diff --git a/nix/default.nix b/nix/default.nix
index b536227ba..f06b6d289 100644
--- a/nix/default.nix
+++ b/nix/default.nix
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
-{system ? builtins.currentSystem}:
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {}}:
+with pkgs;
 let
-  pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {inherit system;};
-  callPackage = pkgs.lib.callPackageWith (pkgs // self );
-
-self = {
-  binutils-or1k = callPackage ./binutils-or1k.nix {};
+  # this code was copied from nipxkgs rev. ffafe9 (nixcloud team) and slightly modified
+  rust = callPackage ./pkgs/rust
+    (stdenv.lib.optionalAttrs (stdenv.cc.isGNU && stdenv.hostPlatform.isi686) {
+      stdenv = overrideCC stdenv gcc6; # with gcc-7: undefined reference to `__divmoddi4'
+    });
   llvm-src = callPackage ./fetch-llvm-clang.nix {};
-  llvm-or1k = callPackage ./llvm-or1k.nix {};
-  llvmlite = callPackage ./llvmlite.nix {};
-  artiq = callPackage ./artiq.nix { };
-};
-artiq = self.artiq;
-in
-artiq
+in rec {
+  inherit (rust) cargo rustc;
+  inherit (callPackage ./pkgs/python3Packages.nix {}) migen misoc;
+  binutils-or1k = callPackage ./binutils-or1k.nix {};
+  llvm-or1k = callPackage ./llvm-or1k.nix { inherit llvm-src; };
+  llvmlite = callPackage ./llvmlite.nix { inherit llvm-or1k; };
+  #artiq = callPackage ./artiq.nix { inherit binutils-or1k; };
+}
diff --git a/nix/llvm-or1k.nix b/nix/llvm-or1k.nix
index 403e95fd3..622e12f70 100644
--- a/nix/llvm-or1k.nix
+++ b/nix/llvm-or1k.nix
@@ -43,4 +43,3 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.all;
   };
 }
-
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/python3Packages.nix b/nix/pkgs/python3Packages.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0396772f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/python3Packages.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+{ pkgs, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, python, python3Packages }:
+
+rec { 
+  asyncserial = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    version = "git-09a9fc";
+    pname = "asyncserial";
+    name = "${pname}-${version}";
+
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "m-labs";
+      repo = "asyncserial";
+      rev = "d95bc1d6c791b0e9785935d2f62f628eb5cdf98d";
+      sha256 = "0yzkka9jk3612v8gx748x6ziwykq5lr7zmr9wzkcls0v2yilqx9k";
+      fetchSubmodules = true;
+    };
+
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyserial ] ++ (with pkgs; [ ]);
+
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      description = "asyncio support for pyserial";
+      homepage    = "https://m-labs.hk/gateware.html";
+      license     = licenses.bsd2;
+      platforms   = platforms.unix;
+    };
+  };
+  misoc = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    version = "git-714ea6";
+    pname = "misoc";
+    name = "${pname}-${version}";
+    
+    # you can use the src definition to point to your local git checkout (don't forget the submodules) so
+    # hacking is easier!
