Autzoo.1444
hacknews
utzoo!henry
Fri Feb 26 15:39:05 1982
card reader...
The card reader continues to give overrun errors, although there is
a strong correlation between the problem rate and the system load --
it is sometimes possible to get flawless reads when things are quiet.

There is a fundamental problem here.  The card reader interface is
very old and poorly designed;  the result is a very demanding device
that absolutely must have fast response from the system at all times.
This is difficult to guarantee in a timesharing system.  The people
who did the card reader driver originally had all kinds of trouble
getting it to behave.  The problems appear to have gotten worse with
the substantial internal rearrangements of Unix V7.  These hassles
may not be solvable with a reasonable amount of effort, so...

We are going to try an alternate route:  putting the card reader on
one of the 05's, where it can have the undivided attention of the
machine.  The details of this, especially the transfer of data to
the 44, have not yet been worked out.  More on this early next week.