[9fans] How to access CD drive?

[9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

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Hi all.
I'm new here and to plan 9.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't always pick things up straight away, I'm a bit slow like that :-) The light bulb usually goes on - eventually. Sometimes I just need someone to flick the switch a few times. So if my questions come across as a bit dumb you'll know why.
OK, so I'm new to Plan 9. I've managed to install it in virtualbox (Windows 7 host) and can log in and use it. I've also installed plan9port onto Lubuntu, also running in a virtual machine.
Acme has become my main work environment now, I was an emacs user. I like acme a lot and spend most of my time in there (I'm writing this post in it). I use two screens; one with acme (plan9port) and the other with everything else. This set up is working well for me and I'm happy to carry on working like this.
However, I would love to try working with acme in plan 9 itself. Well, I can use it with no problems (so far anyway), but I can't get networking or shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working. This means, obviously, that plan 9 is isolated from the outside world so any work I do is stuck in there. Now, I'm trying ot get my head around the whole plan 9 thing and how it works. I admit I'm struggling with it, but don't want to give up just yet.
So for starters, does anyone know how to get shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working in plan 9, I have them working OK in Lubuntu so no problem there.? I know you have to install the virtualbox guest additions and  this is easy to do, but...
This shows how much of a doofus I am. I don't know how to access the CD drive in plan 9 which is where the guest additions would be installed from. How do I do this please? I have searched, but have not managed to find the answer, or maybe I have found it and didn't understand it.
I've been reading the 9fan archives and realise that technically all you chaps are way above me (as you can tell from my question) so please be patient with me :-)
I also can't get networking to work which may or may not be related to the above, I'm not sure. I have tried the different suggestions I've found, but nothing seems to work. If I could just get shared folders working that would be great to start with.
Thanks,Steve. 		 	   		  

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Bence Fábián]

Generally for mounting different things Plan 9 uses user processes
which can read the given filesystem and post a named pipe in /srv.
Then they translate everything internally and speak 9P on this pipe.
Then you can mount this using mount, and can give plus arguments

mount /srv/file /n/mountpoint arg

/n and /mnt are special because they create directories automatically.
Run 9660srv then use mount on the posted file giving the path to the
cd as an argument.

2014-03-09 10:28 GMT+01:00, Steve Foster <steve-jf@outlook.com>:
> Hi all.
> I'm new here and to plan 9.
> I'm the kind of person who doesn't always pick things up straight away, I'm
> a bit slow like that :-) The light bulb usually goes on - eventually.
> Sometimes I just need someone to flick the switch a few times. So if my
> questions come across as a bit dumb you'll know why.
> OK, so I'm new to Plan 9. I've managed to install it in virtualbox (Windows
> 7 host) and can log in and use it. I've also installed plan9port onto
> Lubuntu, also running in a virtual machine.
> Acme has become my main work environment now, I was an emacs user. I like
> acme a lot and spend most of my time in there (I'm writing this post in it).
> I use two screens; one with acme (plan9port) and the other with everything
> else. This set up is working well for me and I'm happy to carry on working
> like this.
> However, I would love to try working with acme in plan 9 itself. Well, I can
> use it with no problems (so far anyway), but I can't get networking or
> shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working. This means, obviously,
> that plan 9 is isolated from the outside world so any work I do is stuck in
> there. Now, I'm trying ot get my head around the whole plan 9 thing and how
> it works. I admit I'm struggling with it, but don't want to give up just
> yet.
> So for starters, does anyone know how to get shared folders (virtualbox
> shared folders) working in plan 9, I have them working OK in Lubuntu so no
> problem there.? I know you have to install the virtualbox guest additions
> and  this is easy to do, but...
> This shows how much of a doofus I am. I don't know how to access the CD
> drive in plan 9 which is where the guest additions would be installed from.
> How do I do this please? I have searched, but have not managed to find the
> answer, or maybe I have found it and didn't understand it.
> I've been reading the 9fan archives and realise that technically all you
> chaps are way above me (as you can tell from my question) so please be
> patient with me :-)
> I also can't get networking to work which may or may not be related to the
> above, I'm not sure. I have tried the different suggestions I've found, but
> nothing seems to work. If I could just get shared folders working that would
> be great to start with.
> Thanks,Steve.

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Mark van Atten]

To obtain shared folders, you may also decide to run, either on
Windows or Lubuntu, a program named drawterm:

http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html/8/drawterm
http://www.plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/drawterm/index.html
http://swtch.com/drawterm/

It connects your host to the virtual Plan 9 machine, and draws a Plan
9 terminal on the host. In that terminal you have access to the host's
file system again in /mnt/term

Mark.

