Re: [9fans] building blocks speaking 9p

["Frank D. Engel, Jr." <fde101@fjrhome.net>]

Ok, sorry for the triple-post, but since I can't seem to find that man 
page or usb/ether on my 9front install, I should probably provide my source:

http://man.cat-v.org/plan_9/4/usb


On 1/29/22 7:14 AM, Frank D. Engel, Jr. wrote:
> Evidently there are two major standards:
>
> CDC, an official USB standard - specifications here: 
> https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/CDC_EEM10.pdf
>
> RNDIS, a proprietary Microsoft protocol that Linux also provides 
> drivers for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNDIS
>
>
> The man page for usb/ether on plan9 indicates that CDC support is 
> already there but has not been tested; it may be that a good starting 
> point is in place and getting this tested would provide the required 
> support on the host side of things?
>
>
> On 1/29/22 6:56 AM, Frank D. Engel, Jr. wrote:
>> Apparently Linux includes drivers for tunneling IP over a USB 
>> connection (possibly to support mobile phones?  not sure...)
>>
>> Making host drivers compatible with these (if not already available) 
>> to share an IP stack and creating the equivalent device-side support 
>> for the "blocks" would allow 9P to be tunneled not only from these 
>> devices but also from other existing solutions in a wider variety of 
>> ways, also making it easier to connect those devices to Linux as 
>> there are ways to talk 9P from there.
>>
>> That may open up some additional flexibility?
>>
>>
>> On 1/29/22 4:16 AM, Skip Tavakkolian wrote:
>>> I've been working on something along those lines for IoT management
>>> and networking. Here's my laundry list of architectural and
>>> implementation pieces:
>>>
>>> 1. authentication: (a) tie devices to owner/user (b) authenticate
>>> users against third parties (via OIDC/SAML2, etc), (c) let the
>>> authenticated user provide the credentials to authenticate and use
>>> their devices via a namespace that follows an established convention
>>> (e.g. /joe/iot/0/secret).
>>> 2. device and capability discovery is a bootstrapping process,
>>> starting with a namespace that describes the availability of devices
>>> and features (analogous to '#c/drivers')
>>> 3. namespace to discover how to present the data from a particular
>>> source (e.g. a steam gauge widget would need to understand the
>>> namespace exported by a pressure sensor)
>>> 4. 9p libraries including fan-in, fan-out capability (i.e. mount,
>>> 9pserve) for FreeRTOS, Mbed OS,  ThreadX, Zephyr
>>> 5. libraries to localize user↔device 9p traffic, while keeping
>>> authentication centralized (e.g. how @tailscale works)
>>>
>>> Initially IoT's would 9p-enable the SPI, I²C, etc. sensors and
>>> actuators, until standards and conventions are established.
>>>
>>> For hardware, targeting things like SAMD21 boards seem more
>>> appropriate; they're cheap (e.g. Seeed XIAO). Even things like Nordic
>>> nRF52840 boards are below $10 and include the hardware to establish
>>> root-of-trust.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 27, 2022 at 2:58 PM Bakul Shah <bakul@iitbombay.org> wrote:
>>>> The idea:
>>>> - make it very easy to create hardware gadgets by
>>>>    providing a firmware/hardware building block that
>>>>    talks 9p on the host interface side & interfaces
>>>>    with device specific hardware.
>>>>
>>>> - use a "universal" 9p driver on the host side that
>>>>    allows access to any such 9p device even from a shell.
>>>>
>>>> - provide a standard way to find out device capabilities.
>>>>
>>>> - together they provide a plug-and-play setup.
>>>>
>>>> Example: connect an LED and a current sensor to this
>>>> 9p device, other necessary hardware, add a few config
>>>> bits and plug this device kn]]into a host. Now you should
>>>> be able to turn on/off the light or sense its state.
>>>>
>>>> Similarly you should be able to control a stepper motor
>>>> servo, cameras, microphones, other actuators, sensors,
>>>> IO etc. Eventually you should be able to snap together
>>>> enough of these components to build larger assemblies
>>>> such as a 3D printer.
>>>>
>>>> Another example: a "hub" to multiplex such downstream
>>>> devices and make them available to a host.
>>>>
>>>> This will probably have to ride on USB first. A verilog
>>>> implementation would be useful in an FPGA!
>>>>
>>>> Would this be a useful component? If such a thing were
>>>> available, what would you want to build with it?
>>>>
>>>> Do you think 9p is the right protocol for this?
>>>>
>>>> Ideally
>>>> - connect anything to anything
>>>> - authenticated connections
>>>> - drive the device through a shell script
>>>> - no new low level drivers
>>>> - self-identifying devices with help and command syntax
>>>> - signicantly eases the task of creating new h/w devices.
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