Welcome to Hydra

2025-05-18T00:00:00+00:00
This is what NixOS</a> itself uses for building packages for it's channels</a>. Setting it up yourself on NixOS is pretty easy with this nix config:</p>
1</td> {</span> config</span>,</span> pkgs</span>,</span> lib</span>,</span> ... </span>}</span>:</span>
</span></td></tr>
2</td> 
</span></td></tr>
3</td> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
4</td>   services</span>.hydra</span> =</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
5</td>     enable</span> =</span> true</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
6</td>     hydraURL</span> =</span> "</span>localhost:3000"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
7</td>     buildMachinesFiles</span> =</span> [</span> ]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
8</td>     notificationSender</span> =</span> "</span>hydra@localhost"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
9</td>     useSubstitutes</span> =</span> true</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
10</td>   }</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
11</td> }</span>
</span></td></tr></tbody></table></code></pre>
once you add that to your configuration.nix</code> (or another nix file that you import) and rebuild you'll find it running on port 3000 (localhost:3000). For creating a project and other admin roles I would recommand looking at this page</a>.</p>
Your own nixpkgs</a>
</h2>
I started my own nixpkgs repository</a> recently and this is my flake:</p>
1</td> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
2</td>   description</span> =</span> "</span>Aaron Honeycutt's packages"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
3</td> 
</span></td></tr>
4</td>   inputs</span> =</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
5</td>     nixpkgs</span>.url</span> =</span> "</span>nixpkgs/nixos-unstable"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
6</td>     flake-utils</span>.url</span> =</span> "</span>github:numtide/flake-utils"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
7</td>   }</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
8</td> 
</span></td></tr>
9</td>   outputs</span> =</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
10</td>     self</span>,</span>
</span></td></tr>
11</td>     nixpkgs</span>,</span>
</span></td></tr>
12</td>     flake-utils</span>,</span>
</span></td></tr>
13</td>     ...
</span></span></td></tr>
14</td>   </span>}</span>:</span>
</span></td></tr>
15</td>     flake-utils</span>.</span>lib</span>.</span>eachSystem</span> [</span>"</span>x86_64-linux"</span></span> "</span>aarch64-linux"</span></span>]</span> (</span>
</span></td></tr>
16</td>       system</span>:</span> let</span>
</span></td></tr>
17</td>         pkgs</span> =</span> import</span> nixpkgs</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
18</td>           inherit</span> system</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
19</td>           config</span>.allowUnfree</span> =</span> true</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
20</td>           overlays</span> =</span> [</span>
</span></td></tr>
21</td>             (</span>import</span> ./pkgs</span>)</span>
</span></td></tr>
22</td>           ]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
23</td>         }</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
24</td> 
</span></td></tr>
25</td>       in</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
26</td>         packages</span> =</span> (</span>import</span> ./pkgs</span> {</span>}</span>)</span> pkgs</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
27</td> 
</span></td></tr>
28</td>         hydraJobs</span> =</span> (</span>import</span> ./pkgs</span> {</span>}</span>)</span> pkgs</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
29</td>       }</span>
</span></td></tr>
30</td>     )</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
31</td> }</span>
</span></td></tr></tbody></table></code></pre>
With this you can run nix build .#honeyfetch</code> (one of the packages in that repository) to build it for the host architecture. Now the part for Hydra itself is HydraJobs</code> so that Hydra will pick up those packages and build them:</p>

    
    
    Hydra building for x86_64-linux</figcaption>
    
</figure>Building for other architectures</a>
</h1>
NixOS is great at supporting 4 main architectures (known as Platforms):</p>