+    #src = /home/bar/misoc;
+
+    # instead of this (nixcloud team)
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "m-labs";
+      repo = "misoc";
+      rev = "308b4728bdb1900fe3c9d71c10cc84322ad3e4ed";
+      sha256 = "0fc1axrwjhb86m2dwkj6h3qwwci9xw0jsvg8pzb2r8hci2v8432h";
+      fetchSubmodules = true;
+    };
+
+    # there are still so many tests failing (nixcloud team)
+    # ======================================================================
+    # ERROR: framebuffer (unittest.loader._FailedTest)
+    # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # ImportError: Failed to import test module: framebuffer
+    # Traceback (most recent call last):
+    #   File "/nix/store/bwfygfcdvis9wd1c1v51xwnwhw1hx0a0-python3-3.6.6/lib/python3.6/unittest/loader.py", line 153, in loadTestsFromName
+    #     module = __import__(module_name)
+    #   File "/build/source/misoc/cores/framebuffer/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
+    #     from misoc.cores.framebuffer.core import Framebuffer
+    #   File "/build/source/misoc/cores/framebuffer/core.py", line 2, in <module>
+    #     from migen.flow.network import *
+    # ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'migen.flow'
+    #
+    #
+    # watch for these messages:
+    #    writing manifest file 'misoc.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
+    #    running build_ext
+    #    /nix/store/w7cmmmzafv81wwhkadpar6vdvbqphzdf-python3.6-bootstrapped-pip-18.1/lib/python3.6/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py:398: UserWarning: Normalizing '0.6.dev' to '0.6.dev0'
+    #      normalized_version,
+    #    debug (unittest.loader._FailedTest)
+    #    Run the test without collecting errors in a TestResult ... ERROR
+    #    framebuffer (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    sdram_model (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_df (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_wb (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_refresher (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_common (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_lasmi (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #    test_bankmachine (unittest.loader._FailedTest) ... ERROR
+    #
+    # you can disable the tests (which is a bad idea, fix them instead)
+    # doCheck = false;
+    
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ pyserial jinja2 numpy asyncserial migen ];
+
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      description = "A high performance and small footprint system-on-chip based on Migen https://m-labs.hk";
+      homepage    = "https://m-labs.hk/gateware.html";
+      license     = licenses.bsd2;
+      platforms   = platforms.unix;
+    };
+  };
+  migen = python3Packages.buildPythonPackage rec {
+    version = "git-3d8a58";
+    pname = "migen";
+    name = "${pname}-${version}";
+
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "m-labs";
+      repo = "migen";
+      rev = "3d8a58033ea0e90e435db0d14c25c86ee7d2fee2";
+      sha256 = "0fw70bzang79wylwsw9b47vssjnhx6mwzm00dg3b49iyg57jymvh";
+      fetchSubmodules = true;
+    };
+
+    # FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/usr/local/diamond' (nixcloud team)
+    doCheck = false;
+
+    propagatedBuildInputs = with python3Packages; [ colorama sphinx sphinx_rtd_theme ] ++ (with pkgs; [ verilator ]);
+
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      description = "A Python toolbox for building complex digital hardware";
+      homepage    = "https://m-labs.hk/gateware.html";
+      license     = licenses.bsd2;
+      platforms   = platforms.unix;
+    };
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/binaryBuild.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/binaryBuild.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..488d43a6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/binaryBuild.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+{ stdenv, makeWrapper, bash, buildRustPackage, curl, darwin
+, version
+, src
+, platform
+, versionType
+}:
+
+let
+  inherit (stdenv.lib) optionalString;
+  inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Security;
+
+  bootstrapping = versionType == "bootstrap";
+
+  installComponents
+    = "rustc,rust-std-${platform}"
+    + (optionalString bootstrapping ",cargo")
+    ;
+in
+
+rec {
+  inherit buildRustPackage;
+
+  rustc = stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+    name = "rustc-${versionType}-${version}";
+
+    inherit version;
+    inherit src;
+
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      homepage = http://www.rust-lang.org/;
+      description = "A safe, concurrent, practical language";
+      maintainers = with maintainers; [ qknight ];
+      license = [ licenses.mit licenses.asl20 ];
+    };
+
+    buildInputs = [ bash ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin Security;
+
+    postPatch = ''
+      patchShebangs .
+    '';
+
+    installPhase = ''
+      ./install.sh --prefix=$out \
+        --components=${installComponents}
+
+      ${optionalString (stdenv.isLinux && bootstrapping) ''
+        patchelf \
+          --set-interpreter $(cat $NIX_CC/nix-support/dynamic-linker) \
+          "$out/bin/rustc"
+        patchelf \
+          --set-interpreter $(cat $NIX_CC/nix-support/dynamic-linker) \
+          "$out/bin/rustdoc"
+        patchelf \
+          --set-interpreter $(cat $NIX_CC/nix-support/dynamic-linker) \
+          "$out/bin/cargo"
+      ''}
+
+      ${optionalString (stdenv.isDarwin && bootstrapping) ''
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib '${darwin.libresolv}/lib/libresolv.9.dylib' "$out/bin/rustc"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib '${darwin.libresolv}/lib/libresolv.9.dylib' "$out/bin/rustdoc"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib '${darwin.libiconv}/lib/libiconv.2.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib '${darwin.libresolv}/lib/libresolv.9.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libcurl.4.dylib '${stdenv.lib.getLib curl}/lib/libcurl.4.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+        for f in $out/lib/lib*.dylib; do
+          install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib '${darwin.libresolv}/lib/libresolv.9.dylib' "$f"
+        done
+      ''}
+
+      # Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use `wrapProgram` on $out/bin/rustc
+      # (or similar) here. It causes strange effects where rustc loads
+      # the wrong libraries in a bootstrap-build causing failures that
+      # are very hard to track down. For details, see
+      # https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/34722#issuecomment-232164943
+    '';
+  };
+
+  cargo = stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+    name = "cargo-${versionType}-${version}";
+
+    inherit version;
+    inherit src;
+
+    meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+      homepage = http://www.rust-lang.org/;
+      description = "A safe, concurrent, practical language";
+      maintainers = with maintainers; [ qknight ];
+      license = [ licenses.mit licenses.asl20 ];
+    };
+
+    buildInputs = [ makeWrapper bash ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin Security;
+
+    postPatch = ''
+      patchShebangs .
