Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!shelby!polya!rokicki
From: rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: serial multiplexers (was Re: HP 9111A Graphics Tablet)
Message-ID: <9650@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 1 Jun 89 21:24:25 GMT
References: <560@orange6.qtp.ufl.edu> <170006@hplsla.HP.COM> <7535@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
Sender: Tomas G. Rokicki <rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Stanford University
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> > I have this glimpse of the Amy hardware running flatout with a multi-
> > plexer of some sort running off it splitting up the bit stream say

> It should work just fine.  I have had this idea before,

This may work, indeed, but getting the software to fly would be a major
pain.  Also, don't forget that a serial line usually is bidirectional,
and there is no way Amy's serial port will read at 1,000,000 baud.

I will personally guaranetee you that, especially with the DSP available,
the time investment would not be worth it.  Indeed, there are a lot
of very very excellent neat software projects, each of which isn't
terribly difficult, that have been on my todo list for a long, long time.
I've been just getting busier and busier, so I'll probably not get around
to them.  They would make much nicer summer products and have a much greater
chance of being generally used.  Among these are:

	- Make GCC fly on the Amiga.  Already several people are
		doing this; ever considered contributing to the effort?
	- Making GhostScript fly on the Amiga.  It already works, but
		if we add a nice screen driver, Preferences driver, and
		IFF output, we could have a hell of a combination.
		(Stephen Vermeulen has done much of this, but a lot
		remains to be done.)
	- Add Preferences and IFF support to PLPlot---no more having
		to write a new device for each printer; just go through
		Preferences!  Also, make it accept commands, equations, and
		data in a script file, rather than requiring C compilation.
		(I'm almost done with this latter.)
	- Add an ARexx port to mg3---Mike Meyer is doing this, and
		will do a much better job than I could have.  Or any
		popular utility.
	- Test, debug, and further develop DNET/RFS---this could be the
		hit of the year.  Perhaps modify the link protocol so
		it will work over lines that aren't eight-bit transparent.
	- Attempt to hack VM support onto the Amiga.  Perhaps not so easy,
		but we could all learn a lot from a few such attempts.
	- Write a simple, clean, structured drawing package.
	- Write a SCSI tape driver for backups.

There are a lot of really neat things to be done.  Most of the above
(except VM and draw) would be (IMHO) easier than figuring out how to
replace serial.device with a multiplexer, and would have far greater
impact on the community as a whole.

There is so much energy out there, and so much of it is being directed
into duplicate efforts and dead ends.  I wish there was some sort of a
clearinghouse for such ideas where expertise could be exchanged and
efforts unified somehow . . .

-tom