> 9P is just great for use when latency is reasonable (or not too bad,
> with cfs), but to go further
> away and still be comfortable using remote files, I'd say we need
> another protocol.
> I'd love to be proved wrong :)

are there any protocols that deal well with latency?

the only way i know to deal with latency is to do some
sort of tagged queueing.  (perhaps i don't know enough
computer history.)  unfortunately, this doesn't
work if part of the data you need depend on some
prior part; a conversation means ping-pong communication.

the great news for 9p is that latency is decreasing.  in 
/sys/doc/net/net.ps, the IL/ether latency is listed as
having a latency of 1420µs.  my home fileserver
has a 57µs latency to my cpu server. (the fileserver is a
pIII with a $19 rtl8169.)

even custom Cyclone interface between the file server and 
the cpu server is listed as having a latency of 375µs.

let's hope the same holds true for wireless networking.

- erik

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