[9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[Jason Dreisbach]

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Hi all,

Can anyone help shed some light in my search for a "low power" minimal plan
9 hardware setup to start experimenting with. Has anyone had success running
plan 9 on a Fit PC (the only atom box we have access to)?

Gumstix would be ideal, but their plan 9 support is a bit half baked right
now. Wireless support would be a huge plus.

We are trying to do a bit of research into robotic applications of plan 9.
The p9 filesystem protocol seems like a real neat method to acquire
resources of nearby "bots". Allowing for very minimal, modularized robot
configurations.

Any tips? Am I out of my mind?

Thanks,

Jason

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Re: [9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[Jack Norton]

Jason Dreisbach wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Can anyone help shed some light in my search for a "low power" minimal
> plan 9 hardware setup to start experimenting with. Has anyone had
> success running plan 9 on a Fit PC (the only atom box we have access to)?
>
> Gumstix would be ideal, but their plan 9 support is a bit half baked
> right now. Wireless support would be a huge plus.
>
> We are trying to do a bit of research into robotic applications of plan
> 9. The p9 filesystem protocol seems like a real neat method to acquire
> resources of nearby "bots". Allowing for very minimal, modularized robot
> configurations.
>
> Any tips? Am I out of my mind?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jason

Jason,

I am currently attempting a little ROV using some 9p for control, but I
am using inferno hosted on linux.  That might be the quicker way to get
your 'bots speaking 9p.  I am doing this because right off the bat I
need a webcam.  I also need to prototype this very quickly so mucking
about in hardware drivers and OS nuances is not an option.
Sounds like fun!  I'm curious what you come up with!

-Jack

Re: [9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[Jacob Todd]

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Does inferno have support for (a) webcam(s)? Or are you using linux for
capturing things from the webcam?
On Feb 25, 2011 9:14 AM, "Jack Norton" <jack@0x6a.com> wrote:
> Jason Dreisbach wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Can anyone help shed some light in my search for a "low power" minimal
>> plan 9 hardware setup to start experimenting with. Has anyone had
>> success running plan 9 on a Fit PC (the only atom box we have access to)?

>>
>> Gumstix would be ideal, but their plan 9 support is a bit half baked
>> right now. Wireless support would be a huge plus.
>>
>> We are trying to do a bit of research into robotic applications of plan
>> 9. The p9 filesystem protocol seems like a real neat method to acquire
>> resources of nearby "bots". Allowing for very minimal, modularized robot
>> configurations.
>>
>> Any tips? Am I out of my mind?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jason
>
> Jason,
>
> I am currently attempting a little ROV using some 9p for control, but I
> am using inferno hosted on linux. That might be the quicker way to get
> your 'bots speaking 9p. I am doing this because right off the bat I
> need a webcam. I also need to prototype this very quickly so mucking
> about in hardware drivers and OS nuances is not an option.
> Sounds like fun! I'm curious what you come up with!
>
> -Jack
>

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Re: [9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[ron minnich]

wireless support: se lucho's note about his almost-done wifi driver.
That said, you might want wireless usb with the atheros chip (6000
series?) that does most of the wireless stack. Charles knows more.

webcam: is this a usb webcam? USB support is getting better.

low power -- is an atom mobo low enough?

The interno + 9p approach is not a bad idea. In fact, inferno might be
ideal for what you are doing.

ron

Re: [9fans] Small Plan9 box suggestions.

[Jack Norton]

Jacob Todd wrote:
> Does inferno have support for (a) webcam(s)? Or are you using linux for
> capturing things from the webcam?
>
> On Feb 25, 2011 9:14 AM, "Jack Norton" <jack@0x6a.com
> <mailto:jack@0x6a.com>> wrote:
>  > Jason Dreisbach wrote:
>  >> Hi all,
>  >>
>  >> Can anyone help shed some light in my search for a "low power" minimal
>  >> plan 9 hardware setup to start experimenting with. Has anyone had
>  >> success running plan 9 on a Fit PC (the only atom box we have access
> to)?
>  >>
>  >> Gumstix would be ideal, but their plan 9 support is a bit half baked
>  >> right now. Wireless support would be a huge plus.
>  >>
>  >> We are trying to do a bit of research into robotic applications of plan
>  >> 9. The p9 filesystem protocol seems like a real neat method to acquire
>  >> resources of nearby "bots". Allowing for very minimal, modularized
> robot
>  >> configurations.
>  >>
>  >> Any tips? Am I out of my mind?
>  >>
>  >> Thanks,
>  >>
>  >> Jason
>  >
>  > Jason,
>  >
>  > I am currently attempting a little ROV using some 9p for control, but I
>  > am using inferno hosted on linux. That might be the quicker way to get
>  > your 'bots speaking 9p. I am doing this because right off the bat I
>  > need a webcam. I also need to prototype this very quickly so mucking
>  > about in hardware drivers and OS nuances is not an option.
>  > Sounds like fun! I'm curious what you come up with!
>  >
>  > -Jack
>  >

It's a USB webcam (logitech POS is the model I believe :) ).  Right now
I am leaving the webcam for last, so right now linux is providing the
drivers and I am watching it 'quick and dirty' with a seperate xawtv
window.  The webcam is my last step because it really is just outside
the reach of my personal programing capabilities (I'm a physicist -- god
help you if I ever have to write code for you...).  In all reality I may
get as far as an ugly hack involving some host multimedia converters and
file2chan, but that is optimistic at best right now.
Once the concept is limping along, I can then really attempt a native
webcam of some sort.
In any event I've got the impression that inferno could be really cool
in a robotics environment, hence the motivation.

-Jack