Re: to Guix or to Nix

[ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)]

Hello!

Saša Janiška <gour@atmarama.com> skribis:

> However, I’m concerned with my desktop machine where I have Gigabyte
> UDP55 (1166 socket) motherboards and it seems that there is need for
> firmware-realtek package which provides rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw.
>
> So,
>
> a) can anyone confirm what is the situation in regard to this firmware
> in GuixSD?

No idea.  I would suggest checking h-node.org or similar to see if free
firmware exists.

> b) after having some unpleasant experiences with btrfs’ performance
> after I did perform some video renderin and my machine had higher
> workload, swap file was activated and it took long time to settle down
> afte rendering was done, now I’c considering to either use XFS or ZFS
> (ZoL), so wonder what is situation in regard of support for those
> filesystems (atm, it seems that none of the two are included)?

Unfortunately, ZFS is unlikely to ever be available, unless Oracle
changes its license:

  https://www.fsf.org/licensing/zfs-and-linux

Currently GuixSD is somewhat limited to ext4.  We will eventually lift
this limitation, but for now, that’s we have.

> c) I use old ATI graphics card and I’m happy with open-source driver,
> but have need for two legacy Windows app which I use via wine and use
> one proprietaty application for my scanner (VueScan) which is GTK app,
> so hopefully it should run without any problem, but have occasional need
> to use Skype (my friends/relatives have more needs), so wonder what can
> one do in regard to apps like Skype and/or Viber, Gitter etc.?

GNU and Guix are about delivering software that users can control:

  https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

So Guix as a project will not provide advice as to how to put yourself
in a trap.

But that’s fine!  :-)  There are probably free software alternatives that
you could use and help people improve.  For instance, you might want to
look into Ring <https://ring.cx/>, and maybe provide a Guix package for
it.  I’m sure people on #guix would be happy to help, and your work
would benefit everyone.

> Any advice what would be more suitable distro for my needs from the
> perspective of Guix(SD) users?

Please see
<http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Limitations.html>.

Thanks,
Ludo’.