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Bence Fábián]

Oh and use the 'mt server' nic in virtualbox, and you have to run a
cpu server and set up auth to use drawterm. It is covered on the wiki
i belive

2014-03-09 11:11 GMT+01:00, Mark van Atten <vanattenmark@gmail.com>:
> To obtain shared folders, you may also decide to run, either on
> Windows or Lubuntu, a program named drawterm:
>
> http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html/8/drawterm
> http://www.plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/drawterm/index.html
> http://swtch.com/drawterm/
>
> It connects your host to the virtual Plan 9 machine, and draws a Plan
> 9 terminal on the host. In that terminal you have access to the host's
> file system again in /mnt/term
>
> Mark.
>
>

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

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Nah, still not getting it. Thanks for your replies, I do appreciate it, but I think I'll just stick to plan9port and abandon the plan 9 thing.
Cheers,Steve.

> Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2014 11:43:54 +0100
> From: begnoc@gmail.com
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
> 
> Oh and use the 'mt server' nic in virtualbox, and you have to run a
> cpu server and set up auth to use drawterm. It is covered on the wiki
> i belive
> 
> 2014-03-09 11:11 GMT+01:00, Mark van Atten <vanattenmark@gmail.com>:
> > To obtain shared folders, you may also decide to run, either on
> > Windows or Lubuntu, a program named drawterm:
> >
> > http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html/8/drawterm
> > http://www.plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/drawterm/index.html
> > http://swtch.com/drawterm/
> >
> > It connects your host to the virtual Plan 9 machine, and draws a Plan
> > 9 terminal on the host. In that terminal you have access to the host's
> > file system again in /mnt/term
> >
> > Mark.
> >
> >
> 
 		 	   		  

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Skip Tavakkolian]

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unfortunately virtualbox "shared folders" would require a special driver
[1] on the guest (i.e. Plan 9) os. the easier route is to figure out the
network and then use cifs (SMB client on plan9) or sftpfs to import the
host windows folders into plan 9. this is the recommended method [2] in
virtualbox documentation.

[1] https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#sharedfolders
[2] https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Sharing_files_on_OSE



On Sun, Mar 9, 2014 at 1:28 AM, Steve Foster <steve-jf@outlook.com> wrote:

> Hi all.
>
> I'm new here and to plan 9.
>
> I'm the kind of person who doesn't always pick things up straight away,
> I'm a bit slow like that :-) The light bulb usually goes on - eventually.
> Sometimes I just need someone to flick the switch a few times. So if my
> questions come across as a bit dumb you'll know why.
>
> OK, so I'm new to Plan 9. I've managed to install it in virtualbox
> (Windows 7 host) and can log in and use it. I've also installed plan9port
> onto Lubuntu, also running in a virtual machine.
>
> Acme has become my main work environment now, I was an emacs user. I like
> acme a lot and spend most of my time in there (I'm writing this post in
> it). I use two screens; one with acme (plan9port) and the other with
> everything else. This set up is working well for me and I'm happy to carry
> on working like this.
>
> However, I would love to try working with acme in plan 9 itself. Well, I
> can use it with no problems (so far anyway), but I can't get networking or
> shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working. This means, obviously,
> that plan 9 is isolated from the outside world so any work I do is stuck in
> there. Now, I'm trying ot get my head around the whole plan 9 thing and how
> it works. I admit I'm struggling with it, but don't want to give up just
> yet.
>
> So for starters, does anyone know how to get shared folders (virtualbox
> shared folders) working in plan 9, I have them working OK in Lubuntu so no
> problem there.? I know you have to install the virtualbox guest additions
> and  this is easy to do, but...
>
> This shows how much of a doofus I am. I don't know how to access the CD
> drive in plan 9 which is where the guest additions would be installed from.
> How do I do this please? I have searched, but have not managed to find the
> answer, or maybe I have found it and didn't understand it.
>
> I've been reading the 9fan archives and realise that technically all you
> chaps are way above me (as you can tell from my question) so please be
> patient with me :-)
>
> I also can't get networking to work which may or may not be related to the
> above, I'm not sure. I have tried the different suggestions I've found, but
> nothing seems to work. If I could just get shared folders working that
> would be great to start with.
>
> Thanks,
> Steve.
>

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Bence Fábián]

Cifs on windows 7 worked for me after doing the registry workaround
mentioned in the README of cifs

