From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <4E149BCA.7030207@0x6a.com>
Date: Wed,  6 Jul 2011 12:30:50 -0500
From: Jack <jack@0x6a.com>
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To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
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Subject: Re: [9fans] pcie for inter machine comms
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On 7/6/2011 4:06 AM, Steve Simon wrote:
> Any of the HPC guys who read this list know of anyone using
> pcie with a non-transparent bridge to send data between hosts
> as a very fast, very local network?
>
> I seem to remember IBM did somthing like this with back-to-back DMAs in
> RS6000 in the early 1990s, but does anyone do it now? or do we feel that
> UDP over 40gE is fast enough for anything anyone needs (at present)?
>
> -Steve
>
It's funny, it's as if you have the exact opposite vision as I have.
One of my " aha!"  moments messing with Plan 9 was the thought that
generic consumer physical layer networks are the "backplane" of hardware
expansion in Plan 9.  This is how I've since viewed Plan 9 and inferno.
In fact my first thought was " damn, well now I don't need all of this
pci[e] crap -- just a NIC".
Ever since then I have been in the development stages of some 9p devices
using microcontrollers of various capabilities.  I had my arduino
getting almost all the way with negotiating a styx session over ethernet
(no auth).   Then I got married..... :)   in due time I will get there.
I've dropped the arduino though, moving on to bigger and better things.
I know this has nothing to do with your question, but I just wanted to
share a point of view.

-Jack