Back in the mid-’80s, some brilliant minds behind C and Unix joined forces to create a new operating system. They named it after the “worst film ever”, Plan 9 from Outer Space. Despite attempts to surpass Unix and explore innovative ideas, it didn’t gain much traction. Interested by it, I decided to give it a shot.

Meet Glenda, the adorable mascot of the project: Glenda Fun fact: Glenda was illustrated by Renée French, a comic author and illustrator married to Rob Pike, a key figure in Plan 9, Go, and the co-creation of UTF-8. Renée French also created the Go mascot.

For more details on the operating system, check out the 9front website or the Wikipedia page.

9Front emerged as a fork due to perceived stagnation in the official Plan 9 development. Intrigued, I decided to dive in. The installation inside Qemu was a breeze, and the 9front fqa was all I needed to get started.

Adjusting to the workflow, which involves sizing and positioning windows and heavy use of the middle mouse button and right-click, proved challenging. It’s quite different from what we’re accustomed to today.

Plan 9’s concepts are genuinely fascinating, check out this link for more insights.

While Plan 9 didn’t become a mainstream operating system, some of its ideas influenced Linux and similar platforms. Software like the acme editor have also been ported to other platforms.