+    '';
+
+    installPhase = ''
+      patchShebangs ./install.sh
+      ./install.sh --prefix=$out \
+        --components=cargo
+
+      ${optionalString (stdenv.isLinux && bootstrapping) ''
+        patchelf \
+          --set-interpreter $(cat $NIX_CC/nix-support/dynamic-linker) \
+          "$out/bin/cargo"
+      ''}
+
+      ${optionalString (stdenv.isDarwin && bootstrapping) ''
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib '${darwin.libiconv}/lib/libiconv.2.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib '${darwin.libresolv}/lib/libresolv.9.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+        install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libcurl.4.dylib '${stdenv.lib.getLib curl}/lib/libcurl.4.dylib' "$out/bin/cargo"
+      ''}
+
+      wrapProgram "$out/bin/cargo" \
+        --suffix PATH : "${rustc}/bin"
+    '';
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/bootstrap.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/bootstrap.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..55348c579
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/bootstrap.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, callPackage }:
+
+let
+  # Note: the version MUST be one version prior to the version we're
+  # building
+  version = "1.28.0";
+
+  # fetch hashes by running `print-hashes.sh 1.24.1`
+  hashes = {
+    i686-unknown-linux-gnu = "de7cdb4e665e897ea9b10bf6fd545f900683296456d6a11d8510397bb330455f";
+    x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu = "2a1390340db1d24a9498036884e6b2748e9b4b057fc5219694e298bdaa37b810";
+    armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf = "346558d14050853b87049e5e1fbfae0bf0360a2f7c57433c6985b1a879c349a2";
+    aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu = "9b6fbcee73070332c811c0ddff399fa31965bec62ef258656c0c90354f6231c1";
+    i686-apple-darwin = "752e2c9182e057c4a54152d1e0b3949482c225d02bb69d9d9a4127dc2a65fb68";
+    x86_64-apple-darwin = "5d7a70ed4701fe9410041c1eea025c95cad97e5b3d8acc46426f9ac4f9f02393";
+  };
+
+  platform =
+    if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "i686-linux"
+    then "i686-unknown-linux-gnu"
+    else if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "x86_64-linux"
+    then "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
+    else if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "armv7l-linux"
+    then "armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf"
+    else if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "aarch64-linux"
+    then "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu"
+    else if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "i686-darwin"
+    then "i686-apple-darwin"
+    else if stdenv.hostPlatform.system == "x86_64-darwin"
+    then "x86_64-apple-darwin"
+    else throw "missing bootstrap url for platform ${stdenv.hostPlatform.system}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+     url = "https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/rust-${version}-${platform}.tar.gz";
+     sha256 = hashes."${platform}";
+  };
+
+in callPackage ./binaryBuild.nix
+  { inherit version src platform;
+    buildRustPackage = null;
+    versionType = "bootstrap";
+  }
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/cargo.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/cargo.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bfe379c81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/cargo.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, file, curl, pkgconfig, python, openssl, cmake, zlib
+, makeWrapper, libiconv, cacert, rustPlatform, rustc, libgit2, darwin
+, version
+, patches ? []
+, src }:
+
+let
+  inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) CoreFoundation;
+  src_rustc = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/rustc-1.28.0-src.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "11k4rn77bca2rikykkk9fmprrgjswd4x4kaq7fia08vgkir82nhx";
+  };
+in
+
+rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
+  name = "cargo-${version}";
+  inherit version src patches;
+
+  # the rust source tarball already has all the dependencies vendored, no need to fetch them again
+  cargoVendorDir = "src/vendor";
+  preBuild = "cd src; pushd tools/cargo";
+  postBuild = "popd";
+
+  passthru.rustc = rustc;
+
+  # changes hash of vendor directory otherwise
+  dontUpdateAutotoolsGnuConfigScripts = true;
