I’m currently using Manjaro with i3 and no desktop environment. The problems with Manjaro as well as the lack of cohesiveness and missing features from not having a DE are prompting me to switch distributions. This isn’t the point of the post but I want to keep the i3 workflow but achieve DE level (gnome level ideally) of polish and ease of use. If you have any recommendations for doing this shoot them my way.
Anyway, the two options I’m thinking of are fedora and nix. Fedora is a safe choice I think, I know what I’m going to get. Nix is really tempting. The idea that I can reproduce my system with one file is very tantalizing considering I already keep track of my dot files with git. My concerns about nix are regarding ease of use, learning curve, and polish. Is it wise to invest the time into learning something so niche like how to configure everything with nix, a skill that isn’t portable to any other distro? I’m not quite sure.
Also if anyone has tips for making switching distros easier I’d appreciate it.
Edit: I ended up choosing fedora. I added the pop shell for tiling and this workspace indicator extension. I only set it up yesterday but I’m very excited it seems like an incredible system.
NixOS is not going to give you ease of use. It requires a lot of learning. If you want to do anything not already supported by NixOS options, you’ll have to do some work.
Are there a lot of things not supported by nixos options? What are some examples?
There are things that require modifying system files on other distros, such as installing a login theme, which NixOS may not have settings for. For example, if you want to install an sddm theme, you’ll have to write a package that installs it to the nix store. It’s not hard to do, but requires some knowledge of Nix.