[9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[geoff]

Today's SIGOPS mail includes a notice of an NSF solicitation
for research into more efficient and more robust operating systems.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like they are fed up with Windows.
I've included the lead-in at the end.  You can get the full solicitation
at http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04609.

It sounds like we might have an operating system or two for them.

Here's the lead-in:
---
Computer systems are ubiquitous, and society is increasingly dependent
on them. They range from microprocessors embedded in automobiles and
appliances to worldwide grids of advanced processors, storage,
graphics devices, and instruments interconnected by high-speed
networks.  They are controlled by systems software, which has two main
roles: manage the underlying hardware resources, and provide
abstractions and services that facilitate the implementation and
execution of application programs.  However, too often computer
systems fail, become compromised, or perform poorly. Moreover, they
have become increasingly large and complex, thereby compounding
problems.  Addressing these challenges requires major advances in
systems software.

The Computer Systems Research (CSR) program supports innovative
research and education projects that have the potential to: lead to
significant improvements in existing computer systems by increasing
our fundamental understanding of such systems; produce systems
software that is qualitatively and quantitatively more reliable and
more efficient; and/or, to produce innovative curricula or educational
materials that better prepare the next generation of computing
professionals.  The CSR program is also interested in projects that
expand the capabilities of existing systems by exploiting the
potential of new technologies or by developing innovative new ways to
use existing technologies.  Projects supported will strive to make
significant progress on challenging, high-impact problems.as opposed
to incremental progress on familiar problems.and will have a credible
plan for demonstrating the utility and potential impact of the
proposed work.
---

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Ronald G. Minnich]

FYI, I think I can say this, DOE is now supporting Plan 9 research here at
LANL and at another place which we'll announce when the money ticks in.

So at least the US Gummint is beginning to take notice. 

Note that this support was not at all possible until Plan 9 got it's 
spiffy new open source license in June '03.

ron

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Kenji Okamoto]

> DOE is now supporting Plan 9 research here at
> LANL and at another place which we'll announce when the money ticks in.
> 
> So at least the US Gummint is beginning to take notice. 

Sorry, Ron, what means DOE and Gummint?
I can get it must be a good news to us.

> Note that this support was not at all possible until Plan 9 got it's 
> spiffy new open source license in June '03.

Yeah!

Kenji

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[geoff]

`Gummint' is American slang for `Government', it's a sort of
mispronunciation, omitting the consonants in the middle.

DOE is the Department Of Energy.  I'm not sure of the full scope of
its responsibilities, but I believe it designs and simulates nuclear
weapons, among other things.

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Kenji Okamoto]

Sorry, of my ignorance of American society system, forgive me I'm a 
Japanese not American.☺

Thank you, geoff.

Kenji

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Ronald G. Minnich]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, Kenji Okamoto wrote:

> Sorry, Ron, what means DOE and Gummint?

Sorry :-)

DOE is the Department of Energy, which is a big supercomputer buyer.

US Gummint is one way to say: "United States Government"

ron

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Dave Lukes]

"Gummint" is short for "gum internal":
the stuff that clogs up the insides our countries.

Dave.

Ronald G. Minnich wrote:

>On Thu, 14 Oct 2004, Kenji Okamoto wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Sorry, Ron, what means DOE and Gummint?
>>    
>>
>
>Sorry :-)
>
>DOE is the Department of Energy, which is a big supercomputer buyer.
>
>US Gummint is one way to say: "United States Government"
>
>ron
>  
>

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Kenji Okamoto]

Thanks Ron.

> US Gummint is one way to say: "United States Government"

This is understandable to me when I was taught the meaning.
The thing always annoyes me is Bob is Robert.   I asked why this
can be the Americans around me when I was in US, and got no
solid answer.    Most just smiled.   Bob has quite different sound 
from Robert, hasn't it?
In case of Rob = Robert, I can understand it, of course.

Off topic, sorry.

Kenji

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Adrian Tritschler]

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Kenji Okamoto wrote:
> Thanks Ron.

>>US Gummint is one way to say: "United States Government"

My favourite US saying is "If the opposite of pro- is con-, what is the 
opposite of progress?"

> This is understandable to me when I was taught the meaning.
> The thing always annoyes me is Bob is Robert.   I asked why this
> can be the Americans around me when I was in US, and got no
> solid answer.    Most just smiled.   Bob has quite different sound 
> from Robert, hasn't it?

Bob and Rob sound very similar in English (Australian English).

Many people called John seem to be called Jack (although that seems to 
be an early to mid- 20th century abbreviation, not so common now).

I'm curious how much of the SMS message-speak is dependent on language. 
   When I see messages such as "c u l8r", phonetically in English it is 
"see you later" which makes sense in English.  Try it in Spanish (the 
only other language I'm at least vaguely familiar with) and I think you 
end up with "kuh uh lu-ocho-r"

Maybe time for an overlay file-system that translates file names into 
localised spellings!

> In case of Rob = Robert, I can understand it, of course.

> Off topic, sorry.

Always relevant on an internationally distributed mailing list.

> Kenji

	Adrian

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Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Martin C.Atkins]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:55:24 +1000 Adrian Tritschler <ajft@ajft.org> wrote:
> I'm curious how much of the SMS message-speak is dependent on language. 
>    When I see messages such as "c u l8r", phonetically in English it is 

I've always wondered how people type these things? My mobile (and, I
believe, most current mobile phones) has predictive text entry, and
it's *easier* to type correctly spelt words than "SMS speak"!

If people really do still type this stuff, then I'm guessing that they
do it for reasons other than those normally cited!

