SnapOS Handbook
The SnapOS Handbook teaches you to build your own system by hand, the NixOS way, starting from the minimal USB: a terminal and nothing else. You prepare the disk, write the two files that describe the whole computer, choose a desktop and your programs, and then add the SnapOS packs you want: the red look, the snapos commands, SnapGuard, SnapWeb, the Debian layer, the updater. Everything else is yours.
Nothing here is SnapOS-only knowledge: every step is how NixOS works, so the handbook is also a way into NixOS. If you just want SnapOS ready to use, the installer asks eleven questions and does all of this for you.
The installation steps are typed, one by one, by a virtual machine in the SnapOS test repository whenever the minimal USB, the packs or the handbook's files change. The files shown here are the ones it uses.
Installing
- About the installation
- What you will build, and how it differs from the installer.
- Configuring the network
- Cable, Wi-Fi with
nmtui.
- Preparing the disks
- UEFI or BIOS, partitions with
parted, swap.
- The hardware file
snapos-generate-config.- Writing flake.nix
- Where the system comes from: nixpkgs and the SnapOS packs.
- Writing configuration.nix
- Boot loader, network, users, language, desktop, programs.
- Adding the SnapOS packs
- One line per pack.
- Installing
snapos-install --flake, passwords, first start.
The SnapOS packs
- Every pack and its options
- theme, desktops, commands, snapguard, snapweb, debian, helper, updater.
Working with your system
- Changing it, programs, updates, undoing, troubleshooting
- With plain NixOS commands, or with the
snapos commands if you added that pack.
