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What file systems are you using on your devices and why?

I want to learn more about file systems from the practical point of view so I know what to expect, how to approach them and what experience positive or negative you had / have.

I found this wikipedia's comparison but I want your hands-on views.

For now my mental list is

  • NTFS - for some reason TVs on USB love these and also Windows + Linux can read and write this
  • Ext4 - solid fs with journaling but Linux specific
  • Btrfs - some modern fs with snapshot capability, Linux specific
  • xfs - servers really like these as they are performant, Linux specific
  • FAT32 - limited but recognizable everywhere
  • exFAT - like FAT32 but less recognizable and less limited
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  • Honestly I saw btrfs in the arch install guide and read about it because I thought the name sounded funny. I used it until I distro hopped to NixOS couldn't figure out how to install it with btrfs, so I'm back on ext4.

    Maybe I'll give it another try next hop, which is likely soon since Qt theming seems impossible on Nix. :/

      • Yeah, I did find the page, but it assumes you're doing a command line install whilst I was using the graphical installer. Now that I know more about Nix I think I should've gone for a CLI install, but I don't know if I will stick with it due to the themeing issues.

        • I always forget that they added a graphical installer, but IMO it kinda defeats the point of having a declarative config file setup your system.

          What issues are you having with Qt themes?

          • Agreed! I wonder how it will work if I have to reinstall, I guess I git clone my flake from the install CD and use that instead.

            For Qt themes, I had Catppuccin working on Arch but I haven't found a way to apply it. I tried Stylix (kde.enable = true does nothing for Dolphin or nheko), the official Catppuccin flake (dropped GTK support, sets QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE which breaks nheko). I know it's possible to theme Qt apps because I've had it working before, but I can't find any info on how to do it with NixOS that works..

            • Did qt5ct/qt6ct not work for you? There's also Kvantum support.

              • Is there a way to set catppuccin as the qt5ct theme? I tried manually adding the files but using qt5ct breaks all icons in Dolphin (it displays alt text or nothing), and kind-of applies in nheko but leaves the main window background fully white.

                • You just download and put the theme files where it tells you to (and in the qt6ct folder too) and set the theme (and icon theme) in the app. Icons breaking is interesting; I just installed Dolphin and it had no problem using my icon theme. Does PCManFM-Qt also have this issue for you?

                  • I tried this and was able to set a colorscheme in qt5/6ct that stuck in nheko (with QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct), but it still has the same icons issue in Dolphin. pcmanfm-qt also has the icons missing.

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