Re: "Real" Multitasking (Re: GNO questions...)

[gt2011a@prism.gatech.EDU (gt2011a SIMMS,WILLIAM SHELDON)]

In article <C5uF16.AKM@CAM.ORG> vandry@CAM.ORG (Phillip Vandry) writes:
>
>Now take a ZMODEM receive on cooperative. It could go idle for seconds at a
>time! Then get control for even longer. The unpredictibility makes it
>impossible to correctly receive the file. Most likely the comm program will
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>resort to an interrupt driven receiver, which defeats the purpose of the
>multitasking anyway.

Huh?! I do this all the time on a Mac II running system 7. I use zmodem to
download Apple II and Mac files while doing something else (usually a game)
in the foreground. I have downloaded files size > 500k in the background
without error while playing arcade-style games in the foreground to pass the
time. The only time the zmodem download even pauses is during disk access,
and then it picks right up when the processor is returned. I suppose an
XOFF/XON sequence occured, but it works fine.

By the way, I agree that pre-emptive multitasking is superior, I just want
to point out that cooperative works just fine also.


-- 
(Asked the novice): "And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"
The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The lesson is over
for today," he said.  +----------------------------------------------------
----------------------+   gt2011a@prism.gatech.edu / Sheldon Simms