Martin

-- 
Martin C. Atkins				martin@parvat.com
Parvat Infotech (Private) Limited		http://www.parvat.com

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Skip Tavakkolian]

> If people really do still type this stuff, then I'm guessing that they
> do it for reasons other than those normally cited!

I have this theory that things like chat and SMS provide some
protection from having to tell the truth -- the truth that may be
apparent (although not spoken) in face-to-face or over-the-phone
talks.

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Martin C.Atkins]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:00:53 -0700 Skip Tavakkolian <9nut@9netics.com> wrote:
> I have this theory that things like chat and SMS provide some
> protection from having to tell the truth -- the truth that may be
> apparent (although not spoken) in face-to-face or over-the-phone
> talks.
> 

But is this goal furthered by writing "l8r", rather than "later"?

Martin

-- 
Martin C. Atkins				martin@parvat.com
Parvat Infotech (Private) Limited		http://www.parvat.com

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[boyd, rounin]

> I've always wondered how people type these things? My mobile (and, I
> believe, most current mobile phones) has predictive text entry, and
> it's *easier* to type correctly spelt words than "SMS speak"!

yeah these T9 input phones do, but the good ones have a dictionary
so you can add 'l8r'.  i've used T9 input 3 languages or so.

[9fans] l8r, etc...

[Martin C.Atkins]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:28:12 +0200 "boyd, rounin" <boyd@insultant.net> wrote:
> > I've always wondered how people type these things? My mobile (and, I
> > believe, most current mobile phones) has predictive text entry, and
> > it's *easier* to type correctly spelt words than "SMS speak"!
> 
> yeah these T9 input phones do, but the good ones have a dictionary
> so you can add 'l8r'.  i've used T9 input 3 languages or so.

Doesn't adding "l8r" rather defeat the purpose? Like I said, I suspect
that people who do such things are not typing l8r out of convenience
(or lazyness), not on modern phones, anyway!

Martin

-- 
Martin C. Atkins				martin@parvat.com
Parvat Infotech (Private) Limited		http://www.parvat.com

Re: [9fans] l8r, etc...

[rog]

> Doesn't adding "l8r" rather defeat the purpose? Like I said, I suspect
> that people who do such things are not typing l8r out of convenience
> (or lazyness), not on modern phones, anyway!

when you're trying to write a philosophical treatise in a text
message, or even giving directions to a party, each of 160 characters
counts for a lot!

personally, when i reach the limit, i go back through the message
removing unnecessary words, deleting excess spaces, and (sometimes)
contracting words (e.g.  you->u, to->2, etc). i don't use "l8r", but
i'm not surprised that some do.

plan 9 relevance? naah, sorry.

[9fans] venti i/o error

[arisawa]

Hello,

My venti became suddenly weird.

term% pwd
/usr/arisawa/www
term% ls *
ls: doc: 'doc' venti i/o error block 
3d68720550e91952e7474f4baf4c21eb6070c971
ls: etc: 'etc' venti i/o error block 
3d68720550e91952e7474f4baf4c21eb6070c971
term% rm doc etc
rm: doc: 'doc' venti i/o error block 
3d68720550e91952e7474f4baf4c21eb6070c971
rm: etc: 'etc' venti i/o error block 
3d68720550e91952e7474f4baf4c21eb6070c971
term%

I can't figure out what caused the trouble.
snapshot and archive are alive.
I want to remove doc and etc, but I don't know what to do.

Kenji Arisawa

Re: [9fans] venti i/o error

[arisawa]

Hello,

I have reminded of venti/sync crash that happened few days ago.
I think that can make venti i/o error.

Now, I did:
	mv www _www.dead
	mkdir www
and restored www using snapshot

Sorry for my noise.

Kenji Arisawa

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Eric Van Hensbergen]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 23:48:18 -0600 (MDT), Ronald G. Minnich
<rminnich@lanl.gov> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, 15 Oct 2004, YAMANASHI Takeshi wrote:
> 
> > Plan 9 in LANL!!
> > Is it going to be on the top of top500.org list? :)
> 
> 
> But, as bad as top500 is, seeing Plan 9 up there would be nice.
> 

The simulator that was used to write the linux port and application
software that runs on Blue Gene/L was developed in my lab.  The core
they are running on isn't that different that the 405 that Inferno
already runs on.  Might be a fun port to get Plan 9 running on BG/L ;)
Then it would be running on #1.

          -eric

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[YAMANASHI Takeshi]

On Fri Oct 15 14:50:25 JST 2004, Ronald G. Minnich wrote:
> But, as bad as top500 is, seeing Plan 9 up there would be nice.

Yes.  That would turn the interest of Globus+Top500 motivated
people to Plan 9.  They are many, I guess.

Even if I could replace Linux clusters with Plan 9 ones,
my life wouldn't get easier, but surely get fancier.
-- 

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[Ronald G. Minnich]

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004, YAMANASHI Takeshi wrote:

> Plan 9 in LANL!!
> Is it going to be on the top of top500.org list? :)

well, that would be interesting, even though I really hate top500. If
you've seen the Pink cluster, you might be surprised to know that we could
have been on the top 10 with that one, but refused to do it on ethical
grounds. top500 should die. It's a good idea that has turned into a
monster.

But, as bad as top500 is, seeing Plan 9 up there would be nice.

ron

Re: [9fans] nsf funding research into better (operating) systems

[YAMANASHI Takeshi]

Plan 9 in LANL!!
Is it going to be on the top of top500.org list? :)

On Fri Oct 15 00:30:54 JST 2004, Ronald G. Minnich wrote:
> DOE is the Department of Energy, which is a big supercomputer buyer.

Just as like Monbu-Kagaku-Sho in Japan.
--