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkgconfig ];
+  buildInputs = [ cacert file curl python openssl cmake zlib makeWrapper libgit2 ]
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ CoreFoundation libiconv ];
+
+  LIBGIT2_SYS_USE_PKG_CONFIG=1;
+
+  # fixes: the cargo feature `edition` requires a nightly version of Cargo, but this is the `stable` channel
+  RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1;
+
+  preConfigure = ''
+        tar xf ${src_rustc}
+    mv rustc-1.28.0-src/src/vendor/ src/vendor
+  '';
+
+  postInstall = ''
+    # NOTE: We override the `http.cainfo` option usually specified in
+    # `.cargo/config`. This is an issue when users want to specify
+    # their own certificate chain as environment variables take
+    # precedence
+    wrapProgram "$out/bin/cargo" \
+      --suffix PATH : "${rustc}/bin" \
+      --set CARGO_HTTP_CAINFO "${cacert}/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt" \
+      --set SSL_CERT_FILE "${cacert}/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt"
+  '';
+
+  checkPhase = ''
+    # Disable cross compilation tests
+    export CFG_DISABLE_CROSS_TESTS=1
+    cargo test
+  '';
+
+  # Disable check phase as there are failures (4 tests fail)
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = https://crates.io;
+    description = "Downloads your Rust project's dependencies and builds your project";
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ wizeman retrry ];
+    license = [ licenses.mit licenses.asl20 ];
+    platforms = platforms.unix;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/default.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a392124e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+{ stdenv, callPackage, recurseIntoAttrs, makeRustPlatform, llvm, fetchurl
+, targets ? []
+, targetToolchains ? []
+, targetPatches ? []
+, fetchFromGitHub
+}:
+
+let
+  rustPlatform = recurseIntoAttrs (makeRustPlatform (callPackage ./bootstrap.nix {}));
+  version = "1.28.0";
+  cargoVersion = "1.28.0";
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "m-labs";
+    repo = "rust";
+    sha256 = "03lfps3xvvv7wv1nnwn3n1ji13z099vx8c3fpbzp9rnasrwzp5jy";
+    rev = "f305fb024318e96997fbe6e4a105b0cc1052aad4"; #  artiq-1.28.0 branch
+    fetchSubmodules = true;
+  };
+in rec {
+  # nixcloud team code
+  or1k-crates = stdenv.mkDerivation {
+    name = "or1k-crates";
+    inherit src;
+    phases = [ "unpackPhase" "buildPhase" ];
+    buildPhase = ''
+      destdir=$out
+      rustc="${rustc_internal}/bin/rustc --out-dir ''${destdir} -L ''${destdir} --target or1k-unknown-none -g -C target-feature=+mul,+div,+ffl1,+cmov,+addc -C opt-level=s --crate-type rlib"
+      
+      mkdir -p ''${destdir}
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name core src/libcore/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name compiler_builtins src/libcompiler_builtins/src/lib.rs --cfg 'feature="compiler-builtins"' --cfg 'feature="mem"'
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name std_unicode src/libstd_unicode/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name alloc src/liballoc/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name libc src/liblibc_mini/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} --crate-name unwind src/libunwind/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} -Cpanic=abort --crate-name panic_abort src/libpanic_abort/lib.rs
+      ''${rustc} -Cpanic=unwind --crate-name panic_unwind src/libpanic_unwind/lib.rs --cfg llvm_libunwind
+    '';
+  };
+  # nixcloud team code
+  # this is basically a wrapper, which uses rustc_internal and inserts or1k-crates into it
+  rustc = stdenv.mkDerivation {
+    name = "rustc";
+    src = ./.;
+    installPhase = ''
+      mkdir $out
+      mkdir -p $out/lib/rustlib/or1k-unknown-none/lib/
+      cp -r ${or1k-crates}/* $out/lib/rustlib/or1k-unknown-none/lib/
+      cp -r ${rustc_internal}/* $out
+    '';
+  };
+  # nixcloud team code
+  # originally rustc but now renamed to rustc_internal
+  rustc_internal = callPackage ./rustc.nix {
+    inherit stdenv llvm targets targetPatches targetToolchains rustPlatform version src;
+
+    patches = [
+      ./patches/net-tcp-disable-tests.patch
+
+      # Re-evaluate if this we need to disable this one
+      #./patches/stdsimd-disable-doctest.patch
+
+      # Fails on hydra - not locally; the exact reason is unknown.
