What is ZaneyOS and what does your NixOS flake do?

ZaneyOS is just my NixOS flake—the system configuration I’m running right now—packaged in a way other people can actually use. It’s built around a Hyprland-centric desktop with a bunch of quality-of-life stuff already wired up. The whole point is: you shouldn’t have to go change a ton of things just to try my setup.

How do I deploy your flake on my own hardware?

My intended flow is: clone the repo, open flake.nix, and set the user variables like hostname, username, email, theme, and wallpaper directory. Then you set CPU type and GPU type so the hardware-specific settings can flip on automatically. The docs include steps to reproduce the system, and I’m actively improving them.

Why do you only have one NixOS configuration in the flake?

I’m trying to avoid the “one config per machine” trap where you end up duplicating a bunch of files. Instead, I pass a crap ton of variables into the places they’re needed and let conditionals handle hardware differences. The idea is that you can reproduce the same system on different hardware without manually rewriting everything.

How does your flake handle Intel vs AMD vs Nvidia settings?

Right now, AMD is the most tested—both AMD CPU/GPU paths are working for me. The way I’m doing it is sourcing different files and using if statements for hardware-specific sections (like OpenGL settings). If you’re on Intel or Nvidia and something’s missing, that’s exactly the kind of feedback I’m asking for.

Can I try your Hyprland setup in a VM?

You can, and I do have VM options in there, but I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect. Hyprland in a VM isn’t going to be spectacular, and Wayland in general can be kind of iffy in VMs. It should work, just keep expectations realistic.

Does your flake include theming and wallpaper tools?

Yeah—this is one of the parts I put a lot of effort into. I’ve got a theme selector script that updates the theme variable in flake.nix and then rebuilds so the new theme applies. It’s meant to hit GTK apps, Qt apps, and the rest, plus there’s a wallpaper setter/changer that cycles your wallpaper directory with transitions.

How can I contribute or help test your flake on different hardware?

If you’ve got hardware I don’t—Intel CPU, Nvidia GPU, weird combos, whatever—and it’s not working, come hang out in the Discord. A bunch of people there are already helping fix hardware-specific settings and edge cases. The more reports and patches we get, the closer this gets to “works for everyone.”

Making My NixOS Flake Better For Everyone

Name: Making My NixOS Flake Better For Everyone
Uploaded: 2024-01-26 21:00:31
Duration: 10 min 4 s

🛍️ Products Mentioned (9)

I have been hard at work recently building out a better and better NixOS flake. Mine has a lot of features, but the goal of what I have been doing recently is to make it easier to deploy regardless of which hardware setup you have. My Flake: https://gitlab.com/Zaney/zaneyos 🌟 Thank you for watching! Please let me know what you think in the comments! 🔻 MY LINKS 🔻 🛰️ Website: https://www.zaney.org 💰 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/akazaney 🐘 Mastodon: https://mas.to/@Zaney 🗨️ Discord: https://discord.gg/2cRdBs8 🛒 Store: https://zaney-shop.fourthwall.com ☕ BuyMeACoffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/notzaney 📁 Gitlab: https://www.gitlab.com/Zaney/ 💳 CashApp: $theofficialtylerk 🎴 Venmo: @TheOfficialTylerK 💸 Liberapay: https://liberapay.com/Zaney ✉️ Email: tylerzanekelley@gmail.com

About This Video

I’ve been kinda heads-down lately, and this video is me finally explaining why: I’ve been working on proper NixOS documentation for my flake and trying to make the whole thing way easier for other people to deploy. The goal isn’t just “here’s my setup,” it’s “clone the repo, set a few variables, and you’re basically running my Hyprland + NixOS experience.” I walk through the docs, how to reproduce my system, and the general idea behind making onboarding simple without forcing you to rewrite a bunch of config just to get started. The big change in how I’m structuring things is that I’m keeping a single NixOS configuration and driving differences through variables—hostname, username, theme, wallpaper directory, and especially CPU/GPU type. Instead of maintaining multiple hardware-specific configs, I’m leaning on conditional logic and separate sourced files for hardware bits (think Intel vs AMD OpenGL settings, etc.). It’s still a work in progress, and I’m very up-front about that—especially around hardware testing and the VM experience (Hyprland/Wayland in VMs can be iffy). If you’ve got different hardware and want to help make this flake better for everyone, I’m basically asking you to hop in the Discord and help me beat on it.