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From: s37837k@saha.hut.fi (Jari Lehto)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: advice please - Atari-ST or Amiga
Message-ID: <1991Feb12.095943.13710@santra.uucp>
Date: 12 Feb 91 09:59:43 GMT
References: <1991Feb8.034504.16670@santra.uucp> <1991Feb9.213904.782@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <1991Feb10.023415.8641@santra.uucp> <1991Feb10.073020.9858@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <1991Feb10.160548.17877@santra.uucp> <43991@ut-emx.uucp>
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Reply-To: s37837k@saha.hut.fi (Jari Lehto)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, FINLAND
Lines: 48

In article <43991@ut-emx.uucp> greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) writes:
>
>Jari, I don't want to call you a liar, but maybe you'd better describe that
>"multitasking" OS a bit better.  It sounds like a simple task-switcher to
>me.  Multitasking means that all of the programs are running at once.

You don't have to. It is no switcher, you just have to select which window
is the active one. You can only do things with the active one. Others remain
running at the backround. You can also do things at the unactive windows
by holding down the right mouse-button.
Only thing it doesn't do is updating the unactive windows during process.
But when for example a download is ready on a terminal, it updates the window
to let you know about this.

This OS is a German beta-version, a very restricted one. I am not allowed
to give any further details out!

>BTW, your statement that every multitasking OS requires huge amounts of 
>memory and a fast CPU is simply wrong.  My A500 still has the stock 7.14Mhz
>68000 in it.  I have 3.5MB of RAM, but I use 1.5MB of it as a recoverable
>RAM-Disk, and I have 1.3MB free.  That means that I am using about 700K of
>memory and I have 10 CLI-processes alone running.  In all, there are 21
>tasks currently running on my system.  I use this particular setup every
>day, and the machine still works as if each program is the only one running.
>That's basically due to the provisions made in the OS that eliminate CPU-
>intensive programming techniques such as busy-waiting fo keyboard input.

The need of speed and memory is because programs for ST are not planned
to be run in a multitasking-OS. They reserve certain amount of memory
to run and if they can't get it, they will crash.
Speed is needed for... You must know!
I had Cubase and Calamus running simultaneously, that definitely was slow!
Especially when I tried to output to laser from both simultaneously.
It worked, but was very slow indeed!

		Jartsu











	*** Jari Lehto, jartsu@otax.hut.fi, s37837k@saha.hut.fi ***