> 9atom and 9front are both actively maintained.


It seems like 9atom is not actually actively maintained any longer.  I hope Erik sees this and refutes me, though!

I was aware of Harvey, Jehanne, and plan9-9k, though I didn't mention them because I wasn't sure how "mainstream" they were, or if there was active development in the case of plan9-9k.  Please pardon me. :)


To be honest, I was sort of hoping to hear someone say that 9atom with the NIX kernel is the way to go.  Unfortunately, I mostly use VMware and a few old-ish but still 64-bit ThinkPads, and 9atom won't so much as boot on any of them.  Anyone on here managed to get 9atom to run in VMware or on a W500-series (500, 520, 530)  ThinkPad?


Or, if one wants NIX but to stay a little closer to the original distribution, are there options, or is Harvey the only way?


Anyway, I also want to say thank you to the smart people on this list who have maintained and advanced Plan 9 in its various forms over the years!!


Thanks.


-Ben


________________________________
From: 9fans-bounces@9fans.net <9fans-bounces@9fans.net> on behalf of Giacomo Tesio <giacomo@tesio.it>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2018 4:26 AM
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs
Subject: Re: [9fans] There is no fork

To my knowledge this is the set of active projects based on Plan 9:

9atom and 9front are both actively maintained.
Both stick strongly to the original Plan 9 from Bell Labs design.
AFAIK, 9front introduce more innovations, both in kernel and in user
space, but what make it unique is the #cat-v community.

9legacy is not a really fork, but an organized collection of patches,
and is still actively maintained.
Another non-fork active project is Plan 9-ANTS
(http://www.9gridchan.org/ ) which also provides a 9front-based amd64
iso and a free 9P grid online.

Harvey's kernel is based on NIX, and AFAIK, it's the only project
where NIX development is active.

Forsyth's Plan-9k had some development in mid 2017.
It's 2015 version was the starting point of Jehanne's kernel, which is
my own research operating system (that also includes several of
9front's improvements).
Jehanne is the project that diverged most from the original Plan9
design, with its own set of crazy decisions, but currently it's an
unstable toy.


Giacomo

2018-02-10 3:48 GMT+01:00 Benjamin Huntsman <BHuntsman@mail2.cu-portland.edu>:
> Just curious as to the state of the union.  Is 9front pretty much the de
> facto "official" Plan 9 these days, or does anyone still use or maintain any
> of the following:
>
>
> 9atom
>
> NIX
>
> 9legacy
>
> The original Bell Labs distribution
>
>
> Thanks for your input!
>
>
> -Ben
>
>