Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!brunix!rca
From: rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: 9600 bps serial communications
Message-ID: <47629@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 17 Aug 90 20:19:33 GMT
References: <1990Aug17.134755.25158@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Reply-To: rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Lines: 22

In article <1990Aug17.134755.25158@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu> madler@piglet.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) writes:
>
>So howcums it is that my 25 MHz 32 bit NeXT "mainframe" can't keep up
>with my 2 MHz 4 bit HP pocket calculator when the latter is running
>a 9600 bps serial line into the former?  Seems like a pretty sorry state
>of affairs

I guess the main problem is, that the NeXT has not a real time
operating system. As in UNIX tasks can be swapped out or otherwise
inactive, there is no easy way of making sure that a certain minimum
response time can be kept. I guess how NeXT could deal with that is if
they had a special thread controlling the serial IO, similar as they
do it with the sound. But I don't know if this wouldn't sacrifice UNIX
compatibilty.
In case you don't know it, as always: The next release will solve the
problem :-)

Ronald
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists
in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man."  Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet