Re: [9fans] micro vs monolithic kernels

["Russ Cox" <rsc@plan9.bell-labs.com>]

 	one question does anyone find bell labs' documentation a poor disgrace to
	software engineering's design process.

if we knew what it was going to look like when
we finished, what would be the point of building it?

more seriously, we're all happy to help you get going,
but setting up a plan 9 file or cpu server is not like
setting up a toaster.  it's not just going to work.
you need to get used to the way the system works so you
can figure out what went wrong when things do go wrong.

you wouldn't expect to set up a full-blown windows nt
file server in a few hours and have it work.  you wouldn't
(or at least shouldn't) expect to sit down with the red hat
box and have a linux system completely ready to go in a
few hours.  because plan 9 is a research system while those
are commercial systems, you should expect even less in terms
of `works right out of the box'.

that's not to say that it actually is harder to install than
windows or linux.  i think installing a terminal is actually
much easier in plan 9 than in the various linux distributions
i've used.  there's no similar program to lead you through
installing a cpu server, and certainly not one to lead you
through installing a file server.

if you go at it with the right frame of mind, plan 9
is a lot of fun and quite pleasant to use.
it _will_ be frustrating at times (especially when
setting up a file server), but in general those
times are few and far between, and it's more
rewarding than frustrating.

russ