Installing Jovian-NixOS on an SD card

[gax1985]

Hello everyone!

First, I would like to thank you for your tremendous work! I love and adore NixOS, and the possibility of having a declaritive OS on the Steam Deck is such a wonderful thing! Unfortunately, I have encountered many a difficulties in my attempts to get it working. The Steam Deck that I have is the LCD 256GB model. I have wiped the SD card and re-installed NixOS/Jovian six times already, in an attempt to pinpoint the cause of the issue. Here is what happens :

1. I installed NixOS from an external USB flash drive (It is on a non-official dock, JSAUX).
2. After booting NixOS, I have added my configuration files as imported .nix configuration files. I will share now the contents of the configuration.nix file :

  # your system.  Help is available in the configuration.nix(5) man page
  # and in the NixOS manual (accessible by running ‘nixos-help’).
{
  config,
  pkgs,
  lib,
  ...
}: let
  nix-software-center = import (pkgs.fetchFromGitHub {
    owner = "snowfallorg";
    repo = "nix-software-center";
    rev = "0.1.2";
    sha256 = "xiqF1mP8wFubdsAQ1BmfjzCgOD3YZf7EGWl9i69FTls=";
  }) {};

 #  NixOS Index Database :
  # ======================

  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable-small";

    nix-index-database.url = "github:Mic92/nix-index-database";
    nix-index-database.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };

  outputs = {
    self,
    nixpkgs,
    nix-index-database,
    ...
  }: {
    nixosConfigurations = {
      my-nixos = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
        system = "x86_64-linux";
        modules = [
          ./configuration.nix
          # ./AI.nix
          nix-index-database.nixosModules.nix-index
          #  optional to also wrap and install comma
            { programs.nix-index-database.comma.enable = true; }
        ];
      };
    };
  };
in {
  imports = [
#      Include the results of the hardware scan.
    /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix
     ];






  # ... the Saviour Of Storage Space:

   nix.settings.auto-optimise-store = true;







  networking.hostName = "SteamDeck";   #Define your hostname.
  #networking.wireless.enable = true;  #  Enables wireless support via wpa_supplicant.

  # Configure network proxy if necessary
  # networking.proxy.default = "http://user:password@proxy:port/";
  # networking.proxy.noProxy = "127.0.0.1,localhost,internal.domain";

  # Enable networking
  networking.networkmanager.enable = true;

  # Set your time zone.
  time.timeZone = "America/Halifax";

  # Select internationalisation properties.
  i18n.defaultLocale = "en_CA.UTF-8";




  #Enable 32-Bit Support for Wine
  hardware.opengl.driSupport32Bit = true;
   hardware.graphics.enable = true;  		  #Unstable
  # hardware.graphics.enable32Bit = true;		  Unstable
  hardware.opengl.enable = true;
  #hardware.opengl.driSupport = true;

  #Enable Bluetooth

  hardware.bluetooth.enable = true;
  hardware.bluetooth.powerOnBoot = true;



  # ZRAM :

  zramSwap.enable = true;



  #  Enable the X11 windowing system.
  services.xserver.enable = true;

  # Enable XWayland 
  programs.xwayland.enable = true;


  

  #services.illum.enable = true;





   #NixOS' Trusty Automatic Garbage Collection :D :
   #===============================================
  nix.gc = {
    automatic = true;
    dates = "weekly";
    options = "--delete-older-than 7d";
  };

  #services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.enable = true;



  # Configure keymap in X11
  services.xserver = {
    xkb.layout = "us";
    xkb.variant = "";
  };

  #Enable CUPS to print documents.
  services.printing.enable = true;

  #   Enable dconf :

  programs.dconf.enable = true;

    #Enable sound with pipewire.
  # sound.enable = true;
  hardware.pulseaudio.enable = false;
  security.rtkit.enable = true;
  services.pipewire = {
    enable = true;
    alsa.enable = true;
    alsa.support32Bit = true;
    pulse.enable = true;
    #  If you want to use JACK applications, uncomment this
    jack.enable = true;

#       use the example session manager (no others are packaged yet so this is enabled by default,
#       no need to redefine it in your config for now)
#      media-session.enable = true;
  };


  # Allow Broken Packages for nixos-rebuild :

   nixpkgs.config.allowBroken = true;





  # Enable touchpad support (enabled default in most desktopManager).
  services.libinput.enable = true;


   # Define a user account. Don't forget to set a password with ‘passwd’.
  users.users.username = {
    isNormalUser = true;
    description = "username";
    extraGroups = ["networkmanager" "wheel" "docker" "libvirtd" "podman" "vboxusers"];
    packages = with pkgs; [
    
      
        # Category: Web Browsers


  
    ];
  };

    #Allow unfree packages
  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;