2014-03-09 18:02 GMT+01:00, Skip Tavakkolian <skip.tavakkolian@gmail.com>:
> unfortunately virtualbox "shared folders" would require a special driver
> [1] on the guest (i.e. Plan 9) os. the easier route is to figure out the
> network and then use cifs (SMB client on plan9) or sftpfs to import the
> host windows folders into plan 9. this is the recommended method [2] in
> virtualbox documentation.
>
> [1] https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#sharedfolders
> [2] https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Sharing_files_on_OSE
>
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 9, 2014 at 1:28 AM, Steve Foster <steve-jf@outlook.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all.
>>
>> I'm new here and to plan 9.
>>
>> I'm the kind of person who doesn't always pick things up straight away,
>> I'm a bit slow like that :-) The light bulb usually goes on - eventually.
>> Sometimes I just need someone to flick the switch a few times. So if my
>> questions come across as a bit dumb you'll know why.
>>
>> OK, so I'm new to Plan 9. I've managed to install it in virtualbox
>> (Windows 7 host) and can log in and use it. I've also installed plan9port
>> onto Lubuntu, also running in a virtual machine.
>>
>> Acme has become my main work environment now, I was an emacs user. I like
>> acme a lot and spend most of my time in there (I'm writing this post in
>> it). I use two screens; one with acme (plan9port) and the other with
>> everything else. This set up is working well for me and I'm happy to
>> carry
>> on working like this.
>>
>> However, I would love to try working with acme in plan 9 itself. Well, I
>> can use it with no problems (so far anyway), but I can't get networking
>> or
>> shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working. This means,
>> obviously,
>> that plan 9 is isolated from the outside world so any work I do is stuck
>> in
>> there. Now, I'm trying ot get my head around the whole plan 9 thing and
>> how
>> it works. I admit I'm struggling with it, but don't want to give up just
>> yet.
>>
>> So for starters, does anyone know how to get shared folders (virtualbox
>> shared folders) working in plan 9, I have them working OK in Lubuntu so
>> no
>> problem there.? I know you have to install the virtualbox guest additions
>> and  this is easy to do, but...
>>
>> This shows how much of a doofus I am. I don't know how to access the CD
>> drive in plan 9 which is where the guest additions would be installed
>> from.
>> How do I do this please? I have searched, but have not managed to find
>> the
>> answer, or maybe I have found it and didn't understand it.
>>
>> I've been reading the 9fan archives and realise that technically all you
>> chaps are way above me (as you can tell from my question) so please be
>> patient with me :-)
>>
>> I also can't get networking to work which may or may not be related to
>> the
>> above, I'm not sure. I have tried the different suggestions I've found,
>> but
>> nothing seems to work. If I could just get shared folders working that
>> would be great to start with.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Steve.
>>
>

