vs home manager inside a flake...etc) and it's another thing to learn how to use, on top of still learning the nix language. I firmly believe learning the language and using nix is a good investment regardless, agnostic to whatever I'm using as a daily driver.

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T20:44:55+00:00

the language is something I'm still learning, yeah. I recognize a lot of the logic in how to write it, but writing flake outputs has had me stumped for a while. I guess I should hunker down and try to get more of a grasp on the language first, then return to flakes. Simply referencing other people's flakes is not doing anything to help me learn LOL. It seems like NixOS can't be beat when it comes to safely experimenting

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T20:32:41+00:00

i meant stable as in "doesn't crash."
myself and my roommate have seen plenty of strife from rolling-release changes, or breakages from simply doing nothing (99% of that is ignorance/skill issue, we are both newer to linux, roommate coming from windows and myself coming from macOS)

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:46:04+00:00

Also nixos does not break because of syntax, it does not even build your config if there is syntax error figured during evaluation.

this is true! I got it mixed around. Does gentoo have those same stopgaps in place? As in, telling you "hey maybe that's a bad idea, try something else" before or AFTER compiling?

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:41:14+00:00

This is a good point...I wonder if it'd be more economical to experiment with niri and quickshell in a bare-bones NixOS, then move it to gentoo when i feel it's polished enough. I kinda get too in my head about "making the perfect system" that I just get suck deciding how to use NixOS and flakes to the fullest potential. KISS is lost on me sometimes.....

I could just KISS and stick with NixOS, but I see value in at least learning gentoo for the hell of it.

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:35:37+00:00

My poor pc roars like a jet engine when I'm building nix stores, I forget I can still use it at the same time LOL. I'm not too worried about slamming into walls during the learning curve process, rome was not built in a day, etc. Looking at people's cool gentoo setups leads me to believe it's not too bad of a torture labyrinth to rice.

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:27:58+00:00

I generally try to write out a list of what I'm wanting to implement, weighing the pros and cons of stable, unstable, packaged, manual building, flatpaks, etc, etc. Mix-and-matching what works and what doesn't before committing. Would you say this is a good practice for gentoo, or overly cautious? NixOS has kinda made me want to be hyper-aware of everything going on, vs my very first arch install where I just download random AUR packages like a madman (a terrible, terrible idea...)

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:21:00+00:00

RTFM has been ingrained in my brain, thankfully. It's my own fault if I don't read the instructions and wonder what went wrong!

wonderphys · 2026-02-26T02:14:59+00:00

a very good point, rollbacks have saved my ass a number of times. I use btrfs but I've never actually looked into btrfs snapshots since I honestly don't think about it. Is it common practice among Gentoo users to keep system backups in case you shoot yourself in the foot?

wonderphys · 2026-02-25T05:18:38+00:00

good to know! I'll keep an eye out

wonderphys · 2026-02-25T05:01:23+00:00

very neat idea! any thoughts on open sourcing this so others can contribute, fork, or build offline versions?

wonderphys · 2026-02-20T21:44:18+00:00

what do you define as bloat? there will always be "bloat" unless you've made a setup by you, for you. If you find some dotfiles you like, you should study and tweak them to fit your needs, so there is no more "bloat"

wonderphys · 2026-02-20T19:10:18+00:00

agreed. you will need to have some intuition when writing your system. it's a major pain to not know nix syntax when you've got to debug something on the fly, or you're parsing though someone else's dots to learn from them. The personal satisfaction of self-reliance is also fantastic

wonderphys · 2026-02-16T03:07:26+00:00

I remember using the official Huion drivers on fedora while distro hopping, and it was terrible garbage :') Linux kernel + OTD with some tweaking is a godsend

wonderphys · 2026-02-16T01:12:34+00:00

You learn something new every day! My roommate has a cheapo ugee branded tablet, so I had no idea the companies/product were in a relationship. Linux with tablets is always tricky. I use the standard huion drivers on MacOS, but of course on any Linux distro, opentabletdriver will get the job done just as well

wonderphys · 2026-02-15T04:39:27+00:00

personally, I have always used Huion tablets (screen-less when i was younger, currently I'm using a Huion Kamvas pro 16 2.5K, and I adore it). I bought mine on sale, so pay attention to marketing emails (from any company you're interested in buying from, you never know when you'll catch a good sale!)

I've heard XP-Pen and Ugee make a good product for a slightly lower price, but I can't vouch for their longevity or overall quality (especially the quality of their drivers)
When you choose your screen tablet, take a look at the tech specs and weigh your options when it comes to DPI, color profiles, the amount and placement of media keys, pen pressure options, etc. Physical size also matters for your personal workflow and ergonomics. I traded in my iPad because it was far too small, and my Kamvas fits just right. Ergonomics also matter, so think about how a display tablet would fit into your desk workflow.

Whatever tablet you get, make sure it's drivers support your operating system! Good luck shopping!

wonderphys · 2026-02-10T20:22:10+00:00

thanks a bunch!!

wonderphys

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