Creating NixOS iso for an older Laptop with i686 (32bit)

Help
1

Hello everyone,

I am trying to build an iso file for an older laptop with an i686 cpu architecture with some application like tailscale and network manager (for wifi) preconfigured. My main machine is a x86_64-linux machine (NixOS or Fedora). I saw that I have to set boot.binfmt.emulatedSystem on the nixos-generators github page.

Is that correct to assume, that I need to do it on my NixOS machine and that I have to set :

boot.binfmt.emulatedSystem = [ "i686-unknown-linux-gnu" ]

in my configuration.nix for me to be able to create an iso using:

nixos-generate -f iso -c /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

2

No, all x86_64 machines can natively run i686 code, so there’s no need for emulation.

All you need to do is specify what architecture the system should be built for in your configuration:

nixpkgs.hostPlatform.system = "i686-linux";

(But remember not to leave this in your x86_64’s system configuartion!)

3

Thank you very much for the quick and helpful answer! I will make sure not to forget to comment it out in my system configuration :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: