There isn't a book on Plan 9 as there are many of UNIX (I plan to
write one), but here are some places to start; you should at least do
the first one first.
- Run the Live CD and run the live part. You will see a guide to
using Plan 9's rio windowing system and acme text editor; read those
in order.
- The Wiki, at http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/, is a wonderful
place to start. You will need to set up a new user once you install;
see http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Adding_a_new_user/
index.html for details. Just log on to user adm.
- Get a book on troff, which lets you write documents. http://
www.troff.org/ has some details on books, as well as a link to a free
one co-written by the founder of the O'Reilly publishing company;
available at http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/utp/
- Read the Wiki page on Unix to Plan 9 command translation: http://
plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Unix_to_Plan_9_command_translation/
index.html It also has some details on converting shell semantics and
files
- .profile is now lib/profile
- Type the command line
page /sys/doc/rc.ps
hit Enter, and read the guide to rc, the replacement for /bin/sh
- Anything that John says (he beat me to it)
On Jan 11, 2008, at 5:57 PM, clinton wrote:
I've installed plan9 a few times and found it to be a complete
mind-bender; it was more of a leap for me than deserting win95 for
slackware. I know I should Read The Fine Manuals ... but which are the
best ones to read first, and where do I find them? I've been an unix
enthusiast for some time (but perhaps not as long as some of you) and
I've been completely FAT-free for more than ten years now, so I'm not
scared of a steep learning curve. I've read the theoretical documents
about plan9; are there some sort of practical ones for newcomers?