    #Home Manager's configuration:
    #=============================
  home-manager.backupFileExtension = "backup";
  home-manager.users.username= {pkgs, ...}: {
    home.stateVersion = "24.05";
    home.packages = with pkgs; [
      zsh
      oh-my-zsh
      oh-my-git
      zsh-history
      zsh-fzf-tab
      zsh-nix-shell
      zsh-git-prompt
      zsh-completions
      zsh-autocomplete
      zsh-you-should-use
      zsh-syntax-highlighting
      nix-zsh-completions
      zsh-navigation-tools
      zsh-history-search-multi-word
      zsh-z
      zsh-clipboard
    ];
  };

  home-manager.useUserPackages = true; #  Packages get saved tp /etc/profiles (the default location is
  # $HOME/.nix-profile). This option will become the default for NixOS/Home Manager

  programs.zsh.enableCompletion = true;
   programs.zsh.zsh-autoenv.enable = true;
  programs.zsh.ohMyZsh.enable = true;
  programs.zsh.autosuggestions.enable = true;
  programs.nix-index.enableZshIntegration = true;
  programs.zsh.enable = true;
  programs.zsh.syntaxHighlighting.enable = true;
  programs.kdeconnect.enable = true;
  programs.zsh.ohMyZsh.plugins = [
    "zsh-interactive-cd"
    "zsh-navigation-tools"
     "autoenv"
    "autojump"
    "autopep8"
    "aws"
    "battery"
    "branch"
    "coffee"
    "colorize"
    "copybuffer"
    "copyfile"
    "copypath"
    "dirhistory"
    "direnv"
    "docker"
    "docker-compose"
    "gh"
    "git"
    "git-auto-fetch"
    "git-escape-magic"
    "git-extras"
    "gpg-agent"
    "history"
    "kate"
    "nmap"
    "python"
    "rsync"
    "taskwarrior"
    "vscode"
  ];
  #  programs.zsh.ohMyZsh.theme = "powerlevel10k";
  #  programs.zsh.promptInit  ---> some words to print out when the shell starts
  #  programs.zsh.shellInit= "taoup --fortune > taoup-fortunes";
  programs.zsh.shellInit = "neofetch && fortune";
  programs.zsh.loginShellInit = "neofetch && fortune";
  #programs.zsh.autosuggestions.strategy = ["history"];
  programs.zsh.autosuggestions.strategy = ["completion"];
#  programs.zsh.zsh-autoenv.enable = true;
  programs.zsh.enableBashCompletion = true;
  users.defaultUserShell = pkgs.zsh;

  #Oh My Posh ...
  #=============

  #  programs.oh-my-posh.enable = true;
  #  programs.oh-my-posh.enableZshIntegration = true;
  #  programs.oh-my-posh.useTheme = "1_shell";
  #  programs.oh-my-posh.useTheme = "catppuccin";

   

   # Compose2nix :
   ###############


  #  compose2nix.compose2nix.url = "github:aksiksi/compose2nix";
  #  compose2nix.compose2nix.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";

  #  compose2nix.environment.systemPackages = [
  #  compose2nix.packages.x86_64-linux.default
  #  ];

    # List packages installed in system profile. To search, run:
    # $ nix search wget
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    #      Do not forget to add an editor to edit configuration.nix! The Nano editor is also installed by default.
    

  ];

  nixpkgs.config.permittedInsecurePackages = [
    "electron-27.3.11"
        "zotero-6.0.26"
        "openssl-1.1.1w"
        "python-2.7.18.6"
        "qtwebkit-5.212.0-alpha4"
  ];

  xdg.portal.enable = true;
  #xdg.portal.extraPortals = [pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-kde] ; 
  xdg.portal.extraPortals = [pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gnome];

  # Flakes :

  nix.settings.experimental-features = ["flakes" "nix-command"];

  
  #  Some programs need SUID wrappers, can be configured further or are
  #  started in user sessions.
    # programs.mtr.enable = true;
    # programs.gnupg.agent = {
    #   enable = true;
    #   enableSSHSupport = true;
    # };

  #  List services that you want to enable:

  services.flatpak.enable = true;
  services.onedrive.enable = false;

  #  NixOS-CLI ( I hope it is helpful)

 # services.nixos-cli.enable = true;

  #  Enable the OpenSSH daemon.
    services.openssh.enable = true;

  #  Open ports in the firewall.
  #  networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ ... ];
  #  networking.firewall.allowedUDPPorts = [ ... ];

  #  networking.firewall.enable = false;
  # system.copySystemConfiguration = true;
  system.autoUpgrade.enable = true;
  system.autoUpgrade.allowReboot = true;
  system.autoUpgrade.channel = "https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-24.05";
    # This value determines the NixOS release from which the default
    # settings for stateful data, like file locations and database versions
    # on your system were taken. It‘s perfectly fine and recommended to leave
    # this value at the release version of the first install of this system.
    # Before changing this value read the documentation for this option
    # (e.g. man configuration.nix or on https://nixos.org/nixos/options.html).
  system.stateVersion = "24.05";  # Did you read the comment?
}

and another file that I import to the SteamDeck's configuration in my flake.nix file called SteamDeck.nix :

