add introduction section to GUIDE.md

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Emile Clark-Boman 2025-08-02 17:45:24 +10:00
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# The Nix Documentation Situation
The Nix documentation situation is notorious bad. It's difficult to find
a concise answer with detailed justification/explanation. And most people
(myself included) tend resort to the [ArchWiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org).
> [!NOTE]
> The [Nix documentation team](https://nixos.org/community/teams/documentation) has an incredibly difficult job.
Unlike the *centralised* [ArchWiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org), the Nix ecosystem
is incredibly large:
1. **Nix** (the package manager)
2. **Nix/NixLang** (the programming language)
3. **Nixpkgs** (the package repository)
4. **NixOS** (the linux distribution)
5. **Home-Manager** (user environment management)
6. **NUR** (Nix User Repository, like the AUR but Nix!)
7. *and **many** more...*
Often each project has its own website, wiki, styling, etc. There is tonnes
of information available online but its so hard to find it.
**Notable organisations:**
1. NixOS Foundation (*official organisation that maintains Nix/Nixpkgs/NixOS*)
2. Nix Community (*unofficial community providing infrastructure/hosting/visibility for projects*)
## About Me
I love and hate Nix simultaneously.
Originally *(circa 2023)* I used Windows 10/11 exclusively for programming.
But this is tedious and my friend started mentioning Arch Linux. So with their
help I formatted a spare SSD and began my journey.
But I **REALLY** like computers... I have servers, routers, 3 computers
actively powered in my bedroom, and *I believe* 8 laptops *currently* in my posession.
Documenting **every** change I make to a system and spending a week
setting up a device I don't really care about isn't sustainable.
And then *(circa October 2024)* I learnt about NixOS... And now life is "easy".
But learning Nix/NixLang/Nixpkgs/NixOS/Home-Manager/blah-blah-blah was exhausting.
So now I'll try to simplify this learning curve for other newbies **<3**
## Nix/NixOS How To
### NixOS Documentation
Using "the" NixOS wiki is surprisingly confusing (at least it was for me).
Why? Because there are multiple and you probably won't realise the difference.
**Main Wikis:**
> These are visually and structurally identical... And are both community run.
> But they're content does differ. [nixos.wiki] was created
> because ""[wiki.nixos.org] was too limiting with regards to wiki features".
1. [https://wiki.nixos.org] (the **official** NixOS wiki)
2. [https://nixos.wiki] (the **unofficial** user's wiki, community run)
**Other Resources:**
> [!TODO]
### Migrate to a Newer Version of Nixpkgs ### Migrate to a Newer Version of Nixpkgs
```bash ```bash
# Determine the channel name you're using # Determine the channel name you're using