A final reminder, this is tomorrow (Thursday) evening! Should be
interesting!
On 11/30/25 22:13, Russell Senior wrote:
Just a reminder, coming up this week!
On 11/15/25 01:28, Russell Senior wrote:
Who: Anthony Sorace
What: Plan 9
Where: 1930 SW 4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97201-5304, Room 86-01
When: Thursday December 4, 2025 at 7 PM
Why: The pursuit of technology freedom
Summary:
Plan 9 is an operating system with some very interesting properties,
especially around distributed systems, networking, and resource
sharing. It was originally developed by the same group at Bell Labs
which developed Unix and shares a clear heritage that will make many
parts familiar to experienced users of other unix-like systems, but
in many ways represents an "alternate universe" for how Unix might
have developed. While it's seen only limited commercial use, it has
proven itself suitable to a wide range of applications, including
supercomputer clusters, network appliances, and embedded systems. And
as a small, consistent system with a unifying philosophy, it can be
interesting to study and explore even outside its practical utility.
Together, let's take a brief tour of this alternate universe's
history, what makes it exciting to people who live (or visit) there,
the current landscape, and where it might (or might not!) be
interesting for you.
Bio:
Anthony Sorace (he/him) is some sort of engineer. Professionally, his
work has focused on system architecture and process analysis, looking
at how people can use computers to solve (some of) their problems. On
the side, he enjoys messing about with networking, databases, and
systems software. He is a slightly reluctant web programmer and
enthusiastic cook. He has been using Plan 9 since the late nineteen
hundreds, a few weeks before starting a job at Bell Labs working with
related technology, and currently serves as a director of the Plan 9
Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing research on
lightweight distributed systems using these technologies.
Calagator: https://calagator.org/events/1250482315
With luck, the talk will also be streamed live here:
http://www.twitch.tv/kngbwlf, and later posted to YouTube.
PLUG is back at Portland State University, thanks to the Computer
Science Department and to Andrew Greenberg. The room is in the
basement of the PSU Engineering Building (also connected underground
to the Fourth Avenue Building, or FAB). Enter through the Engineering
Building. The outside door will be locked, but there should be
someone present at the entrance to let you in starting at 6:40pm
until 7pm. There will be a sign on the door with a phone number you
can SMS if there isn't someone there to let you in immediately.
