Re: [9fans] Small Plan 9 Platforms

[Alexander Schreiber <als@thangorodrim.ch>]

On Sat, Aug 08, 2015 at 06:42:04AM +0200, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote:
> > this board has quite a number of features, and might be useful for
> > education if the cost isn't prohibitive.
>
> The list is impressive and the schematics ought to make things
> simpler, but will support for Plan 9 be a real possibility?
>
> Persoanlly, I think Gbit ether is essential and a second ether port
> almost equally so.  I couldn't quite figure out what type of graphics
> driver the CI20 provided or how easily Plan 9 would deal with it.
>
> My choice would be to support MikroTik equipment in the role of
> routers or CPU servers, but that of course is itself limiting.

Another type of machine worth looking at is the EdgeRouter Lite (aka
Erlite 3) from Ubiquiti Networks: Dual Core 500 MHz MIPS64 CPU (Cavium
Octeon), 512MB of RAM, 3x GBit Ethernet, Cisco style console port
running at 115200. The OS (EdgeOS) runs from an internal USB stick.
EdgeOS is based on Vyatta which is in turn based on Debian. I've
successfully converted the Erlite3 to run plain Debian (jessie with
a custom 3.18.19 kernel) - replacing the firmware just involves undoing
three screws on the case, opening it and replacing the internal USB
stick. So now two of those run my network at home - one as core router,
the other as edge router (for the 100 MBit Fiber uplink). Running plain
Debian, of course, I never looked at the EdgeOS system.

The USB hardware is rather picky which sticks it recognizes, but
SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB works reliably. The Gentoo folks also have
information about it: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/MIPS/ERLite-3

Seeing as Linux already (and without crazy closed firmware blobs) runs on it,
it might be an interesting machine to port Plan9 to.

As for availability: Amazon sells it for less than $100, and with the
Prime package, i.e. you can get _very_ quickly ;-)

Kind regards,
            Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
 looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison