Everything you need to run the lab, in one place.

Any 64-bit PC with UEFI firmware that you can erase, for the controller and for the student PCs; PCs of different models can share a room, because each student PC puts its lab address on its wired card whatever the card’s name. Nixorium publishes no minimum memory or processor: releases are validated on virtual machines and hardware differs, so install one PC of your own first and check the applications, keyboard, display and peripherals of your lessons on it. During a USB installation, choose the Minimal installer on a PC with 4 GB of memory or less. Requirements →

The lab settings ask how many student PCs there are, and each one takes a fixed address in the private subnet you choose, so the subnet sets the size of the room: a /24 has 254 usable addresses. The controller’s own number (99 by default) must stay above every PC number, and you choose it once, before the first PC is configured. PCs with the same software and the same kind of network card share one built system, so a room of twenty PCs may build as two configurations, not twenty. To add PCs later, raise the number in Maintenance → Change settings → Computers and prepare network installation again. The lab network →

Not on the same disk: installation erases the whole disk you confirm and does not resize Windows or keep its partitions. Windows on a second disk stays, and the PC’s boot menu lists it after that PC’s next installation or update. For it to be found, disable Fast Boot in the firmware and Fast Startup in Windows, shut Windows down fully, and turn Secure Boot off. Windows on a second disk →

Every PC keeps its address from the school DHCP server and, on the same wired card, carries a fixed address in a private subnet you choose, for example 10.0.0.0/24; the school server keeps assigning every address. The controller needs Internet and must be allowed to reach Internet time servers (outbound UDP 123): it gives the time to the PCs, which need no Internet of their own. Network installation runs a ProxyDHCP service on the controller beside the school DHCP, which VLAN isolation, a DHCP policy or another service on UDP 67/69 or TCP 8080 can stop; where it is not allowed, PCs install from a USB stick over SSH instead. Student PCs accept remote access only from the controller’s lab address. The lab network →

No: the lab network is wired, and here is why. Network boot, which installs a PC, and Switch on, which wakes the PCs from the classroom view or on a schedule, need the cable: almost no PC wakes up over Wi-Fi. An update copies the new system to every PC at once, and the classroom view brings every screen to the teacher: on Wi-Fi the whole room shares the same radio channel, so both slow down and a dropped connection interrupts the copy. Finally, the lab runs its own network beside the school’s: on cable a switch is enough, on Wi-Fi it would take a dedicated access point and its password stored on every PC. So a PC never takes its lab address on a Wi-Fi card. Wi-Fi serves only the USB installer session, to reach the controller while a PC is being installed; the installed PC uses its cable. Requirements →

Not for installation or updates: those come from the controller over the lab network, so they work even where Internet is available only after a login. During lessons students browse through the school network as usual, and the teacher can pause Internet on selected PCs. Only the controller needs Internet, for its downloads and for the time it gives the PCs. Pausing Internet in class →

Yes. In Software you choose where a program goes: the controller and every PC, every student PC, a group, or selected PCs. PCs with the same software share one built system, so the build is done once, not once per PC. Changing the software →

With two PCs you can erase, or two virtual machines: one becomes the controller, the other the first student PC. Install the controller from the official NixOS USB stick with one command, install one student PC from the controller, and use that PC the way a class will before preparing the rest of the room. Installation erases the disk you confirm on each PC, so copy anything you need elsewhere first. Get started →

The technician meets a terminal once: the controller is installed with one command from the NixOS USB stick, which asks for the keyboard layout, the time zone, the accounts and passwords, a software profile and the disk. From then on everything runs from the guided menu, Nixorium, which shows a review and waits for your confirmation before anything changes; the configuration files are there for advanced changes only. Teachers open the classroom view from the dock and learn no commands. A terminal the first time, a menu after that →

In the first lab, reinstalling 30 PCs took about one hour. That is one observation, not a guarantee. Nothing installs unattended: someone at each PC chooses which computer it is and types ERASE, and with network installation the PCs are started one after another.

One PC in the room, a spare one or the teacher’s: it keeps the lab configuration, builds the system of every PC and serves it over the lab network, and the teacher signs in on it to open the classroom view. It is the only machine that needs Internet, and it needs the cable like every other PC. Every change you apply adds a system version on it, so keep free disk space: the menu warns when the disk is low, and Maintenance → Free disk space removes old versions after a review. How it works, in brief →

Student PCs start and work as usual. Updates and the classroom view wait until the controller is back.

Usually not. The classroom view is part of the controller and of the configuration every PC starts from: nothing to install, pair or pay for on the student PCs. From the teacher’s desk it shows every screen, opens one PC in its own window to take control, locks the screens, shares the teacher’s screen, sends a message, hands out files and collects them from the students’ desktops, saves a screenshot of one PC, blocks Internet during a test, restarts, shuts down and switches the PCs on, and follows a weekly schedule. All of it is free and open source. Compare with the usual school tools →

Yes. Schedule, under Power in the classroom view, has one switch-on time and one shut-down time for the weekdays you choose, and the shut-down never interrupts a PC that someone is using. Switching on sends a Wake-on-LAN packet, so each PC’s firmware must allow waking from the network, the PC must stay connected to power and to its network cable, and it must have been restarted once after the update that enables Wake-on-LAN. The schedule lives on the controller only: set it again after replacing the controller. Switching the room on and off →

