Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:17187 comp.os.minix:6100
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!sun!imagen!atari!kbad
From: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Minix, ST, and forking...
Message-ID: <1570@atari.UUCP>
Date: 16 Jun 89 20:42:11 GMT
References: <4385@crash.cts.com> <632@lzaz.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 18

In article <632@lzaz.ATT.COM> hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) writes:
| Finally, If a blitter was used to copy in the active parent/child, this 
| would become even faster on the ST.

Not necessarily.  Depending on how much context needs to be switched,
the overhead of setting up the hardware blit could actually slow the
process of context switching.

Be wary of the tendency to treat the BLiTTER as a panacea for speed
problems.  The 68000, when treated right, can be quite speedy.  The
Atari BLiTTER was designed primarily to aid with graphics processing.



-- 
   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
  / | \  #include <disclaimer>