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[rio] Plan 9 is not UNIX
(9p.sdf.org)
Submit screenshots of all your *NIX desktops, themes, and nifty configurations, or submit anything else that will make themers happy. Maybe a server running on an Amiga, or a Thinkpad signed by Bjarne Stroustrup? Show the world how pretty your computer can be!
Oh sure, lots of things are "inconvenient" on Plan 9.
Of note for most would-be users: if you rely on a modern web browser like Firefox/Chrome, forget about it. Never going to happen.
It's important to remember that Plan 9 is fundamentally a research operating system; it's not really a "typical" environment by any stretch, and that stems largely from it being entirely network-based and distributed. A single Plan 9 system in isolation can only be so interesting. Using it on a laptop like this can be an entirely different set of problems.
If you'd like some examples of things you may face:
booting can be slow
can be intimidating to set up for some of the more important features –
factotum(4)
andsecstore(1)
, new users and directories under/
, etc.cwfs
is slowhjfs
is really slowno multi-monitor support
only recently did we get a filesystem that specifically aims to be crash-safe
poor documentation, though it's been getting better
reading research papers is basically a requirement for understanding the system
security is not a priority
For me, though? I genuinely don't need much more than what's available in the base system.