+      # Comments in the test suggest that some non-reproducible environment
+      # variables such $RANDOM can make it fail.
+      ./patches/disable-test-inherit-env.patch
+    ];
+
+    forceBundledLLVM = true;
+
+    #configureFlags = [ "--release-channel=stable" ];
+
+    # 1. Upstream is not running tests on aarch64:
+    # see https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/49807#issuecomment-380860567
+    # So we do the same.
+    # 2. Tests run out of memory for i686
+    #doCheck = !stdenv.isAarch64 && !stdenv.isi686;
+
+    # Disabled for now; see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/42348#issuecomment-402115598.
+    doCheck = false;
+  };
+
+  cargo = callPackage ./cargo.nix rec {
+    version = cargoVersion;
+    inherit src;
+    inherit stdenv;
+    inherit rustc; # the rustc that will be wrapped by cargo
+    inherit rustPlatform; # used to build cargo
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/disable-test-inherit-env.patch b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/disable-test-inherit-env.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fcb75ed09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/disable-test-inherit-env.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+--- rustc-1.26.2-src.org/src/libstd/process.rs	2018-06-01 21:40:11.000000000 +0100
++++ rustc-1.26.2-src/src/libstd/process.rs	2018-06-08 07:50:23.023828658 +0100
+@@ -1745,6 +1745,7 @@
+     }
+ 
+     #[test]
++    #[ignore]
+     fn test_inherit_env() {
+         use env;
+ 
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/net-tcp-disable-tests.patch b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/net-tcp-disable-tests.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10713b6b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/net-tcp-disable-tests.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+diff --git a/src/libstd/net/tcp.rs b/src/libstd/net/tcp.rs
+index 0f60b5b3e..9b08415e7 100644
+--- a/src/libstd/net/tcp.rs
++++ b/src/libstd/net/tcp.rs
+@@ -962,6 +962,7 @@ mod tests {
+         }
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn listen_localhost() {
+         let socket_addr = next_test_ip4();
+@@ -1020,6 +1021,7 @@ mod tests {
+         })
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn read_eof() {
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+@@ -1039,6 +1041,7 @@ mod tests {
+         })
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn write_close() {
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+@@ -1065,6 +1068,7 @@ mod tests {
+         })
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn multiple_connect_serial() {
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+@@ -1087,6 +1091,7 @@ mod tests {
+         })
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn multiple_connect_interleaved_greedy_schedule() {
+         const MAX: usize = 10;
+@@ -1123,6 +1128,7 @@ mod tests {
+     }
+ 
+     #[test]
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     fn multiple_connect_interleaved_lazy_schedule() {
+         const MAX: usize = 10;
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+@@ -1401,6 +1407,7 @@ mod tests {
+     }
+ 
+     #[test]
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     fn clone_while_reading() {
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+             let accept = t!(TcpListener::bind(&addr));
+@@ -1421,7 +1422,10 @@ mod tests {
+ 
+     // FIXME: re-enabled bitrig/openbsd tests once their socket timeout code
+     //        no longer has rounding errors.
+-    #[cfg_attr(any(target_os = "bitrig", target_os = "netbsd", target_os = "openbsd"), ignore)]
++    #[cfg_attr(any(target_os = "bitrig",
++                   target_os = "netbsd",
++                   target_os = "openbsd",
++                   target_os = "macos"), ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn timeouts() {
+         let addr = next_test_ip4();
+@@ -1596,6 +1603,7 @@ mod tests {
+         drop(listener);
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn nodelay() {
+         let addr = next_test_ip4();
+@@ -1610,6 +1618,7 @@ mod tests {
+         assert_eq!(false, t!(stream.nodelay()));
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn ttl() {
+         let ttl = 100;
+@@ -1647,6 +1656,7 @@ mod tests {
+         }
+     }
+ 
++    #[cfg_attr(target_os = "macos", ignore)]
+     #[test]
+     fn peek() {
+         each_ip(&mut |addr| {
+@@ -1679,6 +1689,7 @@ mod tests {
+     }
+ 
+     #[test]
++    #[cfg_attr(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "macos"), ignore)]
+     fn connect_timeout_unroutable() {
+         // this IP is unroutable, so connections should always time out,
+         // provided the network is reachable to begin with.