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

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A bit of an update.
Well I decided not to abandon the idea after all and give it another go.
Along with the info in your replies (thanks again) and some other stuff I found on the net I now have:
Drawterm working on the host and my laptop.
Networking is now working and I can access the internet using abaco.
I can work completely in plan 9 if I want to and move files around between it and the host using drawterm.
I'm still trying to figure out how to get cifs working so am still working on that.
I have figured out how to access the CD drive. However, guestadditions won't install, but I didn't think they would, just wanted to make sure.
The whole 'everything is a file' thing is starting to become a little more clear now.
What has surprised me is how much I like working in plan 9, particularly acme. I've even grown to like the way it looks including the colours. It doesn't get in the way. I'm fortunate that most of what I do is text based so I only need to dive into Windows or Linux for graphics stuff etc.
Does anyone work exclusively in plan 9 or is that not feasible so you think?
Thanks for your help again.
> Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2014 20:57:39 +0100
> From: begnoc@gmail.com
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
> 
> Cifs on windows 7 worked for me after doing the registry workaround
> mentioned in the README of cifs
> 
> 2014-03-09 18:02 GMT+01:00, Skip Tavakkolian <skip.tavakkolian@gmail.com>:
> > unfortunately virtualbox "shared folders" would require a special driver
> > [1] on the guest (i.e. Plan 9) os. the easier route is to figure out the
> > network and then use cifs (SMB client on plan9) or sftpfs to import the
> > host windows folders into plan 9. this is the recommended method [2] in
> > virtualbox documentation.
> >
> > [1] https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#sharedfolders
> > [2] https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Sharing_files_on_OSE
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 9, 2014 at 1:28 AM, Steve Foster <steve-jf@outlook.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi all.
> >>
> >> I'm new here and to plan 9.
> >>
> >> I'm the kind of person who doesn't always pick things up straight away,
> >> I'm a bit slow like that :-) The light bulb usually goes on - eventually.
> >> Sometimes I just need someone to flick the switch a few times. So if my
> >> questions come across as a bit dumb you'll know why.
> >>
> >> OK, so I'm new to Plan 9. I've managed to install it in virtualbox
> >> (Windows 7 host) and can log in and use it. I've also installed plan9port
> >> onto Lubuntu, also running in a virtual machine.
> >>
> >> Acme has become my main work environment now, I was an emacs user. I like
> >> acme a lot and spend most of my time in there (I'm writing this post in
> >> it). I use two screens; one with acme (plan9port) and the other with
> >> everything else. This set up is working well for me and I'm happy to
> >> carry
> >> on working like this.
> >>
> >> However, I would love to try working with acme in plan 9 itself. Well, I
> >> can use it with no problems (so far anyway), but I can't get networking
> >> or
> >> shared folders (virtualbox shared folders) working. This means,
> >> obviously,
> >> that plan 9 is isolated from the outside world so any work I do is stuck
> >> in
> >> there. Now, I'm trying ot get my head around the whole plan 9 thing and
> >> how
> >> it works. I admit I'm struggling with it, but don't want to give up just
> >> yet.
> >>
> >> So for starters, does anyone know how to get shared folders (virtualbox
> >> shared folders) working in plan 9, I have them working OK in Lubuntu so
> >> no
> >> problem there.? I know you have to install the virtualbox guest additions
> >> and  this is easy to do, but...
> >>
> >> This shows how much of a doofus I am. I don't know how to access the CD
> >> drive in plan 9 which is where the guest additions would be installed
> >> from.
> >> How do I do this please? I have searched, but have not managed to find
> >> the
> >> answer, or maybe I have found it and didn't understand it.
> >>
> >> I've been reading the 9fan archives and realise that technically all you
> >> chaps are way above me (as you can tell from my question) so please be
> >> patient with me :-)
> >>
> >> I also can't get networking to work which may or may not be related to
> >> the
> >> above, I'm not sure. I have tried the different suggestions I've found,
> >> but
> >> nothing seems to work. If I could just get shared folders working that
> >> would be great to start with.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Steve.
> >>
> >
> 
 		 	   		  

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[andrey mirtchovski]

> What has surprised me is how much I like working in plan 9, particularly
> acme. I've even grown to like the way it looks including the colours.

the colour palette has been specifically chosen to be easy on the eyes.

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[erik quanstrom]

> Does anyone work exclusively in plan 9 or is that not feasible so you think?

i do.  and many of the folks at the labs did.

since the subject is cd drive access, one of the things that i found much
easier with plan 9 is cd access.  not only is it dead simple, and utterly
seamless with the rest of the system, it's so much better than the author of
cdparanoia whining to you about choices the designers of $unixsystem
made.

- erik

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

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> From: quanstro@quanstro.net
> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 10:55:32 -0400
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
> 
> > Does anyone work exclusively in plan 9 or is that not feasible so you think?
> 
> i do.  and many of the folks at the labs did.
> 
> since the subject is cd drive access, one of the things that i found much
> easier with plan 9 is cd access.  not only is it dead simple, and utterly
> seamless with the rest of the system, it's so much better than the author of
> cdparanoia whining to you about choices the designers of $unixsystem
> made.
> 
> - erik
> 

Thanks erik. I agree that cd access is easy, now that I know how. I'm going to try working in plan 9 as much as I can and continue learning about it.
If I could ask you another couple of questions.
I do use linux. I've started learning C programming. I have been using linux as the platform to learn on. I was thinking of changing over to plan 9 for this as well. Would you recommend doing this? I'm not thinking of it from a work viewpoint so that's not an issue, but I like the idea of being able to (hopefully, eventually) understand something as a whole and not just bits and bobs. As I understand it this is possible with plan 9?
Do you run plan 9 in a virtual machine or on native hardware?
Cheers,Steve. 		 	   		  

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

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> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 08:50:45 -0600
> From: mirtchovski@gmail.com
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
> 
> > What has surprised me is how much I like working in plan 9, particularly
> > acme. I've even grown to like the way it looks including the colours.
> 
> the colour palette has been specifically chosen to be easy on the eyes.
> 

And it is! I used to spend ages fiddling with different colour schemes in emacs and sublime text (basically it's a distraction for me) and it's a relief not to have that option any more. I believe you can change it at code level, but I see no need too. 		 	   		  