x86_64-linux</li>
aarch64-linux</li>
x86_64-darwin</li>
aarch64-darwin</li>
</ul>
there is a 5th one which is i686-linux though it is not as common.</p>
Hydra can build for all of them and this example we'll add aarch64-linux (for devices such as the Raspberry Pi in my case), this is how our Hydra configuration looks with that enabled:</p>
1</td> {</span> config</span>,</span> pkgs</span>,</span> lib</span>,</span> ... </span>}</span>:</span>
</span></td></tr>
2</td> 
</span></td></tr>
3</td> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
4</td>   services</span>.hydra</span> =</span> {</span>
</span></td></tr>
5</td>     enable</span> =</span> true</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
6</td>     hydraURL</span> =</span> "</span>localhost:3000"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
7</td>     buildMachinesFiles</span> =</span> [</span> "</span>/etc/nix/machines"</span></span> ]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
8</td>     notificationSender</span> =</span> "</span>hydra@localhost"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
9</td>     useSubstitutes</span> =</span> true</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
10</td>   }</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
11</td> 
</span></td></tr>
12</td>   nix</span>.buildMachines</span> =</span> [</span>
</span></td></tr>
13</td>     {</span>
</span></td></tr>
14</td>       hostName</span> =</span> "</span>localhost"</span></span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
15</td>       protocol</span> =</span> null</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
16</td> #      system = "x86_64-linux";</span>
</span></td></tr>
17</td>       systems</span> =</span> [</span> "</span>x86_64-linux"</span></span> "</span>aarch64-linux"</span></span> ]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
18</td>       supportedFeatures</span> =</span> [</span>"</span>kvm"</span></span> "</span>nixos-test"</span></span> "</span>big-parallel"</span></span> "</span>benchmark"</span></span>]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
19</td>       maxJobs</span> =</span> 8</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
20</td>     }</span>
</span></td></tr>
21</td>   ]</span>;</span>
</span></td></tr>
22</td> }</span>
</span></td></tr></tbody></table></code></pre>
If you just want to build for x86_64-linux or a certain Platform only you can use the system</code> variable instead of the systems</code> one. If you use both the system</code> one will override everything so only that one will be used. Once the change is made simply rebuild your configuration with sudo nixos-rebuild</code> and you should see this, it is important to note that building on a non-native Platform will take a while.</p>

    
    
    Hydra building for x86_64-linux and aarch64-linux</figcaption>
    
</figure>Other questions</a>
</h1>
For more reading I have my nix files hosted on GitLab here</a>. Reach out to my on Mastodon for questions!</p>


Review of my open source work in 2024
2024-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
New and updated packages in nixpkgs</a>!</a>
</h2>
With the launch of the new System76 Thelio Astra</a> we saw some updated system76 packages such as</p>

system76-power</a></li>
system76-io-dkms</a></li>
system76-dkms: 1.0.13 -> 1.0.16</a> and 1.0.16 -> 1.0.17</a></li>
</ul>
but this update of the system76-io-dkms package in nixpkgs also added support for the Thelio Io v2</a> which is helpful for newer Thelio's that use that version of the board.</p>
We also saw the first Alpha, second and third  Alpha of the COSMIC packages that I (co)-maintain in nixpkgs though some skipped Alpha 2 going right from Alpha 1 to Alpha 3.</p>
I would like to highlight the help from the following people who have helped me with my work in nixpkgs:</p>

nyabinary</a></li>
lilyinstarlight</a></li>
a-kenji</a></li>
khumba</a></li>
</ul>
New update to nixos-hardware</a></a>
</h2>
I added the System76 galp5-1650 version with this PR</a>. This enables the GPU and places the system in Hybrid mode basically where the system uses the Intel GPU for everything but you can launch application using the NVIDIA GPU like this:</p>
nvidia-prime steam
</span></code></pre>
Planned to adopt System76 packages</a>
</h2>
The current plan is to take over the packages for System76 packages:</p>

system76 (open firmware systems)</li>
system76-io (DKMS for Thelio Io board)</li>
system76-acpi (non-open firmware systems)</li>
</ul>
The wonderful khumba</a> has been maintaining these and I plan on taking over updates for them from him as we enter into 2025. Thank you for the work that you have done and wonderful groundwork plus answers to my questions as well! The PR for removing him has been done</a> and I have my PR for taking them over</a> is currently up for review.</p>
Updated packages in Arch Linux AUR</a></a>
</h2>
We have had 11 releases of the System76 Keyboard Configurator for the Arch Linux AUR package! For those who don't know you can use this on the System76 Launch</a> and Intel System76 Laptops</a>!</p>
Work in Hydra</a>
</h2>
My first PR</a> to Hydra was merged and it is live! This fixes the hello example and it works!</p>

    
    
    Hydra building the hello example</figcaption>
    
</figure>COSMIC DE</a>
</h2>
Fixes</a>
</h3>
I added the feature to use the Player Controls (Next, Pause/Play, Prev) with this PR</a></p>
Bug reports</a>
</h3>
I reported a few issues in COSMIC and reporting them are as important as fixing them:</p>

COSMIC Greeter</a></li>
COSMIC Edit</a></li>
COSMIC Files</a></li>
</ul>
COSMIC Utils Org</a>
</h2>
Ed</a> and I have formed the COSMIC Utils Org</a> which has over 10 awesome folks (including ourselves) which is to have 3rd party COSMIC applications and applets in one place so that developers can help each other improve their application and/or applet or create one news!</p>
Stellarshot</a>
</h3>
This project also includes our own application called Stellarshot</a> which is a backup tool for COSMIC using rustic on the backend to handle the snapshots which are also encrypted!</p>


