From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <072d1db9787b42047b3f8428d3a2f2bd@chula.quanstro.net> References: <2579c0.6486557d.QSTb.mx@tumtum.plumbweb.net> <072d1db9787b42047b3f8428d3a2f2bd@chula.quanstro.net> Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:27:01 -0700 Message-ID: From: John Floren To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Re: [9fans] hardware device (...) Topicbox-Message-UUID: 68505c06-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 3:09 PM, erik quanstrom wrote: >> folks don't write code until they want it. until now, nobody has cared >> enough about cameras or scanners or printers (though i thought ethernet >> connected printers work more or less (but i've never printed anything)) >> to do anything. now you care, maybe you'll write them. the beauty of plan >> 9 is that it's easy to write drivers if you have decent documentation. >> which you will for at least some of the devices you listed. >> >> or maybe some common user-oriented device support like this would make a >> good Google Summer of Code project? > > you'd do much better in gsoc if you limited your scope. > > - erik > I'd also like to recommend that projects take place outside the kernel when possible. It's a lot easier to do things in userland on a single Plan 9 box (or VM), while I've found that kernel work is best done with at least a CPU server, a "victim" PC with serial output so we can catch crash messages, and then another box where you can sit to actually write code--a much more complex thing for a student with no hardware budget to set up! John