Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Apology to Randy Hyde (was Re: my decision for the LC)
Message-ID: <1991Feb17.040352.13659@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 17 Feb 91 04:03:52 GMT
References: <15225@smoke.brl.mil>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 25

gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:

>In article <> toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:
>>The 80386 does 32 bit reads into a byte wide instruction pipeline, which

>Of course, you cannot DO that on an Apple II, due to the way the soft
>switches are organized.

I disagree. Instructions come from memory (mostly) which can easily be
organised as 32 bits, even with bank-switched ram. For I/O, the CPU can do
cheap dynamic bus sizing -- this is something most wide bus CPU's have, for
exactly these reasons. Many popular I/O chips have interfaces whose operation
is sometimes more bizarre than the Apple II softswitches ...

>A 65xx family member that exploited this would be of use in a purely toolset-
>or kernel-oriented approach to accessing the system features, however.

Fine by me. We can trap any attempt to access the old registers and kill the
process with a dialog like 'FTA_Modulae killed, illegal hardware access' ...
When the system is fast enough to make every tool worth using, software will
rally around the tools and non-tool software will be replaced almost as fast
as it starts crashing. The Amiga hasn't been able to do this though...

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu