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From: sokay@kurgen.mitre.org (Steve Okay W43)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Multitasking at home (Was Reality check: ....)
Message-ID: <127515@linus.mitre.org>
Date: 2 Jan 91 19:30:14 GMT
References: <1990Dec13.155848.8152@maytag.waterloo.edu> <1990Dec15.031131.17141@isc.rit.edu> <1990Dec18.002802.624@lavaca.uh.edu> <37101@cup.portal.com> <41689@ut-emx.uucp>
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>From: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels)
>
>Subject: URe: Multitasking at home (Was Reality check: ....)V
>Message-ID: <41689@ut-emx.uucp>
>Date: 20 Dec 90 16:02:40 GMT
>References: <1990Dec13.155848.8152@maytag.waterloo.edu> <1990Dec15.031131.17141@isc.rit.edu> <1990Dec18.002802.624@lavaca.uh.edu> <37101@cup.portal.com>
>Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp
>Reply-To: awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels)
>Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
>Lines: 11
>
>In article <37101@cup.portal.com> Lee_Robert_Willis@cup.portal.com writes:
>
>>True multitasking is even better, since my application can number crunch,
>>paginate, spell check, update databases, etc. without making me wait.
>
>OK, guys.  I've been following the group for a while since I've been thinking
>of getting a 500 or 2000.  Just exactly what does the Amiga's true multitasking
>let me do (other than formatting disks) that I can't do on my Mac?   

Ok, some real life examples that are happening even while I type.
My Amiga at home is currently running a 20-node UUCP network, doing some 3D rendering,
plus various other things depending on what time of day it is. Every night it backs 
itself up incrementally, wakes me up in the morning, runs a small LISTSERV-like
program for the UUCP net, etc. all simultaneously. I use cron to schedule the 
wakeup/backup times and the UUCP polling times. At any time even when its doing
all this, I can pop up a shell and hack from the keyboard.The Amiga can accomodate a
task list of up to 20 processes. To me, multi-tasking is the difference between a
personal computer and a {small | full blown} workstation. This ability to have
multiple applications running simultaneously is what really makes multi-tasking
useful.

 You are right in your assessment that cooperative multi-tasking is only
useful for getting a directory or formatting disks. But being able to do word
processing while your spreadsheet crunches away in the background and your modem
picks up your email is much more useful and a better application of your cycles
than continuously cycling 50% or more thru on NO OPs.

---Steve
------------
Steve Okay
sokay@mitre.org   <-----work
steve%amidillo.uucp@uunet.uu.net <---home