[9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Kristian Hahn]

Hello,

Could someone provide an estimate of the timescale for usb mass storage 
support. The last mail I could find on the topic was dated 01.04 and it 
seemed then that support was still a work in progress.  I would like to 
experiment with Plan9 but I am limited to a usb install due to hardware 
constraints.

-- 
+-------------------+----------------------------+
|  Kristian A Hahn  |  kristian@phase-space.net  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Richard Miller]

> I would like to 
> experiment with Plan9 but I am limited to a usb install due to hardware 
> constraints.

Can you explain what your constraints are?  Do you want to run Plan 9 on
a machine with a usb drive as the main or only file system?  Or are you
looking for a way to install Plan 9 on an ide- or scsi-based system using
a usb device to do the install?

-- Richard

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Kristian Hahn]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I would like to run Plan9 with 
a usb drive hosting the filesystem.

-- Kristian

Richard Miller wrote:

>>I would like to 
>>experiment with Plan9 but I am limited to a usb install due to hardware 
>>constraints.
>>    
>>
>
>Can you explain what your constraints are?  Do you want to run Plan 9 on
>a machine with a usb drive as the main or only file system?  Or are you
>looking for a way to install Plan 9 on an ide- or scsi-based system using
>a usb device to do the install?
>
>-- Richard
>  
>


-- 
+-------------------+----------------------------+
|  Kristian A Hahn  |  kristian@phase-space.net  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Richard Miller]

> Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I would like to run Plan9 with 
> a usb drive hosting the filesystem.

There is a user-level file server which allows reading and writing of
(some) usb mass storage drives.  In theory it should be possible to
use this as a root filesystem (by starting it in /sys/src/9/boot/local.c
before running the kfs server).  I wouldn't expect performance to be
very satisfactory though.

Booting from usb storage would be much more difficult, because the 9load
program has no usb support.  Do you have a floppy drive or CDROM to read
the kernel and plan9.ini from?

-- Richard

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Kristian Hahn]

Thanks for the advice!   My plan was boot from ide and hand off to a 
root filesystem on the usb drive (it's a 'RocketPod').  I'm using a 
older model Inspiron whose BIOS doesn't permit bootfing from usb.  
There's enough space left on its 3G ide drive to accomadate the kernel 
but not enough for the primary filesystem.   Is there a way for me to 
figure out in advace whether my particular drive would work with the 
user-level file server?

-- Kristian


Richard Miller wrote:

>There is a user-level file server which allows reading and writing of
>(some) usb mass storage drives.  In theory it should be possible to
>use this as a root filesystem (by starting it in /sys/src/9/boot/local.c
>before running the kfs server).  I wouldn't expect performance to be
>very satisfactory though.
>
>Booting from usb storage would be much more difficult, because the 9load
>program has no usb support.  Do you have a floppy drive or CDROM to read
>the kernel and plan9.ini from?
>
>-- Richard
>  
>


-- 
+-------------------+----------------------------+
|  Kristian A Hahn  |  kristian@phase-space.net  |
+-------------------+----------------------------+

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Richard Miller]

> Is there a way for me to 
> figure out in advace whether my particular drive would work with the 
> user-level file server?

Can you boot from the Plan 9 installation CD? If so, run 'usb/usbd -v'
and see what it reports when you plug your drive in.  If there's an
interface line with "8.6.80" or "8.5.80" it may work.

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[boyd, rounin]

> Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I would like to run Plan9 with 
> a usb drive hosting the filesystem.

code it

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Kristian Hahn]

thanks, real helpful ...


boyd, rounin wrote:

>>Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I would like to run Plan9 with 
>>a usb drive hosting the filesystem.
>>    
>>
>
>code it
>  
>

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[9nut]

> thanks, real helpful ...

that's our boyd ☺

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[Fco.J.Ballesteros]

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I think there was some usb drive code posted to the list.
IIRC, it had no high speed  transfer support, but it's a starting point.

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From: "boyd, rounin" <boyd@insultant.net>
To: <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 21:35:30 +0100
Message-ID: <003201c40acd$102bb5d0$41577d50@SOMA>

> Sorry, I should have been more specific.  I would like to run Plan9 with 
> a usb drive hosting the filesystem.

code it

Re: [9fans] usb mass storage projections?

[boyd, rounin]

> > thanks, real helpful ...
>
> that's our boyd ☺

well, should presto put the kbmap keyboard driver in i'll at least be able
to type.