A review of the Thinkpad X13s with Ubuntu Linux
2024-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

    
    
        
        
        Note</strong></p>
        
        I purchased this system from Amazon's Renewed Store</a> and the listing for this model is also in that link if you wanted to purchase it after this review. This review has been done over a week of using the system with my findings broken down with the Good, Bad and Ugly system.</p>

    </div>
</blockquote>
Ubuntu support (general Linux support)</a>
</h3>

    
    
    Running Neofetch</figcaption>
    
</figure>
    
    
    About System in GNOME Settings</figcaption>
    
</figure>
Ubuntu has a custom image for this system which is nice until it can be merged into a general ARM64 image but with this platform it seems there is special settings that you need per device. This image is based on Ubuntu 23.10</a> but there are Noble Numbat (24.04) daily images as well here</a> which is nice to see.</p>
My original install was done using the 23.10 image but I have upgraded to 24.04 (which is still in testing until the end of April) but both have the 6.5.0 kernel series so other then possible newer versions of Mesa, PipeWire/PulseAudio everything should be pretty much the same for testing.</p>
Ubuntu 24.10 note:</strong> with this release there is now a generic arm64 image that works on this device from this link</a>.</p>
Now before you get try booting an ISO you will need to do two things in the BIOS (which you can get to with F1 at boot):</p>

Enable Linux Boot (Config -> Linux -> Linux Boot (Beta))</li>
Disable Secure Boot (Security -> Secure Boot -> Secure Boot)</li>
</ol>
Now you might be able to leave Secure Boot on if you use Ubuntu or another distro that supports it but I did not test that in this review. These steps are from the Debian Wiki for this model which you can find here</a>.</p>
This is an updated table based on my testing on Ubuntu 23.10/24.04/24.10:</p>
Core Feature</th> Status</th></tr></thead>

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth</td> Works</td></tr>
Touchpad</td> Works</td></tr>
Touch Screen</td> Works</td></tr>
Fingerprint Reader</td> Works</td></tr>
Webcam</td> Can work</td></tr>
Speakers</td> Works-ish</td></tr>
Headphone port</td> Works-ish</td></tr>
USB-C ports</td> Works</td></tr>
SIM Slot</td> Not tested</td></tr>
</tbody></table>

Not in the default configuration
** Can be enabled in Ubuntu 24.10 with steps in this review
*** They are very low due to active speaker protection not being enabled source</a></li>
</ul>
NOTE: Like mentioned in the Debian Wiki page for this system I'm not sure if the special keys other then for the screen brightness and volume work. I'll need to use a SIM to test if those buttons work but I doubt they do. From the Debian Wiki page the SIM should work but it may have some hoops to go though but perhaps not on Ubuntu.</p>
The Elephant in the Room and it's name is something different then x86_64</a>
</h2>
One of the good things about x86_64 is since every application is packaged for it by default and aarch64 is more of an after thought other then packages in the ports.ubuntu.com</a> repo which is different then the default us.archive.ubuntu.com</a> that most folks are used to.</p>
Debian (and there for Ubuntu for the most part) have a fairly large repository of cross-compiled (meaning that it built for more then one architecture which is great and it means applications like Signal, LibreOffice and other software are packaged (Signal being a snap).</p>
Now applications like Slack</a> and Discord</a> that I use quite a bit don't have aarch64 support in either their Debian packaging, flatpak or snap since upstream does not create them or support them from what I can tell. You have odd expections like with ProtonVPN</a> which has both x86_64 and aarch64 support but not Proton Mail Bridge</a> which is odd and I've pointed it out on their social</a>.</p>
The Good</a>
</h2>
These are the items that are amazing and work really well.</p>
BIOS/UEFI</a>
</h3>
I did enjoy seeing a Linux option in the BIOS though I think it should just be on by default and ideally not needed. The settings for swapping the Fn row from needing to press Fn+F5 to refresh a web page to just pressing F5 like I expect. I also liked the option to swap the Fn and Ctrl since I'm used to the Ctrl being on the bottom left rather then the Fn.</p>
Upgradable</a>
</h3>
Now the RAM is soldered (there are 8GB/16GB/32GB options, I have the 16GB model) BUT</strong> the drive is actually a M.2 2242 (not 2230 like the Steam Deck and Surface line and not 2280 like most desktops) based on the overview sheet from Lenovo</a>. Plus based on the manual</a> it looks like it is just a few screws to remove the bottom panel and the drive is held in with a single M.2 screw like normal M.2 drives!</p>
GNOME Shell</a>
</h3>
The animations in GNOME Shell are really smooth and great with the touchpad! See the video below for yourself!</p>

