Machine Management

These notes are still a work-in-progress and are currently largely for my personal use only.

Home-Manager Example

1. Install Nix standalone:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

3. Set proper Nix settings in /etc/nix/nix.conf:

substituters = https://cache.nixos.org/ https://github-public.cachix.org
trusted-public-keys = cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY= github-public.cachix.org-1:xofQDaQZRkCqt+4FMyXS5D6RNenGcWwnpAXRXJ2Y5kc=
narinfo-cache-positive-ttl = 0
narinfo-cache-negative-ttl = 0
experimental-features = nix-command flakes auto-allocate-uids

4. Add these Nix channels via nix-channel --add URL NAME:

$ nix-channel --list
home-manager https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.11.tar.gz
nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.11

5. Install home-manager: https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/index.xhtml#sec-install-standalone

Example home.nix file for personal use:

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:
let
  user = "andrew";
  homedir = "/home/${user}";
  anixsrc = ./path/to/sources/anixpkgs/.;
in with import ../dependencies.nix; {
  home.username = user;
  home.homeDirectory = homedir;
  programs.home-manager.enable = true;

  imports = [
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/opts.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/base-pkgs.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/base-dev-pkgs.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/x86-rec-pkgs.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/x86-graphical-pkgs.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/x86-graphical-dev-pkgs.nix"
    "${anixsrc}/pkgs/nixos/components/x86-graphical-rec-pkgs.nix"
  ];

  mods.opts.standalone = true;
  mods.opts.homeDir = homedir;
  mods.opts.homeState = "23.05";
  mods.opts.browserExec = "google-chrome-stable";
}

*-rec-* packages can be removed for non-recreational use.

Symlink to ~/.config/home-manager/home.nix.

Corresponding ~/.bashrc:

export NIX_PATH=$HOME/.nix-defexpr/channels:/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels${NIX_PATH:+:$NIX_PATH}
. "$HOME/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh"
export NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1
# alias code='codium'
# eval "$(direnv hook bash)"

Personal Machine Installation Instructions

Sources

• https://nixos.wiki/wiki/NixOS_Installation_Guide
• https://alexherbo2.github.io/wiki/nixos/install-guide/

1. Build the installation ISO with NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix build .#nixosConfigurations.installer-personal.config.system.build.isoImage
2. Plug in a USB stick large enough to accommodate the image.
3. Find the right device with lsblk or fdisk -l. Replace /dev/sdX with the proper device (do not use /dev/sdX1 or partitions of the disk; use the whole disk /dev/sdX).
4. Burn ISO to USB stick with dd if=result/iso/[...]linux.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fdatasync
5. On the new machine, one-time boot UEFI into the USB stick on the computer (will need to disable Secure Boot from BIOS first)
6. Login as the user andrew
7. Connect to the internet
8. Within the installer, run sudo anix-install
9. If everything went well, reboot
10. On the next reboot, login as user andrew again
11. Connect to the internet
12. Run anix-init
13. Enjoy!

JetPack Machine Installation Instructions

1. Ensure that the device has UEFI firmware installed. See https://github.com/anduril/jetpack-nixos.
2. Build the installation ISO with nix build .#nixosConfigurations.installer-jetpack.config.system.build.isoImage
3. Plug in a USB stick large enough to accommodate the image.
4. Find the right device with lsblk or fdisk -l. Replace /dev/sdX with the proper device (do not use /dev/sdX1 or partitions of the disk; use the whole disk /dev/sdX).
5. Burn ISO to USB stick with dd if=result/iso/[...]linux.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fdatasync
6. Insert the USB drive into the Jetson device. On the AGX devkits, I’ve had the best luck plugging into the USB-C slot above the power barrel jack. You may need to try a few USB options until you find one that works with both the UEFI firmware and the Linux kernel.
7. Press power / reset as needed. When prompted, press ESC to enter the UEFI firmware menu. In the “Boot Manager”, select the correct USB device and boot directly into it.
8. Connect to the internet
9. Within the installer, run sudo anix-install
10. If everything went well, reboot
11. On the next reboot, login as user andrew again
12. Connect to the internet
13. Run anix-init
14. Enjoy!

Upgrading NixOS versions with anixpkgs

Aside from the source code changes in anixpkgs, ensure that your channels have been updated for the root user:

# e.g., upgrading to 25.11:
home-manager https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/archive/release-25.11.tar.gz
nixos https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.11
nixpkgs https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-25.11

sudo nix-channel --update. Then upgrade with

anix-upgrade [source specification] --local --boot

Build a JetPack Installer ISO

Cross-compiled from x86_64. Requires binfmt support for aarch64 (enabled by default on NixOS with boot.binfmt.emulatedSystems).

nix build .#nixosConfigurations.installer-jetpack.config.system.build.isoImage

dd if=result/iso/[...]linux.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fdatasync

Build a NixOS ISO Image

TODO (untested); work out hardware configuration portion.

nixos-generate -f iso -c /path/to/personal/configuration.nix [-I nixpkgs=/path/to/alternative/nixpkgs]

sudo dd if=/path/to/nixos.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync status=progress

Miscellaneous

Cloud Syncing

The following mount points are recommended (using rclone to set up):

• dropbox:secrets -> rclone copy -> ~/secrets
• dropbox:configs-> rclone copy -> ~/configs
• dropbox:Games -> rclone copy -> ~/games
• box:data -> rclone copy -> ~/data
• box:.devrc -> rclone copy -> ~/.devrc
• drive:Documents -> rclone copy -> ~/Documents

Music with Tidal

If you haven’t already, run:

install-superdirt

Open VSCode, run sclang in the terminal (close with 0.exit), and open up a .tidal file and get to work.

Useful commands:

• Install samples with e.g., tidal-download-samples eddyflux/crate crate
• When sclang is running, associate with the correct audio device with sc-route-audio