• bubstance@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
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    5 months ago

    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) and secstore(1), new users, etc.

    • cwfs is slow

    • hjfs is really slow

    • no 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.