Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!ucla-cs!ucla-ma!news
From: barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Can DSP's multitask?
Message-ID: <1991Jun4.211914.623@math.ucla.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 91 21:19:14 GMT
Sender: news@math.ucla.edu
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Organization: UCLA Dept. of Math, UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
Lines: 33

Lately I've gotten into having lots of sonic stuff on
my NeXT, and noticed that (no surprise) the DSP can only 
do one thing at a time.

With the advent of products that make heavy use of the DSP
(like MIX Inc's forthcoming digital modem/fax/answering machine
all done in the DSP), it seems that the DSP will often be
occupied when some other process needs it. Is it possible for 
DSP's to do some sort of multitasking (I guess this would be
up to the operating system).

What I can see in the future, for a single user, is this:
simultaneously, one could be

(1) listening to music through the DSP
(2) generating system beeps, voice alerts, etc through the DSP
(3) number crunching on the DSP (FFT, raytracing, linear algebra)
(4) have a modem emulator running on the DSP
(5) be sending/recieving a fax on the DSP
(6) have a digital answering machine using the DSP

So it seems like the ability to handle around 6 concurrent
processes on the DSP would be desirable (of course, a slightly
faster DSP may be needed to really do this).

Hopefully NeXT will have the first OS that includes multitasking
for coprocessors; Is this possible for the DSP?

--
Barry Merriman
UCLA Dept. of Math
UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet)   barry@arnold.math.ucla.edu (NeXTMail)