From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 11:38:10 +0100 From: tlaronde@polynum.com To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Message-ID: <20141201103810.GA541@polynum.com> References: <547C0A85.9090906@gr13.net> <873a3482d7cbc73496b64baa73c718a5@proxima.alt.za> Mime-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <873a3482d7cbc73496b64baa73c718a5@proxima.alt.za> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Re: [9fans] Factotum vs SASL Topicbox-Message-UUID: 30a3e4b0-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Mon, Dec 01, 2014 at 09:00:46AM +0200, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote: > > The guy in front of the console should authenticate as a normal user > > and then only be allowed to access his own environment (no direct > > control over hw, etc). > > The guy is not in front of the "console", he has physical and > therefore unrestricted access to all the resources in the terminal. But, IMHO, this is precisely the difference between Unix and Plan9. In Unix, the console or X11 are dumb terminals. There are only no-computing-capabilities devices to interact; they are no terminals as in Plan9. This is why X11 has put the network in the wrong place. The X11 "server" is just a remote graphic card; it is mimicking with graphical devices what has been done with text devices (tty). In X11, all processing, including handling the graphical menus, the display, is done by the client. While on Plan9, the processing of the data can be done in a CPU tightly coupled with a file server, while the handling of what is displayed (menus for example) can be done on the terminal. In Unix, consoles and X display are just remote devices to interact, while the processing node they are connected to can be out of reach. -- Thierry Laronde http://www.kergis.com/ http://www.arts-po.fr/ Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89 250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C