This is the distribution for the Fourth Edition of Plan 9. It contains source of the kernel, libraries, and commands for all supported architectures. It also contains complete binaries for the x86 architecture. See the release notes for information about what’s new in this release.

The Plan 9 CD Image is both a live boot CD and an installation CD. When you boot it, a menu will give you a choice between the two. You can boot as a live CD to explore the system. People inside Alcatel-Lucent should first ask for an account on the nearest Plan 9 system (e.g., in Murray Hill or Antwerp), find the CD image in /n/other/dist on Plan 9 in Murray Hill if necessary, or populate new disks using replica(1) or dircp (in tar(1)).

You can also install by booting a floppy disk, but you will still need the CD (or at least the CD image) in order to install the system. The CD is the preferred method of installation. In order to fit a Plan 9 kernel into the floppy image, support for various devices has been omitted, notably for USB, AHCI (native SATA interface), VT6105M Ethernet interfaces (used by newer Soekris machines, for example), Intel’s PCI-Express Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and all 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The floppy disk also has a minimal plan9.ini file on it. If you have special requirements, you may need to customize it.

Before installing Plan 9, you should print out and read the installation instructions and the supported PC hardware list. You may also find it useful to print the plan9.ini(8) and prep(8) manual pages for reference during the installation.

Enjoy!