  
</video>
Screen</a>
</h3>
This is nice and large even on a 13.3" display thanks to the 16:10 resolution of 1920x1200 (instead of the average 16:9 1920x1080 that I'm used to). If you get the touch screen model like is included with this one it works as expected and I can move between workspaces, move windows and highlight text. I did not test onscreen keyboards but I suspect they will just fine, this system does not fold completely like some Chromebooks or partly like some Thinkpad Yoga models so you won't be able to use it like that.</p>
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth</a>
</h3>
I was able to connect to two different networks without issues. While Bluetooth was testing with my Pixel Buds-A I did notice some odd "audio glitching" but it would happen randomly and the audio would keep playing during these moments but would sometimes stop for a second or two then continue playing.</p>

    
    
    Settings listing Bluetooth devices</figcaption>
    
</figure>
    
    
    Bluetooth Sound Settings</figcaption>
    
</figure>USB-C ports</a>
</h3>
Getting used to only 2x USB-C ports is going to be interesting (I did give Apple a lot of shit when they did it) so I'll have an Anker adapter with an SD card (useful for Pi usage), HDMI and USB-A ports.</p>
Both ports are 3.2 Gen 2 and support video out and power in though my testing, I did note that when you first connect a display GNOME Shell crashes and throws you to the login screen again. It doesn't seem to happen again until you reboot the system then connect a display again.</p>
Fingerprint Reader</a>
</h3>
To my surprise the fingerprint reader works well and I can enroll my fingers! It even unlocks the system the system at the login screen too!</p>
Button</a>
</h3>
I've never had a Thinkpad before but I've heard many friends praise the keyboard, the nib and the buttons like the ones above the touchpad. I'm happy to say that they were indeed correct and it is really nice to have physical buttons in addition to the buttons under the touchpad such as the middle mouse button.</p>
Touchpad</a>
</h3>
It is a joy to use though it would be nicer if it was a little larger though perhaps that'll happen if they make a 14" or larger model (this is 13.3"). It is certainly larger then my last laptop that I purchased and used for years (still do as a great backup machine). I'm able to use the gestures for GNOME (for moving workspaces and going to the application view) and Firefox (for going forward and back on web pages).</p>
Cooling system</a>
</h3>
This is a fan-less system so how well the system can keep cool is a good question to ask, while building the System76 Keyboard Configurator</a> the highest temperature that I saw was about 67C which I think is really good. The system's CPU is near the USB-C ports so the top left if you are looking at the screen and you can feel it getting a little warm there.</p>

    
    
    Keeping cool while building Rust</figcaption>
    
</figure>Video decoding</a>
</h3>
YouTube works and here are some stats for the nerds:</p>

    
    
    YouTube Encoding at 1080p @ 60Hz</figcaption>
    
</figure>
    
    
    YouTube Encoing at 2160p @ 60Hz</figcaption>
    
</figure>
As you can see it reports that videos are able to decode up to 4K@60 without issue, the videos are smooth and audio matches without issue.</p>
The Bad</a>
</h2>
These are the items that don't make or break the system for most folks but are important to note their status.</p>
Speakers</a>
</h3>
The speakers which are really low for some reason and do not get better even at the lightest volume for some reason, perhaps driver/PipeWire/Kernel updates will help in the future but I'm not sure.</p>
Ubuntu 24.10 note:</strong> they do not work better with 6.11 in this release as they are still pretty low due to active speaker protection not being enabled.</p>
Headphone/Microphone port</a>
</h3>
The headphone port and even at the lower volume it has a lot of cracking in the output and it gets worse as you increase the volume. I tested two different headphones with the same result. Now using a USB headset (though the USB-C port) seems to work without issue so that is a workaround though you'll need to use an adapter to do this. I have not tested a headset with a microphone yet since I mainly use a USB-A headset so I don't use the port much.</p>
Widevine/DRM</a>
</h3>
Now streaming sites that use Widevine DRM like Max and Disney+ do not work at all when you try to load a video. I tested Firefox (snap default install) and Vivaldi (they have an ARM64 Debian release). Now I was able to get Max and Disney+ to work (but not Netflix currently) with Brave by using the Widevine Installer</a> from the Asahi project and these steps</a> from Brave. Now this can break at any time with how Widevine is but it does work currently at this time.</p>
Battery</a>
</h3>
Checking upower -d</code> shows the battery should last 5.8 hours while Lenovo quotes 25-28 hours on Windows. I tested the system with no changes including TLP and with the 6.5 kernel from Ubuntu and I saw about that while doing the following things:</p>

