From 89dfb0adb921ea3481987cae74f5ce626c4e7c2d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: andromeda <andromeda@lenovo>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:28:31 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] add README.md

---
 README.md | 123 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 123 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 README.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aab043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+## usage
+
+### install
+
+note: I have not tested the following verbatim.
+
+It *will* erase the contents of /dev/sdX. Use with caution.
+
+1. create usb with minimal NixOS iso
+
+2. boot from usb
+
+3. create partitions
+
+```console
+$ #modern partition table
+$ #WARNING all data on /dev/sdX will be erased. Make sure it is your target
+$ parted /dev/sdX -- mklabel gpt
+$ #make root partition
+$ parted /dev/sdX -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
+$ parted /dev/sdX -- set 1 esp on
+$ #create store partition
+$ parted /dev/sdX -- mkpart nix btrfs 512MiB 100GiB
+$ #if your device is in english, use a period rather than a comma
+$ parted /dev/sdX -- mkpart root btrfs 100GiB 199,5GiB
+```
+
+4. create filesystems
+
+```console
+$ #make sure not to get your subvolumes mixed up
+$ #there should be 3, the first boot and the others 99,5GiB each
+$ fdisk -l
+$ #boot partition
+$ mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sdX1
+$ #store partition
+$ mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdX2
+$ #root partition
+$ mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdX3
+$ #create root subvolume
+$ btrfs subvolume create /dev/sdX3/root
+```
+
+5. mount filesystems
+
+```console
+$ #note the uuid of your disks
+$ #they will be symlinked to something recognisable
+$ #don't get them mixed up
+$ ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid
+total 0
+lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Dez 30 11:31 0e586651-36f4-42b0-99b3-3f0704a894d6 -> ../../sdX2
+lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Dez 30 11:31 16c93673-4f0e-4010-a7f4-7ccffb20edb7 -> ../../sdX3
+lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Dez 30 11:31 F425-55BA -> ../../sdX1
+$ #now mount the appropriate filesystems using your uuids; these are mine
+$ mount -o subvol-root /dev/disk/by-uuid/16c93673-4f0e-4010-a7f4-7ccffb20edb7 /mnt
+$ mkdir -p /mnt/{boot,nix}
+$ mount -o umask=077 /dev/disk/by-uuid/F425-55BA /mnt/boot
+$ mount /dev/disk/by-uuid/0e586651-36f4-42b0-99b3-3f0704a894d6 /mnt/nix
+```
+
+6. prepare for installation
+
+```console
+$ mkdir -p /mnt/etc/nixos
+$ nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
+$ cat /mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix
+$ #note the random flags and stuff in hardware-configuration.nix; you might
+$ #want to keep a copy around for the time being
+$ rm /mnt/etc/nixos/*
+$ #connect to the internet
+$ nmtui
+$ git clone https://git.mtgmonkey.net/andromeda/conf /mnt/etc/nixos
+$ cd /mnt/etc/nixos
+$ nix-shell -p tree --command tree
+.
+├── configuration.nix
+├── flake.lock
+├── flake.nix
+├── machines
+│   └── laptop
+│       ├── hardware-configuration.nix
+│       └── machine.nix
+├── README.md
+└── users
+    └── andromeda
+        ├── home.nix
+        └── stylix.nix
+
+5 directories, 8 files
+$ #copy the `laptop` derivation and change all occurences of `laptop` with
+$ #`your-machine` in `flake.nix`
+$ cp machines/laptop machines/your-machine -r
+$ #modify `machines/your-machine/hardware-configuration.nix` by changing the
+$ #uuids to those of your drives
+$ #also copy the flags and stuff from `hardware-configuration.nix` generated
+$ #earlier
+$ #change the hostname in `machines/your-machine/machine.nix` to your liking.
+$ #If you want to pull request to my repo, `hostname` *must* be "your-machine"
+$ #if you want a different user, edit `machines/your-machine/machine.nix` to
+$ #reflect that. Create the file `users/your-user/home.nix` with your home
+$ #manager configuration. Add your user's `impermanence` information in
+$ #`configuration.nix`
+$ #make sure to give your user an initalPassword, otherwise you won't be able
+$ #to log in! Later, use a secrets scheme to have a real password
+$ git add -A
+```
+
+7. install
+
+```console
+$ cd /mnt/etc/nixos
+$ nix flake check
+$ #resolve any errors. You may have forgotten to add things to git, users,
+$ #machines...
+$ nixos-install --no-root-password --flake .#your-machine
+```
+
+8. reboot
+
+```console
+$ systemctl reboot
+```