Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!WPI.BITNET!GREYELF
From: GREYELF@WPI.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: interrupts
Message-ID: <8903271704.AA18781@wpi>
Date: 27 Mar 89 17:04:07 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 33


A new quote from my mailbox:

>Would it be possible to write a program similar to softswitch that could
>automatically switch between applications, allowing something to run in
>background?  I've heard people talk about "heartbeat" interrupts.  Coul@.#t
>that be used somehow?  Even if this cut the speed of the GS in half, it
>would still be running as fast as a normal //e

>Just musing out loud.  That'd be heck of a nice program if someone could di
>(that's "do") it.  I'd love to be able to download, etc, in the background.

>Kevin Lepard
>Bitnet:  Sasquatch@albion.bitnet

Yes it is possible, I wrote something like that over the weekend
(the multitasking add-on for Shell).  It supports up
to eight background tasks, in addition to the foreground task.

Slowdown of the processor is minimized by allowing the tasks to
choose how often they wish to be called, in increments of
every 60th of a second.  At this point it works only with
tasks specifically designed for it, or with the SHELL
install driver command (not yet out there, only in here :^)

I'll try to get around to uploading it later today.

--
Michael J Pender Jr  Box 1942 c/o W.P.I.        I wrote SHELL, send bug
greyelf@wpi.bitnet   100 Institute Rd.          reports, suggestions, cash,
greyelf@wpi.wpi.com  Worcester, Ma 01609        to me.

P.S.  I help people too.