Re: [9fans] Small Plan 9 Platforms

[hiro <23hiro@gmail.com>]

Liinux running on a device sadly doesn't say anything about available
documentation or the complexity of the interface that need to be
implemented.

On 8/8/15, Alexander Schreiber <als@thangorodrim.ch> wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 08, 2015 at 06:42:04AM +0200, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote:
>> > this board has quite a number of features, and might be useful for
>> > education if the cost isn't prohibitive.
>>
>> The list is impressive and the schematics ought to make things
>> simpler, but will support for Plan 9 be a real possibility?
>>
>> Persoanlly, I think Gbit ether is essential and a second ether port
>> almost equally so.  I couldn't quite figure out what type of graphics
>> driver the CI20 provided or how easily Plan 9 would deal with it.
>>
>> My choice would be to support MikroTik equipment in the role of
>> routers or CPU servers, but that of course is itself limiting.
>
> Another type of machine worth looking at is the EdgeRouter Lite (aka
> Erlite 3) from Ubiquiti Networks: Dual Core 500 MHz MIPS64 CPU (Cavium
> Octeon), 512MB of RAM, 3x GBit Ethernet, Cisco style console port
> running at 115200. The OS (EdgeOS) runs from an internal USB stick.
> EdgeOS is based on Vyatta which is in turn based on Debian. I've
> successfully converted the Erlite3 to run plain Debian (jessie with
> a custom 3.18.19 kernel) - replacing the firmware just involves undoing
> three screws on the case, opening it and replacing the internal USB
> stick. So now two of those run my network at home - one as core router,
> the other as edge router (for the 100 MBit Fiber uplink). Running plain
> Debian, of course, I never looked at the EdgeOS system.
>
> The USB hardware is rather picky which sticks it recognizes, but
> SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB works reliably. The Gentoo folks also have
> information about it: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/MIPS/ERLite-3
>
> Seeing as Linux already (and without crazy closed firmware blobs) runs on
> it,
> it might be an interesting machine to port Plan9 to.
>
> As for availability: Amazon sells it for less than $100, and with the
> Prime package, i.e. you can get _very_ quickly ;-)
>
> Kind regards,
>             Alex.
> --
> "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
>  looks like work."                                      -- Thomas A. Edison
>
>