Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!uwvax!daffy!cat4.cs.wisc.edu!bodoh
From: bodoh@cat4.cs.wisc.edu (Daniel Bodoh)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps
Subject: Re: 3 processes on a 286
Keywords: multitask, 286, 3 windows
Message-ID: <1991Apr19.150836.9477@daffy.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 15:08:36 GMT
References: <1991Apr18.180630.6049@colorado.edu>
Sender: news@daffy.cs.wisc.edu (The News)
Distribution: usa
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 29

In article <1991Apr18.180630.6049@colorado.edu> baileyc@tramp.colorado.edu (BAILEY CHRISTOPHER R) writes:
>
>I would like to run the following programs simulataneously in some sort of
>multi-tasking environment:
>
>Sage Professional Editor
>Telix Communications Program
>4DOS window - not really necessary, but if possible
[STUFF DELETED ON MEMORY REQIREMENTS]
>  Anyway, will Desqview allow me to do this, and
>maximize my memory?  I have heard it doesn't work that well with a 286.
>Also, does Desqview stop a process when it switches to another?  Ie, if I'm
>downloading a file in Telix, will it get halted if it switches to the
>editor?  Or does it only get halted if it has to be swapped to disk?  Can
>desqview swap to extended and expanded memory, or just one, or what???
>
Any single-processor machine must halt one task when it switches to another,
for one CPU can only do one thing at a time.  However, DESQview will keep
serving each task a small slice of time, so it appears to you that they are
running simultaneously.  DESQview will swap a program to disk if there is
not enough memory, in which case that task DOES NOT get any time slices.
You can tell DESQview that TELIX should not be swapped to disk so that you
don't lose any data from the modem.

On a 286, DESQview will swap to either extended (with a ram disk) or expanded.
But it will not run programs it has swapped out.  On a 386 with QEMM and
extended memory, you can run as many programs as your memory chips allow.

Dan Bodoh