8½ (Plan 9)

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2015)

This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. Please help by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

8+1⁄2 is a window system developed for the Plan 9 from Bell Labs operating system by Rob Pike. According to its documentation, the system has little graphical fanciness, a fixed user interface, and depends on a three-button mouse. Like much of the Plan 9 operating system, many operations work by reading and writing to special files.

Because of the limitations stemming from its unusual implementation, 8+1⁄2 has been completely rewritten into its successor rio in recent Plan 9 versions.

See also[]

• Plan 9 from Bell Labs — the operating system
• mux — the predecessor to 8+1⁄2
• rio — the new Plan 9 windowing system
• 9wm — an X window manager which attempts to emulate 8+1⁄2

External links[]

• 8+1⁄2, the Plan 9 Window System by Rob Pike — The original paper.