Use the classroom controls one by one: Internet → Block Internet, Lock and Message, then Share files → Collect from students' desktops at the end. A PC with Internet blocked still reaches the lab network, and Internet comes back when the PC restarts. Collecting copies the files on each selected desktop into the Nixorium folder of the teacher’s home on the controller, one folder per PC, and changes nothing on the students’ PCs. From your desk →

The administrator does, from Maintenance, in two separate updates: Update Nixorium changes the framework (menus, modules and the management program), and Update system and packages moves NixOS and every application to a newer revision of the same channel. Each builds the new version for real and shows what changes before you save it. The student PCs keep their system until you choose Update computers: update one PC, check it, then the others. A PC never restarts on its own; a notification on the PC says when a restart completes the update. Update →

Yes, in two ways. Every update adds a system version on each PC, and the boot menu lists up to ten of them: restart the PC and choose the previous version, then fix the configuration before applying again. A settings, software or student-workspace change can also be undone in Maintenance → Review Git changes with Undo the last saved change, followed by Apply to controller and Update computers as for any change. Going back changes the system, not data. System versions and the boot menu →

It waits in a queue on the controller and is updated as soon as it is turned on. A notification on the PC says when a restart completes the update. Queued updates →

The lab configuration with its history, keys and password hashes: Maintenance → Back up lab writes it as one encrypted file, for example on a USB drive, or pushes it to a private GitHub or GitLab repository that then stays up to date by itself. Choose a passphrase of at least 12 characters and keep it away from the controller; Nixorium never saves it. The Overview reminds you when a backup is due, after 30 days or when keys or passwords changed, and a reminder never blocks anything. Student work is not in it: snapshots stay on each PC and are not backups. The first backup →

The lesson goes on. Install a new controller and restore its encrypted backup; the student PCs do not need reinstalling. Replacing a controller →

The same GNOME desktop on every PC, with the student account signed in automatically and the applications of the software profiles the technician chose: Essential by default, to which the technician can add General education, Programming, Graphics and illustration, Audio and video, CAD and 3D modelling and STEM and scientific computing, plus any other program from the package set, for every PC, a group or one PC. The technician also sets the dock, the favourites, the desktop, the default browser and the files every student finds in their home. Every boot starts from that clean home. What each profile brings →

Not on the PC: at every boot the student home goes back to the clean template before the login screen. The previous session is kept on that PC as one of five rotating snapshots, which the teacher opens from Snapshots in the Files sidebar; they sit on the same disk and are not backups. Work that must last goes to a USB stick or the school’s cloud storage, which Nixorium does not set up, or the teacher collects it from the desktops before the end of the lesson. Every boot starts clean →

No. Every PC has one shared student account, signed in automatically, with the same password everywhere and no administrator rights; one teacher account, whose home is kept; and the administrator, admin, on the controller. There is no per-student login and no school directory. Names and passwords are changed in Maintenance → Change settings → Accounts; a new password reaches each PC at its next update. Which data stays in the school →

Not from the student account: it has no administrator rights, cannot change the system or the network settings, and every restart returns its desktop and files to the clean template. Student PCs accept remote access only from the controller’s lab address. A student who stops the classroom view from the terminal sees “Monitoring stopped on this PC”, and it starts again by itself within seconds. Network and trust boundaries →

They see GNOME’s screen-sharing notice in the top bar while the classroom view is open, not only while the teacher looks at their PC. It disappears within a minute of closing the view or minimizing its window. While a window is full screen, GNOME hides the top bar and a small “Classroom view open” label appears in a corner instead. While the teacher controls a PC, its screen shows “Teacher in control”, and saving a screenshot or collecting the desktop files shows a short notice on that PC. Screens are shown, not recorded, unless the teacher chooses “Save screenshot” or “Collect from students' desktops”. Privacy in the classroom →

Nixorium sends nothing outside the school unless the administrator turns on one of its optional services, and it works without a cloud account. The controller downloads releases and packages from the Internet; the screens of the classroom view travel only on the lab network. Adoption statistics are off by default and, when the administrator turns them on, carry the version, a lab-size band and a pseudonym that changes every month, never names, addresses, files or screens. Assistant, when the administrator uses it, sends the messages and the configuration files it reads, after removing the passwords and keys it recognizes. Which data stays in the school →

Nothing for the system: Nixorium and NixOS are free and open source, Nixorium under the MIT licence, with no licence fee per PC or per student and no account to create. The only paid part is optional: Assistant, one subscription per laboratory whatever the number of PCs, with a free trial. Nixorium works fully without it. What it costs →

Yes, for the changes the guided menu does not offer. Assistant is an optional paid service in the administrator menu: describe a custom change in your own words, then review its proposal before saving. Everything a lab needs day to day is in the free menu, and the system is always free and open source. Explore Assistant →

The technician guide is on this site, and the full documentation, in English, is on GitHub; both are kept in step with each release. Questions and answers are public on GitHub Discussions, and you can also write to hello@nixorium.org. In the lab, the menu says in one sentence what stopped, why and what to do next, and a support report can be saved locally and reviewed before you share it. When something goes wrong →