  { config, pkgs, ... }:

 {


  # Options : 

  jovian.decky-loader.enable = true;
   



  jovian.decky-loader.extraPackages = [];
   

  #jovian.decky-loader.extraPythonPackages = [];
   

  #jovian.decky-loader.stateDir = "";
   
  jovian.decky-loader.user = "decky";
   
jovian.devices.steamdeck.autoUpdate = true;

jovian.devices.steamdeck.enable = true;
jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableControllerUdevRules = true;
#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableDefaultCmdlineConfig = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableDefaultStage1Modules = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableFwupdBiosUpdates = true;
jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableGyroDsuService = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableKernelPatches = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableOsFanControl = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enablePerfControlUdevRules = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableSoundSupport = true;

#jovian.devices.steamdeck.enableXorgRotation = false;
#jovian.hardware.amd.gpu.enableBacklightControl = true;
#jovian.hardware.amd.gpu.enableEarlyModesetting = true;
jovian.hardware.has.amd.gpu = true;
#jovian.steam.autoStart = true;
jovian.steam.autoStart = false;


#jovian.steam.desktopSession = "plasmawayland";
jovian.steam.desktopSession = "gnome";
       
    
jovian.steam.enable = true;
#jovian.steam.environment
# jovian.steam.user = "username";
#jovian.steamos.enableBluetoothConfig = true;
#jovian.steamos.enableDefaultCmdlineConfig = true;
#jovian.steamos.enableMesaPatches = true;
#jovian.steamos.enableProductSerialAccess = false;
#jovian.steamos.enableSysctlConfig = true;

#jovian.steamos.enableVendorRadv = true;
jovian.steamos.useSteamOSConfig = true;
#jovian.workarounds.ignoreMissingKernelModules = true/false;
 } 

3. The system, before importing the configuration.nix and SteamDeck.nix files, runs smoothly. It is very responsive ( both on Gnome and Plasma). When I did a nixos-rebuild switch command to rebuild NixOS/Jovian, what happens is the following :

   • When choosing "plasma" or "gnome" via jovian.steam.desktopSession = "gnome"; or use plasma instead of gnome, I get an error saying that having the autostart option selected does not work with enabling traditional desktop managers via the services.xserver.desktopManager..enable* option.
   • When I decided to disable the previously-mentioned option (services.xserver.desktopManager), the system was rebuilt. It booted into Steam via Gamescope, but would not switch to Desktop (when I examined the project's files, I noticed Plasma 5.27 gets enabled).
   • I decided to disable the Steam.autostart option for Jovian, and to add in services.xserver.desktopManager= "gnome";. The system would boot, but it is unusable, due to it being extremely slow (I am using a 150mb/s Sandisk SD Card). It was markedly different from a fresh NixOS install.
   • I wiped the SD card, installed NixOS from scratch, and re-did the process with Plasma. The result was an unusable sluggish system.

A clue I encountered was during the boot process. After rebuilding the system with the Jovian-NixOS module, I would get error messages showing the Steam Deck's GPU's PCI-Address, and mentioning an invalid call. In my last attempt, I looked through the options for Jovian-NixOS, and commented out every option that I have enabled before that gets enabled by default when selecting that the device is indeed a Steam Deck, jovian.devices.steamdeck.enable = true; , and indicating that the GPU is an AMD GPU ( config.jovian.hardware.has.amd.gpu). I ended up with the same result.

I REALLY want to use NixOS on the Steam Deck, and I am really excited about your project. I appreciate all the work you are all doing, and I applaud your efforts. If you could possibly guide me on resolving this issue, I would be very grateful!

[deftdawg]

Just passing through, not going to solve your issue, but here's my 2 cents, maybe it'll be helpful.

I've created Jovian ISOs and used Ventoy to boot them off of ISOs when I was bisecting an amdgpu problem, it's much slower than using the internal NVME to boot. Because doing a nixos-rebuild is often super I/O intensive, I wouldn't think of trying to daily drive off of the SD card.

Even running off the NVME for my setup I actually have the deck delegate the building to a bigger nixOS desktop, which ssh's the built packages down to the deck after they're done being compiled.

As far as your start-up config, this is what I have for mine... it will start up in deck mode, if you select 'exit to desktop' will then login directly to a KDE plasma desktop (no password):

  # Enable Steam Big picture w/ MangoHud
  jovian = {
    steam = {
      enable = true;
      autoStart = true;
      user = "deftdawg";
      desktopSession = "plasma";
    };
    devices.steamdeck.enable = true;
  };

  # services.xserver.displayManager.defaultSession = "steam-wayland";
  services.desktopManager.plasma6.enable = true; # KDE Plasma 6