[9fans] Newbie questions

[9fans] Newbie questions

[Bob]

I am trying to make sure I understand the distributed nature of Plan
9.  There is no architecture restrictions for CPU servers, file
servers and terminals correct. I mean that they don't have to have the
same architecture, i.e. all x86s. I can mix and match the machines in
anyway I see fit.

Also, to port Plan 9 to a new system, the main thing that needs to be
done is to create a compiler for that architecture. There is little
system dependent code.

Please let me know if I am missing something

Thanks
Bob

Re: [9fans] Newbie questions

[Steve Simon]

> I am trying to make sure I understand the distributed nature of Plan
> 9.  There is no architecture restrictions for CPU servers, file
> servers and terminals correct. I mean that they don't have to have the
> same architecture, i.e. all x86s. I can mix and match the machines in
> anyway I see fit.

Yep. To ensure this I beleive there are still some Alphas around
where plan9 is used to "keep the code honest" (i.e. to prevent
x86-isms creaping in).

> Also, to port Plan 9 to a new system, the main thing that needs to be
> done is to create a compiler for that architecture. There is little
> system dependent code.

yes to this too.

The processor dependent code is mostly wrapped up in libmach
http://plan9.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html/2/mach and a 
thousand odd lines in the kernel startup.

getting your new kernel into RAM and device drivers for your
new platform may cause more headaches.

-Steve

Re: [9fans] Newbie questions

[C H Forsyth]

>Yep. To ensure this I beleive there are still some Alphas around
>where plan9 is used to "keep the code honest" (i.e. to prevent
>x86-isms creaping in).

ARM and PowerPC are commonly used, including small embedded things
and several quite big machines.

[9fans] Re: Newbie questions

[Randall Bohn]

On Dec 7, 7:30 am, fors...@vitanuova.com (C H Forsyth) wrote:
> >Yep. To ensure this I beleive there are still some Alphas around
> >where plan9 is used to "keep the code honest" (i.e. to prevent
> >x86-isms creaping in).
>
> ARM and PowerPC are commonly used, including small embedded things
> and several quite big machines.

Would there be an ARM port that works with Qemu? I'd like to try plan9
on a non-x86 cpu.

Re: [9fans] Re: Newbie Questions

[W B Hacker]

chutsu@gmail.com wrote:
> actually in relation to what you guys are saying...have you heard of
> "Mylivesearch.com", its a development team in Aussie that claims they
> have a better searching algorithm than google. Their argument is that
> their search engine searches through the web simutanously(hence LIVE),
> so instead of indexing all the pages like google does.
>
> The search engine is still under development..but its nearly
> done....mid to end of June?? I think...would be quite interesting to
> see how it all turns out. I think I'm becomming a bit too relient to
> the whole google thing...and I'm not too sure thats good for me!
> Followup-To:
> Distribution:
> Organization: University of Bath Computing Services, UK
> Keywords:
> Cc:
>
>

'Better' search engines have a great deal to do with whom is seeking what, and
from whence.

It isn't hard to benchmark one - or several - 'better' searches.

Where Google shines vs, for example, what AltaVista used to be, or 'Dialog' even
earlier, is getting it 'good enough' often enough, cheap enough, and fast enough ..

AND ...

...doing it for such a massive sustained and peak global request load.

That last part - plus several years of head-start on the infrastructure to
support it - is the hardest to match, let alone beat.

So we may be far more 'stuck with' Google than anyone is with Winwoes...

Not to say we might not want to move them off our 'first choice' preference
settings.  Or try to live without them altogether, if only 'coz 'Big
Brother'ism' is already bad enough without their making it worse.


Bill

[9fans] Re: Newbie Questions

[chutsu]

actually in relation to what you guys are saying...have you heard of
"Mylivesearch.com", its a development team in Aussie that claims they
have a better searching algorithm than google. Their argument is that
their search engine searches through the web simutanously(hence LIVE),
so instead of indexing all the pages like google does.

The search engine is still under development..but its nearly
done....mid to end of June?? I think...would be quite interesting to
see how it all turns out. I think I'm becomming a bit too relient to
the whole google thing...and I'm not too sure thats good for me!
Followup-To:
Distribution:
Organization: University of Bath Computing Services, UK
Keywords:
Cc:


--
Dennis Davis, BUCS, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
D.H.Davis@bath.ac.uk