Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Unfortunately, the stock Applicard OS is too dumb to do this asynchronously. I implemented something like that to speed up the CardZ180, though.Why does the Z80 card even need to know about it? The 6502 code could always buffer output and appear "ready" unless the buffer is full. Of course, that's one more copy to get it in the right place in the screen buffer...
<shrug> I don't know why Wink didn't take more advantage of asynchronous I/O. The only things buffered were keyboard input and printer output.
I took pains in the CardZ180 host BIOS to optimize throughput, but I honestly cannot recall all the fine points. I'm still reacquainting myself with the environment. Never honestly thought anyone would be interested in such things after 20+ years!
Steve