Trying NixOS with VMs

There are some options to virtualize OS: VMWare, VirtualBox (Free to use) or…GNOME Boxes:

sudo apt update
#sudo apt install gnome-boxes qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients

sudo snap install gnome-boxes

Download the latest NixOS .ISO and launch gnome-boxes::

#wget https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-unstable/latest-nixos-minimal-x86_64-linux.iso -O nixos.iso
gnome-boxes

You can manage gnome-boxes via CLI, but I went the UI way.

As desktop environment, I went with Plasma 5 (instead of 6).

The Deepin one was also tempting.

Getting started with NixOS

I came here for the package manager (stayed for the ease of use? we’ll see).

Some useful commands:

sudo reboot

sudo systemctl start <service>
sudo systemctl stop <service>
sudo systemctl restart <service>

Installing stuff is so easy:

#nix-env -iA nixpkgs.<package-name>
nix-env -iA nixos.librewolf

nix search <query> #search for a pkg
nix search vim

#nix-env -e <package-name> #uninstall

nix-env -q #list installed pkgs

Update and upgrade pkgs:

sudo nix-channel --update
nix-env -u

Outro

Interesting Stuff Regarding Emulation

GNOME Boxes is a virtualization tool for Linux desktop environments (like GNOME on Ubuntu).

It allows you to create, manage, and run virtual machines in a desktop environment.

It’s primarily used to virtualize full operating systems on Linux PCs using technologies like QEMU/KVM.

Termux, on the other hand, is a terminal emulator and Linux environment app for Android devices.

• It allows users to run a lightweight Linux environment on their Android phone or tablet, providing access to a wide range of command-line utilities and programming environments without rooting the device.
• A native terminal might come sooner or later