Recently, I wrote a short introduction to Beancount. As I already mentioned there, one of the biggest challenges when using such a tool is importing data from different financial institutions.

Beancount provides a standardized API for writing importers, so creating custom integrations is relatively easy.

I’ve been tracking my personal finances for a while now. The challenge is that financial data is usually spread across multiple places.

Continuing from the diagram included in the previous post, it’s time to implement the launcher.

Recently, I created a Python script that generates frames for a splash screen. The motivation was simple: limit visual noise and provide a better experience for non-technical users.

In this post, I want to focus on finishing that work. The remaining task is preparing the Plymouth scripts. Additionally, I want to pack everything as a NixOS package that can be used as a standard plymouth theme package.

Before moving on to the launcher, I want to take care of something that appears even earlier in the boot sequence - the splash screen.

I’ve tried to create a Plymouth configuration several times before, but something always stopped me. This time, I’m not giving up :).

I ended the previous post with a simple declarative config for NixOS-based VM. Now it’s time to start customizing it.

Normally, a system boots into some kind of login prompt, which could be a simple text interface or a fancy graphical one. For my project, skipping the login step makes the most sense. The system should directly boot into the custom launcher, skipping the authorization process (I might revisit this later to provide user profiles).

In my previous post I mentioned the idea of turning NixOS into a minimal retro gaming console. The system should boot straight into a simple menu instead of a traditional desktop. From there, the user can configure the network, pair new gamepads, adjust audio settings and finally launch emulators.

I’ll stick with a simple design, as the target hardware probably won’t be very powerful. I will choose one of the thin clients that I have in my collection.