In the past three weeks I've explored two use cases:
1. Macbook setup via nix-darwin + home-manager. Now that I've put in the time, I'm going to use it for my personal and family laptops. I would probably not recommend anyone else do this if they have not previously used Nix. Very high ramp given the benefits.
2. Dev environments[1]. I started using nix+direnv for my side projects. This was quick and easy to get started with and has been great. Would recommend anyone look into it via the link below.
It's like Nix-Darwin but without any setup issues, spared from breakage related to OS upgrades, but also with fewer escape hatches (Flatpak is the main easy one it does provide, also steam-run) for app installation. If you do enjoy Nix-Darwin once you get it going and you at least somewhat enjoy Linux desktops, you'd probably enjoy it as a daily driver.
I would say that for users new to the Nix ecosystem, NixOS on a spare machine is the most gentle and pleasant way to introduce the module system and declarative Nix config. It tends to be smoother than Home Manager or Nix-Darwin, and it's a lot more complete than either, both because it has more users. But a spare machine is a good choice for those who aren't yet sure that they like or care about Nix, because if something is missing or non-obvious, the only way out is through— you have to dive deep.
NixOS is so mature these days compared to when I first picked it up, though. Packaging work just to get by on the day-to-day is way more rare, and there are a lot more examples around. A Linux hobbyist who is prepared to struggle a bit can definitely just dive right in and have a good time, for sure.
Cool! There were definitely some hacks/issues with nix-darwin though most of my time was probably spent porting my neovim config[1] (still working on it) which should mostly carry over if I want to check out NixOS. I'll probably take the spare machine approach as you mentioned.
Nice! I've been playing around with NixVim¹ for my neovim config on macOS/Nix-Darwin at work, but I haven't done much with it since I mostly use Emacs with Evil.
Neovim is my 'spare editor', so my needs for it are simple. :)
Have you tried / are you going to try devenv or devbox for development environments? I'm curious to know what other people think. As for me I'll try it as soon as I finish reinstalling my macos.
I have not tried either yet. There seems to be a few of these nix-based dev envs coming out which is one reason I became curious. I wanted to learn baseline nix before jumping into any of these.
If you are using nix-darwin to set up your macos, I'd be curious to hear about your experience.
1. Macbook setup via nix-darwin + home-manager. Now that I've put in the time, I'm going to use it for my personal and family laptops. I would probably not recommend anyone else do this if they have not previously used Nix. Very high ramp given the benefits.
2. Dev environments[1]. I started using nix+direnv for my side projects. This was quick and easy to get started with and has been great. Would recommend anyone look into it via the link below.
I have not tried installing/using NixOS.
[1] https://determinate.systems/posts/nix-direnv