Re: [9fans] fortune-worthy

[Lucio De Re <lucio@proxima.alt.za>]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 09:29:33AM -0500, David Presotto wrote:
>
> [ ... ]
>
> It is the authentication server used by both Unix and Plan 9 systems
> so that people can use their netkeys (+ssh for example) to get into the
> company from the outside internet.
>
Am I to understand that it is possible to auth to Plan 9 from Unix?
Are such tools broadly available?  PAM, perhaps?

> A better multiuser version of VNC on windows would go a long way to
> making life bearable on that front.
>
Remote desktop <http://www.rdesktop.org> (I think) is one of the
tools I've been looking at (I mentioned it as a client of ASN.1
earlier today) and whereas my priority is SPAM (hence S/MIME - are
you aware that rsa2x509(1) claims to add a DN, but doesn't,
incidentally?  I'll work on the docs once I have something to show)
I wouldn't mind returning to rdesktop if BL have a real need for
it.  On my side, I want to see Plan 9 serve the protocol, so thin
clients can be used unmodified, but I'm nearly ready to tackle the
client.

In case remote desktop means nothing to you (Ron Minnich wasn't
familiar with the concept) it's also known as Terminal Server Client
and originally was Cytrix.

In fact, if time is of the essence to prove a point, I managed to
compile rdesktop 1.10 (I seem to recall) but the graphics module
(that package seems quite elegantly contructed) was way above my
skills level. Still, it was only one file, and not a very large
one at that.

> There's also the constant friction caused by not using the solution of the
> day for embedded systems.  It used to be only Vxworks.  Now its slowly opening
> up to Linux because its the flavor of the week at IBM and Lucent looks at
> IBM as the model of a reincarnated big company.  The GPL scares management
> somewhat which acts as a damping force.

The BSD licence ought to appeal to management more, despite a recent
clash with UCB.  Go figure.  I actually assumed Lucent would be
reluctant to follow in IBM's footsteps.

What would be the official fate of Plan 9 if Bell Labs migrated to
a new platform?

++L