From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: errno To: 9fans@9fans.net Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 23:45:27 -0700 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.6 (Linux/2.6.38-ARCH; KDE/4.6.2; i686; ; ) References: <20110506042334.GA5763@fangle.proxima.alt.za> In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201105052345.27828.errno@cox.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Compiling 9atom kernel WAS: Re: spaces in filenames Topicbox-Message-UUID: de148832-ead6-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Thursday, May 05, 2011 09:35:15 PM ron minnich wrote: > The reason I asked if errno had looked at webfs was that he can do the > standard thing (port some C++/Python Library From Hell to Plan 9) > The above described standard thing is more in line with my capabilities. Porting clang is well beyond me though, even at my most optimistic; so I've decided to dedicate time toward looking more closely into porting the netsurf libs for css, html and dom; and mozilla's spidermonkey - as they are further along than webfs/abaco ("further along", meaning seemingly more active and current), and I can focus simply on a port, rather than green-field design and development from scratch. In other words, I think I can manage to eventually port small ad-hoc stuff; and then slowly "bake" it closer and closer to something that is more and more "9'ish". Although I think I understand that the prevailing custom here on 9fans is to scorn most software written by and for the unwashed masses - or for the general consumer industry - I'm not so convinced that a reasonable compromise can't exist to fulfill the needs of a class of user who exist a little higher up the stack than, say, low-level systems programmers working on specialist projects within industrial or academic research and development facilities. > or do a much more interesting thing, which is look at stuff like abaco > and webfs, and learn some lessons, and build something that is faster, > better, and cheaper. > It's more interesting, yes - but I fear also far, far less likely for me to pull off; no one else has managed to pull it off yet, there's no way I can. (Like I said before: I write backend business logic for web-based applications in java/groovy and perl and shell, along w/ some db and network administration etc. on linux; my skills are humble, but serviceable for what I do for a living .... not to give you my life story or anything... heheh) In other words, I'm fully cognizant of the fact that I do not have the necessary pre-requisite experience to build a better mouse trap. > This is a research OS, not a Windows replacement. > There's a reason to use it. You want a great desktop experience that > is familiar, get an ipad. > Aww... man. Do you not think it's possible or worthwhile to have a great(er) desktop (or consumer-oriented embedded device) experience built atop Plan 9? After a few months of reading and learning and actual hands-on experience, I've found that rio and acme and mk and 8c ,etc., are far less interesting than union directories, per-process namespaces, 9p and intrinsic, ubiquitous distributed computing - that's where I personally think the action is at. I don't care what editor or compiler someone uses; but the idea of cpu'ing from a smartphone to run heavy-weight processes (for just one example) gets the geek in me pretty excited with possibility. Or the idea of a home network where I have one cpu/auth server, one file server and a number of super cheap thin-clients providing a modern web interface and shared data for friends, guests and family. I'm tired of maintaining everyone's computers in my house on an ad-hoc basis; and I think I could deploy a higher performing, more maintainable, but overall cheaper network with Plan 9. But I can hardly expect visitors and family to run acme and abaco. Cheers