[PLUG] REMINDER: Portland Linux/Unix Group General Meeting: NixOS, with Ilya Chashchin

[Russell Senior]

Tonight!

On 6/3/25 10:21, Russell Senior wrote:
> Who: Ilya Chashchin
> What: NixOS
> Where: 1930 SW 4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97201-5304, Room 86-01
> When: Thursday, June 5, 2025 at 7 PM
> Why: The pursuit of technology freedom
>
> Description:
>
> NixOS represents a radical reimagining of the traditional Linux 
> ecosystem—one built on the principles of declarative configuration, 
> immutability, and reproducibility. By using a purely functional 
> package manager and configuration language, NixOS promises system 
> consistency, atomic upgrades, reliable rollbacks, and the ability to 
> precisely define both development and production environments.
>
> However, these advantages come at the cost of adopting new paradigms 
> and tooling, including the functional Nix language, which can pose a 
> steep learning curve—especially for users familiar with conventional 
> Linux distributions and workflows.
>
> This talk provides a high-level overview of the Nix and NixOS 
> ecosystem through the eyes of a relatively new Linux user with a 
> little over a year of hands-on Nix experience. It aims to demystify 
> the core concepts behind Nix, outline how its model differs from 
> traditional package management, and explore practical use cases like 
> reproducible dev environments, system configuration, and multi-machine 
> deployments.
>
> Along the way, we’ll discuss the tradeoffs involved in adopting 
> Nix—from cognitive overhead to ecosystem maturity—and help you 
> determine whether Nix or NixOS might be a good, great, or downright 
> painful choice for your use case. No prior experience with Nix required.
>
> Speaker Bio:
>
> Ilya has been administering small-scale on-premise Linux environments 
> for nearly four years, both professionally and personally, beginning 
> with a custom Linux deployment on a proprietary NAS to better meet his 
> needs. With a background in computer science, he is especially 
> interested in programmatic approaches to system administration and 
> infrastructure automation. Outside of work, Ilya enjoys exploring 
> topics in software engineering, staying current with the FOSS 
> ecosystem, experimenting in his home lab, and modding computer games.
>
> Venue:
>
> PLUG is back at Portland State University. Thanks to the Computer 
> Science Department and to Andrew Greenberg for hosting us! The room is 
> in the basement of the PSU Engineering Building (also connected 
> underground to the Fourth Avenue Building, or FAB). Enter through the 
> Engineering Building. The outside door will be locked, but there 
> should be someone present at the entrance to let you in starting at 
> 6:40pm until 7pm. There will be a sign on the door with a phone number 
> you can SMS if there isn't someone there to let you in immediately.
>
> PS: We are going to need a volunteer to hang out by the outside door 
> until start time to let people in, let me know if you are willing to 
> do that. Thanks!
>
>

-- 
Russell Senior
PLUG Volunteer
russell at pdxlinux.org