From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 17:32:14 +0100
From: forsyth@plan9.cs.york.ac.uk forsyth@plan9.cs.york.ac.uk
Subject: Auth server help..
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 4cf1431c-eac8-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025
Message-ID: <19960919163214.pegl-znqV9Ftfs_cx_1u3zwHtEdIhpa186WhbXhp-44@z>

>>root if from (il, incon)[il]: il
>>boot: opening ip ether: no free devices
>>panic: boot process died: unknown

since it hasn't found any ethernet devices, i'd check the ether configuration
lines in plan9.ini (and check that it is using the correct plan9.ini file).
i believe you ought to see an announcement when the plan 9 kernel starts
giving (at least) the machine's ethernet type, ether address, irq, etc.