Writing this review using helix, nano, Text Editor</li>
Researching how to fix the Widevine issue so basic web browsing including some YouTube here and there</li>
Downloading updates, installing new applications including snaps and Debian packages</li>
</ul>
Suspending does not seem to work correctly as the display is still on when the lid is closed but it does turn off if you use the menu to suspend. The battery does still seem to drain while suspended much higher then one would expect when in that state.
This system does work with S0ix and we can confirm with this output from this command:</p>
aaronh@drack:~</span></span>$</span></span> cat /sys/power/mem_sleep </span>
</span>[s2idle]</span></span>
</span></code></pre>
Note that the deep</code> option is not available on this system.</p>
Ubuntu 24.10 note:</strong> this device does not enter the deepest low-power state during suspend yet.</p>
The Ugly</a>
</h2>
Here are the items that will most likely help you decide if this is a system for you.</p>
Webcam</a>
</h3>
For a really nice and portable system this would be an ideal candidate for remote working but since the camera does not work that might be the biggest deal breaker. I imagine support would be added in the future but it depends on how important it is to you.
This part is short as I'm not able to detect it with any software that I can find like camaeractrls, websites and such.</p>
Ubuntu 24.10 note:</strong> this can</em> work with some steps below:</p>
The following packages and changes are needed for the webcam to work as of this update:</p>
sudo</span></span> usermod -</span>aG</span> video $</span>USER</span></span></span>
</span>sudo</span></span> apt install pipewire-libcamera libcamera-tools libcamera-ipa</span>
</span></code></pre>
Add this file: /etc/udev/rules.d/95-libcamera-hack.rules</code> with this as the content:</p>
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="dma_heap", KERNEL=="linux,cma", GROUP="video", MODE="0660"
</span>ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="dma_heap", KERNEL=="system", GROUP="video", MODE="0660"
</span></code></pre>
Set this value in Firefox's about:config page:</p>
media.webrtc.camera.allow-pipewire
</span></code></pre>
Now restart the system and test:</p>
sudo</span></span> qcam</span>
</span></code></pre>
Compiling</a>
</h3>
I did have it freeze on me when I was trying to build a rather large Rust project but limiting compiling options to lower the system load might help with that but I did not do that in my testing.</p>
Closing marks</a>
</h2>
Once Ubuntu 24.04 is released with the 6.8 kernel I believe things will get even better as it has a lot of changes, here is a small list of a few articles with information:</p>

Phoronix - Linux-6.8-ARM-Changes</a></li>
Phoronix - Qualcomm-Mainline-Linux-2024</a></li>
</ul>
This system is a great little portable machine with an ARM64 CPU and works great on Ubuntu. If you are looking for a system that is fanless for working on documents, web browsing, watching some YouTube videos and a little development work this is a great option! With that said if you travel and use streaming services that might be a deal breaker for you but I hope that it improves in the near future.</p>
Additional tracking</a>
</h2>
There are some more resources for updated information about Linux on this device:</p>