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/stdsimd-disable-doctest.patch b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/stdsimd-disable-doctest.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ef7fd0f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/patches/stdsimd-disable-doctest.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+diff --git a/src/stdsimd/coresimd/x86/mod.rs b/src/stdsimd/coresimd/x86/mod.rs
+index 32915c332..7cb54f31e 100644
+--- a/src/stdsimd/coresimd/x86/mod.rs
++++ b/src/stdsimd/coresimd/x86/mod.rs
+@@ -279,7 +279,6 @@ types! {
+     ///
+     /// # Examples
+     ///
+-    /// ```
+     /// # #![feature(cfg_target_feature, target_feature, stdsimd)]
+     /// # #![cfg_attr(not(dox), no_std)]
+     /// # #[cfg(not(dox))]
+@@ -301,7 +300,6 @@ types! {
+     /// # }
+     /// # if is_x86_feature_detected!("sse") { unsafe { foo() } }
+     /// # }
+-    /// ```
+     pub struct __m256(f32, f32, f32, f32, f32, f32, f32, f32);
+ 
+     /// 256-bit wide set of four `f64` types, x86-specific
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/print-hashes.sh b/nix/pkgs/rust/print-hashes.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7eb00a30a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/print-hashes.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# All rust-related downloads can be found at
+# https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/index.html.  To find the date on
+# which a particular thing was last updated, look for the *-date.txt
+# file, e.g.
+# https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/channel-rust-beta-date.txt
+
+PLATFORMS=(
+  i686-unknown-linux-gnu
+  x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
+  armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf
+  aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
+  i686-apple-darwin
+  x86_64-apple-darwin
+)
+BASEURL=https://static.rust-lang.org/dist
+VERSION=${1:-}
+DATE=${2:-}
+
+if [[ -z $VERSION ]]
+then
+    echo "No version supplied"
+    exit -1
+fi
+
+if [[ -n $DATE ]]
+then
+    BASEURL=$BASEURL/$DATE
+fi
+
+for PLATFORM in "${PLATFORMS[@]}"
+do
+    URL="$BASEURL/rust-$VERSION-$PLATFORM.tar.gz.sha256"
+    SHA256=$(curl -sSfL $URL | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+    echo "$PLATFORM = \"$SHA256\";"
+done
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/rust-src.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/rust-src.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1b819a7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/rust-src.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{ stdenv, rustc }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "rust-src";
+  src = rustc.src;
+  phases = [ "unpackPhase" "installPhase" ];
+  installPhase = ''
+    mv src $out
+    rm -rf $out/{ci,doc,driver,etc,grammar,llvm,rt,rtstartup,rustllvm,test,tools,vendor}
+  '';
+}
diff --git a/nix/pkgs/rust/rustc.nix b/nix/pkgs/rust/rustc.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1dbc5ba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/pkgs/rust/rustc.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+{ stdenv, targetPackages
+, fetchurl, fetchgit, fetchzip, file, python2, tzdata, ps
+, llvm, jemalloc, ncurses, darwin, rustPlatform, git, cmake, curl
+, which, libffi, gdb
+, version
+, forceBundledLLVM ? false
+, src
+, configureFlags ? []
+, patches
+, targets
+, targetPatches
+, targetToolchains
+, doCheck ? true
+, broken ? false
+, pkgs
+}:
+
+let
+  inherit (stdenv.lib) optional optionalString;
+  inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) Security;
+
+  llvmShared = llvm.override { enableSharedLibraries = true; };
+  llvmOR1k = (import ../../default.nix {}).llvm-or1k;
+
+  target = builtins.replaceStrings [" "] [","] (builtins.toString targets);
+  src_rustc = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://static.rust-lang.org/dist/rustc-1.28.0-src.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "11k4rn77bca2rikykkk9fmprrgjswd4x4kaq7fia08vgkir82nhx";
+  };
+
+in
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "rustc-${version}";
+  inherit version;
+
+  inherit src;
+
+  __darwinAllowLocalNetworking = true;
+
+  # rustc complains about modified source files otherwise
+  dontUpdateAutotoolsGnuConfigScripts = true;
+
+  # Running the default `strip -S` command on Darwin corrupts the
+  # .rlib files in "lib/".
