[t0astbread]

Sorry to be that person but: As someone who's been using NixOS as their daily driver for about three years (after switching to it from Debian) and is currently trying out a MacBook I can tell you that NixOS provides a very different experience than everything else you've mentioned (including macOS). The only other OS I'm aware of that it's comparable to is Guix System which is distantly related to NixOS.

NixOS in its unofficial "endgame" is more like a container where you can strictly define what files to keep between reboots and everything else gets thrown away. Except unlike a container it covers your entire filesystem (not just a single application) and it's actually usable for things like a laptop since you don't have to reboot between making changes. There's a popular blog post titled "Erase your darlings" that explains it in more detail[1]. And, like with a container image (but different in how it's done), NixOS forces you to write any and all changes to your system's programs or config as code that can be introspected and delivers repeatable results.

This is definitely not to everyone's taste but for me this is now the only way to keep computers "clean" in the long term (sans specialized distros like Talos Linux). I can just look at the source code to know exactly what I'm running and I can delete stuff I no longer want without having to think about leftover files or anything like that. Backups also get a lot simpler when you only have to think about the persistent volume of your system and your config and full restores are just a matter of reinstalling with your config in place.

macOS is gorgeous and I love how everything just works pretty much (except defining global keyboard shortcuts). But I've been so spoiled by NixOS catering to my config management obsession that everything else feels kind of primitive in that regard. My dream would be the macOS userland and kernel on top of Apple hardware but built and assembled with the Nix module system. And then some APFS magic to make an ephemeral root filesystem work.

(Also yes I've tried nix-darwin. Love it and I'm infinitely grateful it exists because I'm also using a MacBook at work but it's not the same kind of "complete" experience that NixOS provides.)

[1] https://grahamc.com/blog/erase-your-darlings/

[rollcat]

I've been using NixOS for a couple of years; I still have it on one of my RasPis. I've had a moderately elaborate config for my laptop. I could enumerate all of the problems I've had with it, but back to my point: not that different from every other distribution. Once you get past the insane level of ecosystem fragmentation and DIY fixes (which NixOS adds to- with "regular" configs vs flakes), there's still the UX department, where both KDE and Gnome are severely lacking.

[t0astbread]

Of course, the software that goes onto a NixOS installation is the same as on most other Linux distros so it's not any different in that regard. What I was trying to say is the config management aspect - especially when used with an ephemeral root FS - provides an entirely different way of managing your computer that's not really possible to replicate anywhere else (except Guix as I've mentioned).

Not that that makes it objectively better or worse. The config shtick of NixOS can also be really annoying to someone who just wants to install stuff and move on. It comes down to personal preference.