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feat(desktop): switch from KDE Plasma to GNOME - #40
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Replace the KDE Plasma 6 / SDDM desktop with GNOME / GDM across the shared config, image flavours (appliance + installer ISOs), and VM/host overrides. Key points: - configuration.nix: SDDM+Plasma6 -> GDM+GNOME. GNOME 49 (nixpkgs 25.11) is Wayland-only (gnome-session providedSessions = ["gnome"], no gnome-xorg), so the previous plasmax11 / sddm.wayland.enable=false X11 plumbing is dropped. - installer ISO: Konsole -> GNOME Terminal full-screen autostart; KDE kscreenlockerrc -> GNOME dconf (disable screensaver lock + idle blanking). - box-turnkey / qemu-arm64: kdePackages.kate -> gnome-text-editor. - incus-vm: disable gdm/gnome instead of sddm/plasma6. - screenconnect: discover XWayland/GDM xauth cookie (was SDDM-only); document that Wayland capture is limited (XWayland reaches DISPLAY=:0 but cannot mirror the compositor). - Docs (README, agents.md, host READMEs) updated to GNOME/GDM/Wayland.
On first login GNOME shows the gnome-tour "Welcome to NixOS / Take the Tour" dialog and drops you into the Activities overview (app/window grid). Skip both on the appliance: - environment.gnome.excludePackages = [ pkgs.gnome-tour ] removes the welcome tour (GNOME Shell auto-launches its .desktop file on first login; dropping the package is the only way to suppress it). - Ship the no-overview Shell extension and enable it via programs.dconf (org/gnome/shell enabled-extensions), since GNOME has no gsetting to disable the startup overview. Lands the session on the bare desktop instead.
…n login - Pin the GNOME dash favourites to match the old KDE Plasma 6 taskbar's default Icons-Only Task Manager launchers (System Settings, file manager, web browser): org.gnome.Settings, org.gnome.Nautilus, firefox. Set via the user dconf profile (org/gnome/shell favorite-apps), overriding GNOME's NixOS default favourites (Epiphany/Geary/Calendar/Music/Nautilus), which are mostly apps the box doesn't install. - Autostart Firefox on http://127.0.0.1 (the local coder-redirect -> tunnel URL) at GNOME session start on the INSTALLED box. A small launcher polls :80 (which coder-redirect only binds after discovering the tunnel URL) for up to ~2 min before opening so the first paint is the dashboard, not a connection-refused page. Disabled in the installer ISO (no Coder stack).
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Summary
Switches the box's desktop environment from KDE Plasma 6 / SDDM to GNOME / GDM, across the shared config, both image flavours (appliance + installer ISOs), the VM/host overrides, and the docs.
Key finding: GNOME is Wayland-only here
The pinned
nixpkgs(nixos-25.11) ships GNOME 49, whosegnome-sessionadvertisesprovidedSessions = [ "gnome" ]— the GNOME-on-Xorg session was removed upstream. There is therefore no X11 GNOME session to select, so the olddefaultSession = "plasmax11"/sddm.wayland.enable = falseX11 plumbing is dropped and the box runs GNOME on Wayland (GDM defaults to Wayland).services.xserver.enableis kept so XWayland remains available for legacy X11 clients.Changes
configuration.nix—services.displayManager.sddm+desktopManager.plasma6→displayManager.gdm+desktopManager.gnome.nixos/_images/installer/iso.nix) — full-screen autostart terminalKonsole→gnome-terminal(--full-screen --working-directory= -- <launcher>,OnlyShowIn=GNOME); KDEkscreenlockerrclock-disable → GNOMEprograms.dconfdefaults (disable screensaver lock + idle blanking + AC sleep) so the installer is never locked/blanked.box-turnkey.nix/hosts/qemu-arm64/local.nix—kdePackages.kate→gnome-text-editor.hosts/incus-vm/incus-vm.nix— headless override now disablesgdm/gnomeinstead ofsddm/plasma6.nixos/screenconnect.nix— Xauthority discovery now finds the XWayland/GDM cookie (/run/user/*/.mutter-Xwaylandauth.*, thengdm/Xauthority, with the legacy/run/sddm/path as final fallback). Documented that under Wayland XWayland reachesDISPLAY=:0but cannot screen-capture the GNOME compositor — see the caveat below.README.md,agents.md, host READMEs, appliance ISO comment, andinstall.shcomment updated to GNOME/GDM/Wayland.ScreenConnect (opt-in per host) relied on the Xorg session. Under GNOME/Wayland its X11 agent still connects via XWayland but cannot mirror the Wayland compositor, so the remote screen may be blank. Capturing the GNOME session needs a Wayland-aware path (PipeWire/portal, e.g.
gnome-remote-desktop). This is flagged innixos/screenconnect.nixand theagents.mdtroubleshooting note; it is left as follow-up since ScreenConnect is not enabled by default.Validation
nix evalofsystem.build.{toplevel,isoImage}for_appliance_iso,_installer-iso,coder-thinkcentre, andqemu-arm64all evaluate cleanly (derivation paths produced). Full image builds are left to CI.