steev's repo</a></li>
jhovold's wiki</a></li>
</ul>


Hosting on NixOS
2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00
description: Running NixOS on Linode VPS for services like Jekyll, Mastodon and Nextcloud.</p>
Installing on Linode</a>
</h2>
I've been using Linode for a while and I used this article</a> to install NixOS on a Linode. Now I was using one large server (2GB plan) to host everything but I thought that splitting them up would be better so I just cloned my server onto another Linode using their great webUI!</p>
Two is better than one</a>
</h2>
Now that I have two servers I needed names for them, I've never been good with hostnames but I'm not using Mass Effect (Andromeda) characters for my systems. Mass Effect characters are for x86_64 systems and Andromeda characters for ARM64 devices. The two servers themselves are names after Reapers so sovereign and harbinger!</p>
Hydra</a>
</h3>
The hardest part of starting for me was understanding DNS and HTTPS setup, this included using Nginx to reverse proxy a locally running service like Hydra</a>. I was able to get this working with this configuration</a> this allows it to be viewed from the subdomain of hydra on ahoneybun.net (it is currently off as I was just testing).</p>
When I first tried setting Hydra up I was using the default settings for using a Nginx reverse proxy but it was not loading CSS and JavaScript, after hours of going though GitHub and Reddit I found this option which was the key:</p>
recommendedProxySettings = true;
</span></code></pre>
Once that was added and I rebuilt nixos-rebuild</code> everything worked as it should have!</p>
Jekyll</a>
</h3>
For a long time this site has been on GitHub pages but I wanted to change that (partly as I was having issues with how GitHub handles DNS) and this is the first blog post since that happened and now you're on a site hosted on NixOS! Getting Jekyll to build with my site</a> took a while but these commands was able to build with my plugins:</p>
cd</span></span> ahoneybun.net</span>
</span>nix-shell</span></span> -</span>p</span> jekyll rubyPackages.webrick rubyPackages.jekyll-feed rubyPackages.jekyll-redirect-from</span>
</span>jekyll</span></span> build</span>
</span></code></pre>
I created a nix-shell file (in the repository) so that I can run these commands (from the root directory) to update the site once I make a change on GitHub:</p>
git</span></span> pull</span>
</span>nix-shell</span></span>
</span>jekyll</span></span> build</span>
</span></code></pre>
Mastodon</a>
</h3>
Setting up Mastodon on NixOS was just using this wiki</a> page and then rebuild. One issue with my configuration is that I don't have SMTP working so confirmation emails are not sent out. To workaround this I can confirm the account using tootctl</code> on the server itself like this:</p>
#</span></span> Switch to root</span>
</span></span>sudo</span></span> su</span>
</span>
</span>#</span></span> Switch to mastodon account</span>
</span></span>su</span></span> - mastodon -</span>s</span> $</span>(</span>which</span></span> bash</span>)</span></span></span>
</span>
</span>#</span></span># Approve accounts though tootctl</span>
</span></span>mastodon-env</span></span> tootctl accounts approve PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE</span>
</span>
</span>#</span></span># Accept email address though tootctl </span>
</span></span>mastodon-env</span></span> tootctl accounts modify PUT-YOUR-USERNAME-HERE --</span>confirm</span></span>
</span></code></pre>
Source</a></p>
Nix Files</a>
</h2>
You can find all of my nix files here</a>.</p>


Automounting a drive in NixOS
2022-09-02T00:00:00+00:00
After you create the mount point then we'll add that drive to our `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix':</p>
  fileSystems."/mnt/ExtraDrive" =
</span>    { device = "/dev/disk/by-uuid/72315f9e-ceda-4152-8e8d-09590affba28";
</span>      fsType = "ext4";
</span>    };
</span></code></pre>

NOTE:</em> You can find the UUID by using the blkid</code> command, you will need to use sudo</code> or change to the root user.</p>
</blockquote>
sudo blkid
</span></code></pre>
or</p>
sudo -i
</span>blkid
</span></code></pre>
then rebuild NixOS:</p>
sudo nixos-rebuild switch
</span></code></pre>
You'll see the following if done correctly:</p>
unpacking channels...
</span>building Nix...
</span>building the system configuration...
</span>these 3 derivations will be built:
</span>  /nix/store/3ryw7m6gvim8zs593wkibcg143pix7zd-etc-fstab.drv
</span>  /nix/store/va8nfw2j4i5jviibqy5cggnmjsjmds2v-etc.drv
</span>  /nix/store/hpm2aykvls876qgjrkva2ys3xmn08sri-nixos-system-rpi4-22.11pre405560.2da64a81275.drv
</span>building '/nix/store/3ryw7m6gvim8zs593wkibcg143pix7zd-etc-fstab.drv'...
</span>building '/nix/store/va8nfw2j4i5jviibqy5cggnmjsjmds2v-etc.drv'...
</span>building '/nix/store/hpm2aykvls876qgjrkva2ys3xmn08sri-nixos-system-rpi4-22.11pre405560.2da64a81275.drv'...
</span>stopping the following units: mnt-ExtraDrive.mount
</span>activating the configuration...
</span>setting up /etc...
</span>reloading user units for gdm...
</span>reloading user units for aaronh...
</span>setting up tmpfiles
</span>starting the following units: mnt-ExtraDrive.mount
</span>the following new units were started: systemd-fsck@dev-sda1.service
</span></code></pre>
Now we'll see it when we reboot:</p>
[aaronh@rpi4:~]$ lsblk
</span>NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
</span>sda           8:0    0 232.9G  0 disk 
</span>└─sda1        8:1    0 232.9G  0 part /mnt/ExtraDrive
</span>mmcblk0     179:0    0  29.7G  0 disk 
</span>├─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0    30M  0 part 
</span>└─mmcblk0p2 179:2    0  29.7G  0 part /nix/store
</span>                                      /
</span>
</span>[aaronh@rpi4:~]$ ls /mnt/ExtraDrive/
</span>Backups  lost+found  test
</span></code></pre>


