Well it sounds like your disk is a goner, really. I would look into that with SMART or something.
Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email. On Monday, November 10th, 2025 at 4:31 AM, Michael Jensen <[email protected]> wrote: > Greetings again all. > > I have now attempted to install 9front. On my dell latitude e7450. I followed > the instructions at fqa.9front.org/fqa4.html. > > I encountered the following problems: > > I get as far a section 4.3.8 - prepdisk. I follow the recommendation of > accepting the suggestion, and type w, then hit <enter> > > Normally, it should accept that, and I follow it up with q. > > Instead, I get: > > " > error writing partition table to disk > attempting to restore partitions to previous state > cannot restore: error seeking on disk > " > > It then sends me up a menu, and I get to re-specify a bunch of things. > It gets back to approximately the same place, except this time, instead of > suggesting a layout, I get: > > "disk/prep: cannot open disk: file too small to be a disk" > > Continuing, I keep getting that error, even if I tell it to use esp as my > 9fat partition. > I have consulted one youtube tutorial where they use the gefs as the file > system instead of the default in the tutorial. if that works, great. Thought > I should report this though. > > Cheers! > Mike :-) > > On Sun, Sep 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM Michael Jensen <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Greetings :-) >> >> ..I am currently in a deep exploration of operating systems. >> windows->ubuntu->guix&openbsd, with many more tried en-route. now I'm >> hearing about plan9 and oberon. So, plan9 is the bees-knees? People daydream >> wistfully about a world where it dominates.. So.. shall we get on with it? >> :-) Unfortunately, I go to the wiki for instructions on installing it >> (https://plan9.io/wiki/plan9/Installation_instructions/index.html), and >> find: "[Beware: in the manner of wikis most everywhere, this one is woefully >> out of >> date.](https://plan9.io/wiki/plan9/Beware:_in_the_manner_of_wikis_most_everywhere,_this_one_is_woefully_out_of_date.)" >> ..this is not encouraging. In fact, it stops me in my tracks and causes me >> to write this e-mail instead. >> >> ..I currently have three computers. Dell Latitudes e7450 and e7440, and a >> Thinkpad T430. I am open to buying another one if there is a particular one >> that is recommended for plan9. I can get another more-or-less-realiable T430 >> for ~150 can. ..I might poke around trying to follow the given >> instructions.. but my instinct says that I won't, not without more assurance >> of support. >> >> ..You may be wondering how I heard about plan9 in the first place. Keep in >> mind, hearing about it and becoming convinced it's worth investigating, are >> two different things. I credit, in historical order, "The Art of Unix >> Programming", Suckless, and vis (the editor). vis are the people whose >> documentation prodded me into seriously checking it out. (..Of course, now >> that I search specifically for plan9, I get plenty of hits..) >> >> Cheers, >> Michael :-) > > [9fans](https://9fans.topicbox.com/latest) / 9fans / see > [discussions](https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans) + > [participants](https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/members) + [delivery > options](https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription) > [Permalink](https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/Tf075600980be0e2b-M6b5b6515f00f915c523814ee) ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/Tf075600980be0e2b-M0f29f98233d5a5d71435b578 Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
