Re: [9fans] So, once I've got the OS up how do I...

[anothy@cosym.net]

here's my take on a few of the questions.

Q1.	What is the choice with respect to mail mirrors or mailing list
	software like majordomo?

I've seen several such packages which use Perl. given a
working Perl port (see Q10 below), one should be able to get
these working on Plan 9. however, i'd advise getting more
familiar with Upas first. granted my needs were more limited
than many, but i had a pretty easy time writing a simple rc
script, using sed and awk, and plugging that into
/mail/lib/rewrite and letting Upas handle it.

Q2.	What is the usual web server?

Plan 9 ships with an httpd. i presume the majority of people
running web service from Plan 9 use this. see httpd(8).

Q3.	Is the Plan 9 <> Linux software reliable?

what software is that? i use u9fs fairly regularly, and it works
just fine. i also use VNC, and have had no problems. i've even
used the Plan 9 NFS server, with more limited success. someone
(forsyth?) did an ext2fs for mounting linux file systems under
Plan 9, but i've got no linux partitions to try it on.

Q5.	How do I play my audio CD's and what mp3 player is suggested?
	Is there any good audio sampling (and pop reduction) software?

someone (tad hunt?) ported mpg123, a free mpeg audio decoder, to
Plan 9. i use it regularly, and it's reasonably good. it's not as
good as others i've seen on Unix and Win32, but it plays all the
.mp3 files i've got.

there are multiple options for playing CDs. russ cox has written
one for acme, called "acd", which is quite nice provided your CD
drive and audio card are on the same system (as most peoples are,
but mine arn't).

Q10.	What about Perl, Python, Rexx, Tcl/Tk, Java, or Prolog?

check out the archives. people have done work getting Perl and
Python running on Plan 9. Perl includes Plan 9 in the standard
distribution, but results of trying to get it running have been
mixed. see also the link to forsyth's page provided below.

Q11.	Is there any sort of effort to move the GNU tools to the
	Plan 9 reality?

God, i hope not. ☺

Q13.	Assuming there was a group of users who wanted to make available
	a set of file servers. Assume that in this structure are
	multi-media (ie sound, video, text, etc.) files. Are there
	any packages that could be used to manage such a virtual library?

Q14.	Do you think Dreamcast will be helpful to the growth of Plan 9?

this is an opinion question. here's mine: no. i assume you're
refering to the suggestion that showed up on slashdot today
(?) based on Vita Nuova's statement that they are looking to
port their compiler work, and eventually Inferno, to Hitachi's
Supper H [34] chips.

Q16.	Assuming a small group wished to do a custom distribution, how
	would they go about licensing it with Bell Labs? Would it even
	really be necessary under the current license? Would there be
	any advantages/disadvantages either way?

I may not be a lawyer, but i've read the license and paid
attention durring the earlier discussions of the license and
what restrictions it imposed and rights it preserved. my
understanding is that, provided the "small group" in question
agreed to the license themselves, and required everyone they
distributed it to to do the same, they wouldn't need to do any
special licensing.

Charles Forsyth has a nice list of software ported to Plan 9;
this includes, among other things, an mpeg play, java
implementation, perl 4 port, his ext2fs, and vnc viewer. it's
worth checking out, and pointing other interested parties to.

-α.