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From: jxf@orion.cis.ksu.edu (Jerry Frain)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: True Multitasking
Message-ID: <1991Jan15.233452.1163@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date: 15 Jan 91 23:34:52 GMT
References: <19019@shlump.nac.dec.com> <42588@ut-emx.uucp>
Sender: news@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (The News Guru)
Organization: Kansas State University
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awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) writes:

>In article <19019@shlump.nac.dec.com> long@mcntsh.enet.dec.com (Rich Long) writes:
>>In article <42554@ut-emx.uucp>, awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) writes...

>> Oh...let's see. How about being able to switch out of the Finder during copy
>> operations or disk formatting? How about not having one's download wedge

>OK, I'm not a programmer, but I wonder if these can't be handled by the right
>software.  They are real issues, but for how many users.  Sometimes you just
>say "Uncle" to the law of diminishing returns.

This response sounds like it is coming straight out of the (_early_) 1960s.
Please people!  Get it straight, just this once.  There is no reason to
have to wait for a floppy disk to be formatted before I can use my hard
disk.

The technology to access two i/o devices simultaneously has been around
(and in use) for more than twenty years.  I'd like to access both of my
drives (with different programs), now, please.

I refuse "to say `Uncle'" to a primitive system which hampers my ability
to be productive.  I would rather enhance the existing system to suit my
needs.

>                                              Just how much of the average
>user's time is occupied with these tasks?

I have an 80 MB drive.  I don't have the money right now to invest in a
tape backup system.  I need to initialize ~seventy 1.40MB floppies so
that I can back up my hard drive (no, I did not purchase already-formatted
floppies).

Now, would you care to calculate how much of my time will be spent
formatting these seventy diskettes?  Maybe _your_ average user does
not require backups.  Maybe _your_ average user has a tape backup
system.  However, this is the scenario presented to you by _this_
average user, who would like to use their time as productively as
possible.

I have to keep a book at my desk to read during disk formatting, compiles,
unstuffs a StuffIt! file, etc. while my SE/30 is at the mercy of its
currently-running program.

>> performance with something running in the background that is not a "good
>> citizen"? How about real print spooling?

>Every company that sells an OS has programming guidelines, and I'd guess that
>most of them will tell you the bets are off if the program is written in an
>OS-unfriendly fashion.

OS-unfriendly?  Now there's a nifty term.  A program should have to be
"OS-friendly," that's a lot of what this whole discussion is about.

A primary job of the typical operating system is to  manage resources.
Memory, disks, processes, etc. are all resources.  If an OS cannot manage
a resource effectively and efficiently, then that part of the OS should
be enhanced so that it can manage the resource properly.

>                                                            A better backup
>program than HDBackup?

Yup.  I'd like to see one that compresses files as it backs them up.
The standard hard disks are not getting any smaller.  A simple system
enhancement like providing a better back up utility would help many
users.

> Can you say 3rd party product?

Sure, I can say that.  And I'll get one, too, if you'll buy it for me.

(Actually, I'll probably make my own, eventually).

Regards,

  --Jerry

--
Jerry Frain -- Systems Programmer               Kansas State University
                                        Department of Computing & Info Sciences
Internet : jxf@cis.ksu.edu                         Manhattan, Kansas
UUCP     : ...!rutgers!ksuvax1!jxf