Unstable software in NixOS
2022-06-18T00:00:00+00:00
Installing newer software</a>
</h2>
Recently I ran into this bug</a> with the stable (22.05 at this writing) of the ProtonVPN software in NixOS. A way to work around it was use the unstable version of the software which had the fix. I did a bit of Googling to find how to do that so I wanted to share what I found, this is the file that I use:</p>
{ config, pkgs, ...}:
</span>
</span>let
</span>  unstable = import
</span>    (builtins.fetchTarball https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs/tarball/master)
</span>    # reuse the current configuration
</span>    { config = config.nixpkgs.config; };
</span>in
</span>{
</span>  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
</span>    unstable.protonvpn-cli
</span>    unstable.protonvpn-gui
</span>  ];
</span>}
</span></code></pre>
Now I made this in a file like this /etc/nixos/unstable-programs.nix</code> and then edit my /etc/nixos/configuration.nix</code> file to import it like this:</p>
    [
</span>        ./hardware-configuration.nix
</span>        ./plasma.nix
</span>        ./programs.nix
</span>        ./unstable-programs.nix
</span>    ];
</span></code></pre>
That way I can comment it out once the fix is released or if I want to remove it for some reason. Once I made these edits to those two files I would rebuild and switch with this command sudo nixos-rebuild switch</code> now if you want to test it just for the next reboot in case you are worried you can run this command instead sudo nixos-rebuild test</code>. Now when you reboot it boots into that generation but if it doesn't work just reboot and you'll be in the previous generation without the change.</p>


Welcome to NixOS
2022-05-22T00:00:00+00:00
Automate the OS</a>
</h2>
With NixOS you can setup your OS using the "configuration.nix" file which is in "/etc/nixos" and mine enables the following:</p>

Xorg</li>
OpenSSH</li>
PipeWire</li>
Bluetooth</li>
CUPS</li>
fwupd</li>
Flatpak</li>
</ul>
This installs my desktop, default applications and other tools that I need. I'm still working on it but this gets me up and running out of the box. You can see the full file here</a>.</p>
Rollback the OS</a>
</h2>
One of the cool features that I have loved the idea of before I found out about NixOS is rolling back an update. We have similar features in Fedora Silverblue</a> and how NixOS does it is similar at least from the users POV, every time that you run nixos-rebuild switch</code> you create a new generation though you would have to have changed your "configuration.nix" file before running the command. You can read more about Generations here</a>.</p>
Spliting the user-wide and system-wide</a>
</h2>
Another cool feature is allowing the user and system to have different applications/versions, of the benefits of this is the following:</p>

The user can have Inkscape 1.1.2 (unstable) while the system would have version 1.1.1 (stable) (this is based on version 21.11)</li>
The system can have Python 3.9 while the user who needs a newer version can have Python 3.10</li>
</ul>
The Nyxi Installer</a>
</h3>
I created this installer based on my Arch-itect installer which you can find here</a> and expended based on a co-workers request of using an encrypted LVM which includes a BTRFS root fs and swap. This installer creates the swap partition based on the amount of RAM for hibernation and it is fairly safe since the swap is in an encrypted LVM.</p>


systemd-boot and efibootmgr
2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00
systemd-boot</a>
</h2>
Systemd-boot started with just support for UEFI which means the code base is much smaller when compared to GRUB which has a ton of code to work with different types of drives that have been released in the last decade. Pop!_OS has been using it since the 18.04 LTS release and I have  been using it as my go to boot manager ever since.</p>
efibootmgr</a>
</h2>
This command allows us to edit the EFI variables though EFISTUB, the Arch Wiki</a> has a really good selection about using efibootmgr</code>. Here is my output as an example since I will be using the output in the next section:</p>
BootNext: 0001
</span>BootCurrent: 0001
</span>Timeout: 2 seconds
</span>BootOrder: 0001,000A,0002,0006,0000
</span>Boot0000* UiApp
</span>Boot0001* Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
</span>Boot0002* WDC WDS120G2G0B-00EPW0 
</span>Boot0006* WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 
</span>Boot000A* Linux Boot Manager
</span></code></pre>
Now you may not have the "BootNext:" option if you haven't used efibootmgr</code> before.</p>
Desktop files</a>
</h2>
You can make your own desktop file and for system-wide you would put them in /usr/share/applications/</code> but if you want them just for your user you can use ~/.local/share/applications/</code>. We can make .desktop files for these boot entries to set them as the next boot target but once you reboot again it reverts to using "BootOrder" order instead.</p>
This is my file for booting Arch on the next reboot:</p>
[Desktop Entry]
</span>Encoding=UTF-8
</span>Version=1.0
</span>Type=Application
</span>Terminal=false
</span>Exec=sh -c "pkexec efibootmgr -n 000A"
</span>Name=Boot to Arch
</span>Icon=/home/aaronh/Documents/archlinux-icon.svg
</span></code></pre>
and this is my file for booting Pop!_OS on the next boot:</p>
[Desktop Entry]
</span>Encoding=UTF-8
</span>Version=1.0
</span>Type=Application
</span>Terminal=false
</span>Exec=sh -c "pkexec efibootmgr -n 0001"
</span>Name=Boot to Pop!_OS
</span>Icon=/home/aaronh/Documents/pop_icon.svg
</span></code></pre>


