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From: Paul Lalonde <plalonde@telus.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:57:15 -0700
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
Subject: Re: [9fans] request for more GSoC project suggestions
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I'd like to see a 3D graphics protocol.  Then I could run the host on
some linux or window or mac box to do the display, and run the
graphics app in Plan9, or inferno, or ...

And (heresy aside) I've love a way to compile C++ programs for
plan9.  That would give me a reason to get Plan9 up on this scary
multi-core part I'm working on.  Without C++ support, I can't run the
principle application I need :-(

Paul

On Mar 25, 2009, at 8:16 AM, Charles Forsyth wrote:

>
> There are GSoC project suggestions at http://gsoc.cat-v.org/ideas/
> but I think more are needed, and that it would be especially good
> to have a further set of useful but simpler and smaller projects.
>
> Projects need to be non-trivial for GSoC, but shouldn't
> be hard enough that many of us would shun them (or indeed, have
> shunned them).
> Based on my experience several years ago,
> I'd also look for projects that are modular, so that the set of
> deliverables can be extended
> or reduced depending how things go. That worked well for the
> projects I was involved with.
>
> The problem with ports of the system or device driver writing, in
> my experience,
> is that satisfying though they are, and as necessary
> as they might be, they are typically quite hard to
> supervise, and will usually be fairly difficult for relative novices.
> There is quite a bit to learn for most students just to
> get started and be productive in the programming environment,
> although 9vx does make that much easier.
> Application-level projects are typically easier to
> supervise because they don't need specialised equipment,
> and many more people on this list and elsewhere can help
> with plausible advice, and also help debug when students are stuck.
> (Advice will
> sometimes be contradictory, but that's not a bad lesson to learn,
> too.)
> It's quite hard to help when special hardware or kernel-level
> debugging is involved.
> Because quite a bit in Plan 9 (or Inferno/9vx/p9p etc) is done at
> user-level that is done at kernel-level in other systems, that
> shouldn't
> narrow the scope much.  I wrote "application-level" not just "user-
> level"
> earlier because I thought it would be good to have some
> interesting applications of the system.  Of course, I don't mean
> to preclude system-level things when students are especially keen
> on that (as indeed I was during my school and university years).
>
> I don't know where the best place to suggest or discuss them would be,
> but I thought this list would reach nearly everyone interested.
>

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