Path: utzoo!utgpu!utorvm!ryerson!eety1478 Date: Monday, 3 Dec 1990 16:24:06 EST From: Kevin Morwood Message-ID: <90337.162406EETY1478@Ryerson.CA> Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: second serial port References: <14383@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> <90334.151404DXB132@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Dec2.141048.10108@NCoast.ORG> <1990Dec3.053356.26826@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> Rik Harris writes: >A CPU will add convenience to the design of a piece of hardware, not speed. >A CPU needs to be clocked, and must access memory, and the hardware is >limited by the speed the CPU can run at. This may be true but I wouldn't want to be working locally on the machine that has 4 users dialed into it. The main processor would be so busy with all of the serial interrupts that you'd never get anything done. >Now, I'm not saying that a product that doesn't have a CPU is _going_ >to run much faster, just that there are more things to consider than >simply whether the product has a CPU on it or not. Admittedly, the >product that can handle 3-4 terminals at 9600bps, that is on the >market first, would probably be one with the CPU, but it is still not >necessarily the best. But the product with a CPU (and other perfermance enhancements) will undoubted spend less time on the dealer's shelf than it's unintelligent counterpart. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Kevin Morwood EETY1478@Ryerson.CA kevin@lsimages.UUCP