Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!shields From: shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) Newsgroups: comp.realtime Subject: Re: AmigaDOS as realtime system? Message-ID: <21695@yunexus.YorkU.CA> Date: 19 Feb 91 07:04:40 GMT References: Organization: York U. Computing Services Lines: 23 tims@infidel.lanl.gov (Tim Sullivan) writes: >I just saw a posting in which AmigaDOS was described as a realtime >multitasking operating system. Can anyone shed light on its realtime >abilities? Well, the exec is a real-time kernel called Intuition, with prioritized interrupt response and task scheduling, message passing & semaphores, asynchronous i/o, shared memory, and lots of hooks into dynamic exec data structures. Well-documented system calls make extensions such as a new device driver easy to install and use in a running system. I've been developing audio software on Amiga for the last 4 months, and have familiarized myself with certain of these features. It is straightforward, for example, using standard calls to the "audio.device" driver, to write a 4-channel sound player utilizing Amiga's DMA system and built-in 8-bit D/A converters to get smooth, continuous sound in stereo. ... Paul Shields disclaimer: I have no connection with Commodore's marketing department. The company I work for is a registered developer.