Rediscovering Plan 9 from Bell Labs

During a weekend of tidying up - you know, the kind of chore where you're knee-deep in old boxes before you realize it. Digging through the dusty cables and old, outdated user manuals, I found something that I had long forgotten: an oldPlan 9distribution. Judging by the faded ink and slight warping of the disk sleeve, it had to be from around 1994 or 1995.

I couldn't help but wonder: why had I kept this? Back then, I was curious about Plan 9. It was a forward-thinking OS that never quite reached full potential. Holding that disk, however, it felt more like a time capsule, a real reminder of computing's advancements and adventurous spirit in the 1990s.

Bill Dyer at It's FOSS

As the article notes, 9front is the way to go if you want to try Plan 9 today. Plan 9/9front appeals to a very specific type of person, but when you dive into the excellent - and incredibly entertaining - documentation, it really seems quite easy to grasp and get started with. There's definitely things you'll need to unlearn and some compromises you'll need to make, but I think you'll be able to get a lot more work done than you might think.

Also, if you start adding software to 9front, you get to use the best GitHub alternative of all time: shithub. That alone makes it worth it to try 9front.