Welcome to my blog!
2021-08-29T00:00:00+00:00
What will be here</a>
</h2>

My personal thoughts and links to current projects or life events that are happening</li>
Reviews of tech things</li>
</ul>
What won't be here</a>
</h2>

Ads</li>
Tracking</li>
Comments (reach out over my socail media links)</li>
</ul>
CI (Continuous Integration system)
My Forgejo instance</a></p>

NixOS Service

Actions

Using Hydra to build custom images

Having Hydra get a job

Welcome to Hydra

Building for other architectures

Review of my open source work in 2024

Updated packages in Arch Linux AUR</a></a> </h2>
System76 Launch</a> and Intel System76 Laptops</a>!</p>

Fixes </a> </h3>
PR</a></p>

Stellarshot </a> </h3>
Stellarshot</a> which is a backup tool for COSMIC using rustic on the backend to handle the snapshots which are also encrypted!</p>

A review of the Thinkpad X13s with Ubuntu Linux

Upgradable </a> </h3>
overview sheet from Lenovo</a>. Plus based on the manual</a> it looks like it is just a few screws to remove the bottom panel and the drive is held in with a single M.2 screw like normal M.2 drives!</p>

Widevine/DRM </a> </h3>
Widevine Installer</a> from the Asahi project and these steps</a> from Brave. Now this can break at any time with how Widevine is but it does work currently at this time.</p>

Hosting on NixOS

Installing on Linode </a> </h2>
article</a> to install NixOS on a Linode. Now I was using one large server (2GB plan) to host everything but I thought that splitting them up would be better so I just cloned my server onto another Linode using their great webUI!</p>

Nix Files </a> </h2>
You can find all of my nix files here</a>.</p>

Automounting a drive in NixOS

Unstable software in NixOS

Welcome to NixOS

The Nyxi Installer </a> </h3>
here</a> and expended based on a co-workers request of using an encrypted LVM which includes a BTRFS root fs and swap. This installer creates the swap partition based on the amount of RAM for hibernation and it is fairly safe since the swap is in an encrypted LVM.</p>

systemd-boot and efibootmgr

Welcome to my blog!

What will be here </a> </h2>
Reviews of tech things</li> </ul>
What won't be here

What won't be here

My Blog

A 2025 review of Mobile Linux with postmarketOS v25.12

Donations

postmarketOS Donation page</a></li> </ul>
Hardware

Hardware

Cameras
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Speakers
Battery
USB-C port
Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Speakers
Battery
USB-C port
Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Speakers
Battery
USB-C port
Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Battery
USB-C port
Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

USB-C port
Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Fingerprint Reader
Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Software </a> </h2>
Phosh

Phosh

GNOME Software

Welcome to Forgejo and it's Runners

My Blog

A 2025 review of Mobile Linux with postmarketOS v25.12

Welcome to Forgejo and it's Runners

Using Hydra to build custom images

Other questions</a> </h1> Reach out to me on Mastodon for questions!</p> Welcome to Hydra 2025-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Welcome to Hydra

Review of my open source work in 2024

Planned to adopt System76 packages</a> </h2> The current plan is to take over the packages for System76 packages:</p> system76 (open firmware systems)</li> system76-io (DKMS for Thelio Io board)</li>

A review of the Thinkpad X13s with Ubuntu Linux

Hosting on NixOS

Automounting a drive in NixOS

Unstable software in NixOS

Welcome to NixOS

Automate the OS</a> </h2> With NixOS you can setup your OS using the "configuration.nix" file which is in "/etc/nixos" and mine enables the following:</p> Xorg</li> OpenSSH</li> PipeWire</li> Bluetooth</li> CUPS</li> fwupd</li>

systemd-boot and efibootmgr

Welcome to my blog!
