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From: lowey@herald.usask.ca (Kevin Lowey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Windows 3.0
Message-ID: <1990Jun30.063006.19905@dvinci.usask.ca>
Date: 30 Jun 90 06:30:06 GMT
References: <819@occrsh.ATT.COM>
Sender: news@dvinci.usask.ca
Reply-To: lowey@herald.usask.ca
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Lines: 34

From article <819@occrsh.ATT.COM>, by jal@occrsh.ATT.COM (J_Allen_Schones):

> My question:
> 	Will Windows 3.0 perform multitasking on the 386-->SX<--?
> I think it does, but I'm not sure.

Yes!  I'm using it right now.  I have a VT100 terminal emulator I wrote
running in the foreground window.  This is NOT a windows application, but is
a normal Turbo Pascal program, using direct screen writes.  The emulator is 
running IN A WIN 3 WINDOW UNDER THE TURBO PASCAL ENVIRONMENT (which also 
runs in a WIN 3 Window).

We have a 386 sx with 2M of memory.  There is a lot of swapping, but the
programs run fine.  The only problem I noticed was that the mouse which 
works in the program when it is running full screen is ignored when the program
runs in a window.  I guess the window owns the mouse all the time.

Switching tasks between the Windows applications like the clock, paintbrush,
etc. is reasonably fast.  However, switching to a non-windows DOS application
can be VERY slow.  I've only got 2M of memory, and I've configured the TP to
be the MOST memory intensive settings (save all graphics, demand 640K of
normal memory plus 64K of extened memory, etc.)  When I switch from a windows
application back to my terminal emulator, it can take a few minutes of swapping
before I can do anything.  Also, the terminal emulator occasionally freezes
while (I assume) the other tasks are getting some time slices.

However, with another few meg of memory it would probably handle this setup
quite well.  I also have not even opened the manual yet, so there are probably
a lot of configuration settings I can do to improve the performance. 

As it is, this is a GREAT improvement over the old windows, which wouldn't
even RUN these programs concurrently.

- Kevin Lowey