Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdurb!aglew
From: aglew@mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: DMA on RISC-based systems
Message-ID: <28200325@mcdurb>
Date: 1 Jun 89 02:27:00 GMT
References: <46500067@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Lines: 12
Nf-ID: #R:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:46500067:mcdurb:28200325:000:651
Nf-From: mcdurb.Urbana.Gould.COM!aglew    May 31 21:27:00 1989


>Generally, the CPU can be a lot smarter about I/O than any brain-damaged
>microprocessor controlled device interface.

Smarter and faster. One of the big problems with smart I/O is that it is done
using slow microprocessors 1 or 2 generations old. Now, if your smart I/O
cards (1) run the latest, greatest, processors (which requires a big
development commitment) and (2) share software with the "standard" UNIX,
so that you don't throw out software investment when you upgrade I/O cards
- or even move the functionality back to the CPU for some models,
then you may have got something...   Of course, some people prefer symmetric
multiprocessing...