I’m coming back to Linux after years of being away from it. I’m running NixOS as a virtual machine on my Intel MacBook Pro using UTM.
It works great with GNOME but there are some features I want to disable because they don’t apply to my virtual machine scenario, especially automatic screen locking (I’m logging in automatically).
I tried this configuration:
services.displayManager.autoLogin.enable = true;
services.displayManager.autoLogin.user = "caribou";
services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.enable = true;
services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable = true;
services.gnome.core-developer-tools.enable = true;
services.gnome.gnome-keyring.enable = lib.mkForce false;
services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome = {
extraGSettingsOverrides = ''
[org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.mouse]
natural-scroll=true
[org.gnome.desktop.screensaver]
idle-activation-enabled=false
lock-enabled=false
[org.gnome.desktop.session]
idle-delay=0
'';
extraGSettingsOverridePackages = [
pkgs.gsettings-desktop-schemas # for org.gnome.desktop
pkgs.gnome-shell # for org.gnome.shell
];
};
The settings seem to take effect (confirmed in dconf Editor) but the screen still locks automatically after inactivity.
After fighting this for a while I looked into installing only pieces of GNOME, and leaving out the screensaver, but couldn’t find a simple way to do this.
I also tried giving up on GNOME and using just Sway but had some rendering issues and missed the aesthetics of GNOME.
What’s the best approach for someone who likes GNOME but, because it’s in a virtual machine, wants a minimal setup without all the bells and whistles (especially no screen saver and no screen locking)?