The controller keeps one configuration for the whole lab. Change it once, review the effect, then update one PC, a group or the whole room over the local network.
A five-minute video on Get started shows the whole first setup, from the NixOS stick to the first student PC.
One command from the official NixOS USB stick, then a few questions.
Install the controller from the official NixOS USB stick: one command, then a few questions in a terminal. The first student PC then starts from the network or from the NixOS stick over SSH, and the first backup follows.
Software, updates, new PCs and backups: all from the Nixorium menu.
Everything runs from the Nixorium menu on the controller: software, updates, a PC added or reinstalled from the network or the stick over SSH, backups. Configuration files are only for advanced changes, by yourself, with the Agent Skill or Assistant.
No master image to rebuild: change the lab in the menu, choose where it applies, and update the PCs in place.
Search the lab’s packages, add a software profile, or open the student workspace editor.
Apply it everywhere, to the controller only, to all clients, to a group, or to single PCs.
Nixorium shows what will change before saving. Nothing reaches a client yet.
Choose which PCs to update. The controller builds their systems and updates them over the network.
The result lists which PCs reached the new version and which need attention.
Seven software profiles to start from, plus any NixOS package. See what each profile brings → How to change something, step by step →
Setup offers seven software profiles, Essential by default, and any NixOS package can be added; a guided editor covers the student desktop, dock, VS Code and browser.
Each PC starts from the network, beside the school’s existing DHCP server, or from the NixOS USB stick over SSH.
At each PC someone chooses which computer it is and types ERASE to confirm the disk.
The full reinstall of the first lab; one observation, not a benchmark.
Only the controller needs Internet; during lessons students still browse the school network as usual.
Start each PC from the network: the controller answers only network-boot requests and leaves address leases to the existing DHCP server. Where network boot is not possible, a PC installs from the official NixOS USB stick over SSH instead, from the same menu.
Install the first controller →How network installation works →
Nixorium and NixOS update separately, only when you choose, and always after a review.
Choose a release. The controller is updated first; clients follow when you update them.
Move to a newer revision of the same NixOS release. A new release is a separate, explicit choice.
The last change saved on the controller can be undone, then applied and sent out like any other.
Updates never erase a client. Only installation and reinstallation write the whole disk.
PCs that are off catch up. Each one is updated as soon as it is turned on.
A power cut during an update or a setting that no longer fits: Nixorium does not guess and does not retry on its own. The overview lists anything left unfinished, and every refusal ends with a Next: line that says what to do.
Choose an earlier system from the PC’s boot menu; student files remain separate.
Start the PC from the network or from USB, choose which client it is, and confirm the disk before NixOS is installed again.
Install a new controller, restore the encrypted backup, and apply it. The student PCs are managed again without reinstalling them.
Back up the controller from Maintenance → Back up lab: one file encrypted with a passphrase holds the lab configuration and its keys. Nixorium reminds you when the backup is missing or older than 30 days. Backups and controller replacement ↗
Accounts are local to the lab; there is no central directory or per-student login. The lab configuration is a private Git repository on the controller, with guided settings for keyboard, time zone, homepage, software and the student workspace.
Opens automatically on every client. No administrator rights; the home resets at every boot.
Uses the classroom view on the controller, without administrator access.
Runs the Nixorium menu.
Edit the modules of the lab configuration directly.
nixorium-maintainer is an optional skill for a coding agent you set up yourself; deployment still needs your review.
The paid service inside the Nixorium menu that writes the whole change, modules included, and checks it on your controller.
The technician guide takes you from the controller to the first student PC and the first backup.