Re: [9fans] planning an installation

["Russ Cox" <rsc@plan9.bell-labs.com>]

	I was hopnig to do a single computer installation but from reading through
	the list archive I have half drawn the conclusion that this is not the way
	to go. Plan9's distributed architecture is attractive on a network but am I
	*forced* to have 3 machines dedicated to getting my first workstation going?

Not so.  The installation process sets up a standalone machine.
If you expand to multiple machines, the recommended setup is
an auth server and a file server as machines separate from any
terminals.  If you're strapped for machines or space, though,
this isn't always practical.  It's possible to have one machine do
everything although the file service in particular is not as efficient
as using the standalone file server.  But it's quite usable.  In fact,
I'm using a terminal booted from such a wonder-machine
right now.

	On the machine I installed on I couldn't get the network going. I did manage
	to get it to respond to pings once but it has elluded me since. (on a
	related note how do I ping out - i can't find a ping command anywhere!!)

It's called "ip/ping".

	On the machine I installed on I couldn't get the network going. I did manage
	to get it to respond to pings once but it has elluded me since. (on a
	related note how do I ping out - i can't find a ping command anywhere!!)

netstat -i will print information about how your
network card is configured.  That might be a good
place to start.

Russ