{"slug": "jovian-nixos", "name": "Jovian-NixOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 3.168, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-09-03", "why": "or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/jovian-experiments/jovian-nixos", "official_url": "https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Jovian-NixOS", "Jovian"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 779549488, "item_id": 48721843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721843", "by": "jdiaz5513", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Jovian exists for the Steam Deck and is probably the closest thing right now", "excerpt": "What makes Bazzite-like uncommon is the degree of hardware testing and kernel tuning required to get some of the more exotic hardware fully working and stable. Jovian exists for the Steam Deck and is probably the closest thing right now: https://jovian-experiments.github.io/Jovian-NixOS/ I am tempted to try making a \"Nixzite\" flake just to see how far it can get to feature parity with Bazzite, but again most of the s", "context": "", "use_case": "Steam Deck NixOS config", "switched_from": "", "story": "NixOS 26.05 Released"}, {"id": 777336529, "item_id": 48583533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48583533", "by": "farfatched", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Here's NixOS on the steam deck: https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "excerpt": "You can run your OS of choice. Here's NixOS on the steam deck: https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable"}, {"id": 732700625, "item_id": 45793789, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793789", "by": "ewuhic", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "excerpt": "Dare I suggest you use NixOS, or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS, so you 1) get a working setup in minutes by following just https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Jovian_NixOS; 2) if something does not work, you don't start from scratch next time you have an urge to try again; 3) have best-in-class community support; 4) overcome lack of apps by plugging into nixpkgs - the biggest repo of packages ou", "context": "", "use_case": "Gaming on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["steam deck-like nixos gaming", "steam deck nixos config", "steamos-style ui on nixos", "gaming on nixos"], "compared": [{"slug": "nixos", "name": "NixOS", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "steam", "name": "Steam", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792503", "title": "Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49551925", "title": "Sony makes bold claim about game ownership", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48718753", "title": "NixOS 26.05 Released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48580686", "title": "SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985506", "title": "Gaming on Linux has never been more approachable", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45908464", "title": "Valve is about to win the console generation", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 792869234, "item_id": 49554327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49554327", "by": "tombert", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My main \"game console\" is a NixOS box running Jovian", "excerpt": "Valve is also pretty amenable to adding third-party games to the box as well. It's trivial to add games from GOG using Heroic and play them alongside regular Steam games. My main \"game console\" is a NixOS box running Jovian, and I have made oodles of Flakes that I use to make custom non-Steam games that launch deterministically, and as far as I'm aware, Valve is perfectly fine with this (not that I particularly care ", "context": "", "use_case": "Steam Deck-like NixOS gaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sony makes bold claim about game ownership"}, {"id": 779549488, "item_id": 48721843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721843", "by": "jdiaz5513", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Jovian exists for the Steam Deck and is probably the closest thing right now", "excerpt": "What makes Bazzite-like uncommon is the degree of hardware testing and kernel tuning required to get some of the more exotic hardware fully working and stable. Jovian exists for the Steam Deck and is probably the closest thing right now: https://jovian-experiments.github.io/Jovian-NixOS/ I am tempted to try making a \"Nixzite\" flake just to see how far it can get to feature parity with Bazzite, but again most of the s", "context": "", "use_case": "Steam Deck NixOS config", "switched_from": "", "story": "NixOS 26.05 Released"}, {"id": 777336529, "item_id": 48583533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48583533", "by": "farfatched", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Here's NixOS on the steam deck: https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "excerpt": "You can run your OS of choice. Here's NixOS on the steam deck: https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable"}, {"id": 735955635, "item_id": 45997227, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45997227", "by": "tstrimple", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Thinking about trying Jovian on my Steam deck", "excerpt": "This is the way. I'm running NixOS on my NAS and my Desktop and I use Nix and home manager on my MBP. Thinking about trying Jovian on my Steam deck. I can have a single flake that describes my home environment and device specific configs for each separate deployment. Claude Code to setup and integrate everything has been a lot of fun and has been productive. I have run NixOS quite a bit on my own prior to this, so it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gaming on Linux has never been more approachable"}, {"id": 734566738, "item_id": 45910421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45910421", "by": "tombert", "date": "2025-11-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "installed NixOS + Jovian", "excerpt": "My main game console right now is one of those little gaming boxes you can buy on Amazon for about $400, where I have installed NixOS + Jovian to get the \"SteamOS\" interface. I really like it. It really does feel like a \"game console\"; usually when I've made my own console using Linux, it always feels kind of janky. For example, RetroPie on the Raspberry Pi is pretty cool, but it doesn't feel like a proper commercial", "context": "", "use_case": "SteamOS-style UI on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Valve is about to win the console generation"}, {"id": 732779216, "item_id": 45798701, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45798701", "by": "tombert", "date": "2025-11-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "excerpt": "https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark"}, {"id": 732700625, "item_id": 45793789, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793789", "by": "ewuhic", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS", "excerpt": "Dare I suggest you use NixOS, or even better, https://github.com/Jovian-Experiments/Jovian-NixOS, so you 1) get a working setup in minutes by following just https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Jovian_NixOS; 2) if something does not work, you don't start from scratch next time you have an urge to try again; 3) have best-in-class community support; 4) overcome lack of apps by plugging into nixpkgs - the biggest repo of packages ou", "context": "", "use_case": "Gaming on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark"}]}