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From: vilkas@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Iron Wolf)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Multitasking is slower
Keywords: games, multitasking
Message-ID: <17902@ultima.cs.uts.oz>
Date: 5 Jun 90 01:10:43 GMT
References: <279@smosjc.UUCP> <4039@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Organization: Comp Sci, NSWIT, Australia
Lines: 39

davids@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Dave Schreiber) writes:


>In article <279@smosjc.UUCP> brett@smosjc.UUCP (Brett Coon) writes:
>>>From: Tim Friest - Programmer/Analyst <uunet!cornellc.cit.cornell.edu!AXTBF%ALASKA.BITNET>
>>>The point the people are making about games needing to multi-task is simply,
>>>if I run the game without anything else running, it is exactly the same as
>>>if the game took over the machine and didn't let me run anything else....
>>
>>NO!  For a program to allow multitasking, it has to be "nice".  It must own
>>and disown the system resources (esp. blitter) using OS calls, and do so
>>often enough to allow other tasks a chance to use them.  Depending on the 

>Are you reading all of the original message?  If the machine is in a state
>so that the game is going "without anything else running", then there won't
>be "other tasks" that demand system resources like the blitter.  This
>seems fairly self-evident.

But even when your task is the only one running, there are other tasks that
are started by amigados:
	The mounted devices have processes (mostly dormant so they dont really
		count)
	Cli or Workbench (cli transfers control to the program so it doesnt
		make a huge difference)
	Intuition itself.

OF the above, intuition and workbench will take a fair amount time up, especially
intuition, (which will in turn access the device processes for mouse moves, etc)

So, even when you are running only one game, the system is running at least one
of its own tasks, and, I believe, at a considerably higher priority!

What is more, is that all of these OS tasks and the like take up ram space which
a big game that requires speed could use for faster (but larger) code or data
storage.

There! now that might stir someone up a bit!

Iron Wolf