Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!topaz!nike!lll-crg!lll-lcc!pyramid!amiga!andy From: andy@amiga.UUCP (Andy Finkel) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: Re: Picking a terminal emulator Message-ID: <1474@amiga.amiga.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Aug-86 12:03:45 EDT Article-I.D.: amiga.1474 Posted: Thu Aug 7 12:03:45 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Aug-86 06:13:17 EDT References: <232@neoucom.UUCP> <18100001@ico> <253@pttesac.UUCP> Reply-To: andy@skipper.UUCP (andy finkel) Organization: Commodore Business Machines, 1200 Wilson Drive, West Chester, PA 19380 Lines: 58 In article <253@pttesac.UUCP> vanam@pttesac.UUCP (Marnix van Ammers) writes: >In article <18100001@ico> farmer@ico.UUCP writes: >> >>>This brings up a question to CBM: why is it so stinking hard to get >>>fast emulation going on a 68000 box with a separate IOP! It seems >>>a bit ridiculous to me... maybe the OS is really getting in the way? >>>Is the slowup all in the console driver? >>Have you ever used a sun console? It has a hard time doing 9600 baud - >>doing bitmapped screens is expensive. When someone is using the console, >>the whole machine is slowed down dramaticly. Of course the screen is >>higher resolution. I wouldn't blame the OS too much, look at how many times > >What about it CBM? Why are so many of the emulators unable to >keep up with a measily 1200 baud? What do the Maxiterm people >know that the rest of us don't? > >Marnix >-- There are (at least) three things a terminal program should do that help keep up at 9600 baud... 1) Use the SDCMD_QUERY for the serial device, to find out how many characters the device has waiting, then get exactly that number. 2) Use the console device, and when sending characters to the screen, send as many as possible. (keep a buffer) This also allows you to do multiple line scrolling tricks (a la Gilmore & Sun) if you've got a number of line feeds stored in the buffer. 3) Use a 1 bit plane screen. 2+ bitplanes don't show down text very much (especially if you write in JAM1), but for scrolling, 1 bit plane is a big win. 4) Do your serial I/O async style (use SendIO) and use 2 ports (one for read, one for write) (see, I said that there were at least three...) AmigaTerm (our terminal program, soon to be shipped with the modem for the Amiga, and maybe seperately) has a slightly higher throughput than a DEC VT101 (but slightly lower than a CIT-101). andy -- andy finkel Commodore(Amiga) {ihnp4|seismo|allegra}!cbmvax!andy or pyramid!amiga!andy Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors. "Remember, no matter where you grow, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonsai.