The short version
Plan 9 fork for systems experiments; a user enjoyed surprisingly fast software-rendered Quake 2.
From the HackerLinks archive
9front
Plan 9 fork for systems experiments; a user enjoyed surprisingly fast software-rendered Quake 2.
At a glance:
First seen:2026-10-17
Last seen:2026-10-17
Times seen:1
Website:9front.org
Why it caught our attention
A detailed first-hand experiment makes an unusual operating-system recommendation tangible.
Where it surfaced on Hacker News
2026-10-17
“I recently got to try out Quake 2 on 9front, a Plan 9 fork, which ran surprisingly fast on my very, very modest Thinkpad T410i with a 2.4 GHz dual core i3 at 1440x900. Plan 9 has no GPU support so all rendering is software. Even had a little lan party with other devs. I really enjoyed the software rendering, it bought back early memories of playing Q2 before we bought our Voodoo2.”
MisterTea · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
I love software rendering
Also surfaced in this discussion
Woof!
I love software rendering
2026-10-17