Reformat README to use Markdown and update contents

2 files changed, 42 insertions, 70 deletions

diff --git a/README b/README
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--- a/README
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-# boot NixOS installer
-# connect wireless
-# start terminal
-passwd
-sudo passwd
-sudo systemctl restart sshd
-# connect remotely via SSH to IP from: ip a s
-
-DISK=/dev/disk/by-id/nvme-SAMSUNG_MZVL21T0HCLR-00BL2_S64NNX0T233166
-cat /dev/urandom > ${DISK}
-wipefs ${DISK}; sgdisk -z ${DISK}; sgdisk -og ${DISK}
-sgdisk --new 1::+1G --typecode=1:EF00 --change-name=1:'boot' ${DISK}
-sgdisk --new 2::+32G --typecode=2:8200 --change-name=2:'swap' ${DISK}
-sgdisk --new 3::-0 --typecode=3:BF00 --change-name=3:'rpool' ${DISK}
-partprobe
-udevadm settle
-fdisk -l ${DISK}
-mkfs.fat -F32 -nboot ${DISK}-part1
-mkswap -L swap ${DISK}-part2
-swapon /dev/disk/by-label/swap
-zpool create -o ashift=12 -o autotrim=on -O acltype=posixacl -O compression=on -O dnodesize=auto -O normalization=formD -O encryption=on -O keyformat=passphrase -O keylocation=prompt -O relatime=on -O xattr=sa -O mountpoint=none -O canmount=off -f rpool ${DISK}-part3
-zfs create -p -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/local/root
-zfs snapshot rpool/local/root@blank
-mount -t zfs rpool/local/root /mnt
-mkdir /mnt/boot
-mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot
-zfs create -p -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/local/nix
-mkdir /mnt/nix
-mount -t zfs rpool/local/nix /mnt/nix
-zfs create -p -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/user/home/root
-mkdir /mnt/root
-mount -t zfs rpool/user/home/root /mnt/root
-zfs create -p -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/user/home/nipsy
-mkdir -p /mnt/home/nipsy
-mount -t zfs rpool/user/home/nipsy /mnt/home/nipsy
-
-nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
-
-cat <configuration.nix >/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix
-cat <hardware-configuration.nix >/mnt/etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix
-
-# unstable might be directly installable by first doing:
-# see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/35362
-#nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-unstable nixos
-#nix-channel --update
-
-#nixos-install --root /mnt
-nixos-install
-
-cd /
-umount -Rl /mnt
-zpool export -a
-reboot
-
-# upgrade to unstable
-nix-channel --add https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-unstable nixos
-nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade
-
-# later upgrades after flakes are enabled
-cd /etc/nixos && nix flake update && cd && nixos-rebuild switch --upgrade && echo && nixos-rebuild list-generations | cat && echo && res=$(find /nix/var/nix/profiles -iname system-\* -type l | sort | tail -2); if [[ $(echo -E "${res}" | wc -l) -eq 2 ]]; then echo "+ diff between $(echo -E "${res}" | xargs)\n"; nix store diff-closures $(echo -E "${res}" | xargs); fi
-
-# clean up all but the two most recent systems
-nixos-rebuild list-generations | cat
-rm $(ls /nix/var/nix/profiles/system-*-link -1dtr | head -n -2)
-nixos-rebuild list-generations | cat
-nix-store --gc
-nixos-rebuild boot
-
-# deduplicate the store
-nix store optimise
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# nipsy's NixOS configuration
+
+This repository is the starting point for storing all relevant NixOS configurations.
+
+## richese
+
+This host is currently assumed to be a VirtualBox VM.  The VirtualBox VM should be configured with the following:
+
+CPU
+:As many physical (non-SMT) cores as your CPU has ideally, since NixOS does need to build things occasionally.
+
+RAM
+:8GB is probably a good starting point.  If the installer hangs, you probably need to increase this from the presumably lower value you have set.
+
+Display
+:The NixOS configuration assumes VMSVGA.
+
+Storage
+:The installer assumes you've selected an AHCI SATA controller using a dynamically allocated VDI of 100GB.  This might need to be bigger, given how disk intensive NixOS can be.
+
+Network
+:My testing NIC was configured in VirtualBox to use NAT and virtio-net.
+
+Other
+:This configuration works best if you also enable the bidirectional shared clipboard functionality under General -> Advanced.
+
+### Installation
+
+You can download the minimal ISO image from https://nixos.org/download/ to start.  Once in the installer command line, you can grab this repo using:
+
+```
+curl -O https://arrakis.bitgnome.net/nipsy/git/nix/snapshot/nix-master.tar.zst
+tar xavf nix-master.tar.zst
+```
+
+To start the installation script, including provisioning the local storage via disko, run:
+
+```
+nix-master/scripts/install-with-disko richese
+```
+
+which should walk you through the rest of the installation.