+  #
+  # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/34227
+  stripDebugList = if stdenv.isDarwin then [ "bin" ] else null;
+
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = optionalString stdenv.isDarwin "-rpath ${llvmShared}/lib";
+
+  # Enable nightly features in stable compiles (used for
+  # bootstrapping, see https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/37265).
+  # This loosens the hard restrictions on bootstrapping-compiler
+  # versions.
+  RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP = "1";
+
+  # Increase codegen units to introduce parallelism within the compiler.
+  RUSTFLAGS = "-Ccodegen-units=10";
+
+  # We need rust to build rust. If we don't provide it, configure will try to download it.
+  # Reference: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/bootstrap/configure.py
+  configureFlags = configureFlags
+                ++ [ "--enable-local-rust" "--local-rust-root=${rustPlatform.rust.rustc}" "--enable-rpath" ]
+                ++ [ "--enable-vendor" ]
+                # ++ [ "--jemalloc-root=${jemalloc}/lib"
+                ++ [ "--default-linker=${targetPackages.stdenv.cc}/bin/cc" ]
+                ++ optional (!forceBundledLLVM) [ "--enable-llvm-link-shared" ]
+                ++ optional (targets != []) "--target=${target}"
+                #++ optional (!forceBundledLLVM) "--llvm-root=${llvmShared}"
+                ++ [ "--llvm-root=${llvmOR1k}" ] ;
+
+  # The bootstrap.py will generated a Makefile that then executes the build.
+  # The BOOTSTRAP_ARGS used by this Makefile must include all flags to pass
+  # to the bootstrap builder.
+  postConfigure = ''
+    substituteInPlace Makefile --replace 'BOOTSTRAP_ARGS :=' 'BOOTSTRAP_ARGS := --jobs $(NIX_BUILD_CORES)'
+  '';
+
+  # FIXME: qknight, readd deleted vendor folder from 1.28 rustc
+  preConfigure = ''
+    export HOME=$out
+    # HACK: we add the vendor folder from rustc 1.28 to make the compiling work
+    tar xf ${src_rustc}
+    mv rustc-1.28.0-src/src/vendor/ src/vendor
+    cp -R ${llvmOR1k} src/llvm
+  '';
+
+  patches = patches ++ targetPatches;
+
+  # the rust build system complains that nix alters the checksums
+  dontFixLibtool = true;
+
+  passthru.target = target;
+
+  postPatch = ''
+    patchShebangs src/etc
+
+    # Fix dynamic linking against llvm
+    #${optionalString (!forceBundledLLVM) ''sed -i 's/, kind = \\"static\\"//g' src/etc/mklldeps.py''}
+
+    # Fix the configure script to not require curl as we won't use it
+    sed -i configure \
+      -e '/probe_need CFG_CURL curl/d'
+
+    # Fix the use of jemalloc prefixes which our jemalloc doesn't have
+    # TODO: reenable if we can figure out how to get our jemalloc to work
+    #[ -f src/liballoc_jemalloc/lib.rs ] && sed -i 's,je_,,g' src/liballoc_jemalloc/lib.rs
+    #[ -f src/liballoc/heap.rs ] && sed -i 's,je_,,g' src/liballoc/heap.rs # Remove for 1.4.0+
+
+    # Disable fragile tests.
+    rm -vr src/test/run-make/linker-output-non-utf8 || true
+    rm -vr src/test/run-make/issue-26092 || true
+
+    # Remove test targeted at LLVM 3.9 - https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/36835
+    rm -vr src/test/run-pass/issue-36023.rs || true
+
+    # Disable test getting stuck on hydra - possible fix:
+    # https://reviews.llvm.org/rL281650
+    rm -vr src/test/run-pass/issue-36474.rs || true
+
+    # On Hydra: `TcpListener::bind(&addr)`: Address already in use (os error 98)'
+    sed '/^ *fn fast_rebind()/i#[ignore]' -i src/libstd/net/tcp.rs
+
+    # https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/39522
+    echo removing gdb-version-sensitive tests...