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Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[erik quanstrom]

> learning about it.  If I could ask you another couple of questions.  I
> do use linux.  I've started learning C programming.  I have been using
> linux as the platform to learn on.  I was thinking of changing over to
> plan 9 for this as well.  Would you recommend doing this?  I'm not

heck, ya!

learning c is easier when the system doesn't add a layer of difficulty.
i've found it to be a great help to be able to read the header files, and
dive into the libraries without finding a maze of twisty passages.

learning the standard way of doing things is a bit of trivia that can
be done later.

> this is possible with plan 9?  Do you run plan 9 in a virtual machine
> or on native hardware?

native.  sadly, i have not made much time for virtual machines.
i currently run amd64, mips (routerboard), arm (openrd and rpi).

- erik

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Patrick Kelly]

>From: 9fans-bounces@9fans.net [mailto:9fans-bounces@9fans.net] On Behalf Of
Steve Foster
>Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 12:02 PM
>To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs
>Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
>
>
>> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 08:50:45 -0600
>> From: mirtchovski@gmail.com
>> To: 9fans@9fans.net
>> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
>>
>> > What has surprised me is how much I like working in plan 9,
particularly
>> > acme. I've even grown to like the way it looks including the colours.
>>
>> the colour palette has been specifically chosen to be easy on the eyes.
>>
>
>And it is! I used to spend ages fiddling with different colour schemes in
emacs and sublime text (basically it's a distraction for me) and it's a
relief not to have that option any more. I believe you can change it at code
level, but I see no need too.

Research is nearly always neglected, unless the research shows higher
profits. Pretty sells machines, but is hard on the eyes when actually
working. Plan 9 is gorgeous, in a different, but easily arguable, way than
OS X or recent UNIX GUI's.

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Simon]

> Does anyone work exclusively in plan 9 or is that not feasible so you think?

I work almost exclusively on plan9, I have it on my desktop at work
and a server and Raspberry Pi at home. Having said this I also have
a Windows VM at work (via remote desktop), and an ipad at home to
give me a modern web browser when I need one.

Whether its feasible is a personal decision. What tools do you need
and what do you want to do? I enjoy plan9, its code hygiene, the
simplicity of admin, trying new (file server based) ways of solving
old problems etc.

> I'm still trying to figure out how to get cifs working so am still working on that.

Which way round, cifs server or client on plan9?

The plan9 client was one of mine so if you have problems
I will attempt to help.

-Steve

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Foster]

> From: steve@quintile.net
> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:46:00 +0000
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Subject: Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?
> 
>> Does anyone work exclusively in plan 9 or is that not feasible so you think?
> 
> I work almost exclusively on plan9, I have it on my desktop at work
> and a server and Raspberry Pi at home. Having said this I also have
> a Windows VM at work (via remote desktop), and an ipad at home to 
> give me a modern web browser when I need one.
> 
> Whether its feasible is a personal decision. What tools do you need
> and what do you want to do? I enjoy plan9, its code hygiene, the
> simplicity of admin, trying new (file server based) ways of solving
> old problems etc.
> 

I should be able to do most of what I need to in plan9. I would say about 90% of what I do is text based so I spend a lot of time in acme.

>> I'm still trying to figure out how to get cifs working so am still working on that.
> 
> Which way round, cifs server or client on plan9?
> 
> The plan9 client was one of mine so if you have problems
> I will attempt to help.

I have Windows 7 as host with plan9 in a virtual machine. I want to be able to access directories on the host directly from plan9. So I think it would be the client on plan9. I did find some instructions on how to set this up which I've lost and am trying find again.

It involved installing two things. The first one seemed to go OK, but the second (your client I think) failed with an error message that said something along the lines of "no replica" and mentioned your name.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Steve.

> 
> -Steve
> 		 	   		  

Re: [9fans] How to access CD drive?

[Steve Simon]

Mmm, not sure what the two things might have been.

There is a registry tweek for Vista, and Win7 you need to support
the raw/simple NTLMV2 auth:

	http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957441.

I haven't tried Win8 yet, I have no win8 machines I need access to,
but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same.

Alternatively the -a option can be used to force cifs to use one
of the less secure authentication mechnisms, e.g.

	cifs -a ntlm hostname

also, check the cifs manpage, it generates a top level directory of
virtual files, mixed with the top level share names (often 'c'),
a bad design choice with hindsight, they should have been selected
with an atatch specifier but I wrote this a long time ago.

email me off-list if you still have problems.

-Steve