+    find src/test/debuginfo -type f -execdir grep -q ignore-gdb-version '{}' \; -print -delete
+    rm src/test/debuginfo/{borrowed-c-style-enum.rs,c-style-enum-in-composite.rs,gdb-pretty-struct-and-enums-pre-gdb-7-7.rs,generic-enum-with-different-disr-sizes.rs}
+
+    # Useful debugging parameter
+    # export VERBOSE=1
+  '' + optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    # Disable all lldb tests.
+    # error: Can't run LLDB test because LLDB's python path is not set
+    rm -vr src/test/debuginfo/*
+    rm -v src/test/run-pass/backtrace-debuginfo.rs
+
+    # error: No such file or directory
+    rm -v src/test/run-pass/issue-45731.rs
+
+    # Disable tests that fail when sandboxing is enabled.
+    substituteInPlace src/libstd/sys/unix/ext/net.rs \
+        --replace '#[test]' '#[test] #[ignore]'
+    substituteInPlace src/test/run-pass/env-home-dir.rs \
+        --replace 'home_dir().is_some()' true
+    rm -v src/test/run-pass/fds-are-cloexec.rs  # FIXME: pipes?
+    rm -v src/test/run-pass/sync-send-in-std.rs  # FIXME: ???
+  '';
+
+  # rustc unfortunately need cmake for compiling llvm-rt but doesn't
+  # use it for the normal build. This disables cmake in Nix.
+  dontUseCmakeConfigure = true;
+
+  # ps is needed for one of the test cases
+  nativeBuildInputs =
+    [ file python2 ps rustPlatform.rust.rustc git cmake
+      which libffi
+    ]
+    # Only needed for the debuginfo tests
+    ++ optional (!stdenv.isDarwin) gdb;
+
+  buildInputs = [ ncurses pkgs.zlib ] ++ targetToolchains
+    ++ optional stdenv.isDarwin Security
+    ++ optional (!forceBundledLLVM) llvmShared;
+
+  outputs = [ "out" "man" "doc" ];
+  setOutputFlags = false;
+
+  # Disable codegen units and hardening for the tests.
+  preCheck = ''
+    export RUSTFLAGS=
+    export TZDIR=${tzdata}/share/zoneinfo
+    export hardeningDisable=all
+  '' +
+  # Ensure TMPDIR is set, and disable a test that removing the HOME
+  # variable from the environment falls back to another home
+  # directory.
+  optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+    export TMPDIR=/tmp
+    sed -i '28s/home_dir().is_some()/true/' ./src/test/run-pass/env-home-dir.rs
+  '';
+
+  inherit doCheck;
+
+  configurePlatforms = [];
+
+  # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/21742#issuecomment-272305764
+  # https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/30181
+  # enableParallelBuilding = false;
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    homepage = https://www.rust-lang.org/;
+    description = "A safe, concurrent, practical language";
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ madjar cstrahan wizeman globin havvy wkennington ];
+    license = [ licenses.mit licenses.asl20 ];
+    platforms = platforms.linux ++ platforms.darwin;
+    broken = broken;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nix/shell.nix b/nix/shell.nix
index 8fbdadb65..19515cc54 100644
--- a/nix/shell.nix
+++ b/nix/shell.nix
@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
-{system ? builtins.currentSystem}:
-let
-  pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {inherit system;};
-  artiq = pkgs.callPackage ./default.nix {};
+let 
+  pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
+  artiqpkgs = import ./default.nix { inherit pkgs; };
 in
-pkgs.mkShell {
-  buildInputs = [ artiq ];
-}
+  pkgs.mkShell {
+    # with this configuration we can't build kasli target(s) because misoc packaged via nix does not work correctly
+    # want to build using nix-shell anyway? easy:
+    # 1. remove misoc from the list below
+    # 2. nix-shell
+    # 3. export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/joachim/Desktop/projects/artiq-toolchain/misoc
+    # 4. cd artiq/gateware/targets
+    # 5. python kasli.py --no-compile-gateware
+    buildInputs = with artiqpkgs; [ rustc cargo binutils-or1k llvm-or1k llvmlite migen misoc ] 
+      ++ (with pkgs; [ python3 python36Packages.jinja2 python36Packages.numpy ]); # for artiq the python lib...
+    shellHook = ''
+      export TARGET_AR=${artiqpkgs.binutils-or1k}/bin/or1k-linux-ar
+      export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:`pwd`/..
+
+      echo "please see comments in nix/shell.nix and nix/pkgs/python3Packages.nix (nixcloud team)"
+    '';
+  }