Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: net.micro,net.college Subject: Re: Overloaded Computing Systems Message-ID: <4844@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Sat, 29-Dec-84 20:04:27 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.4844 Posted: Sat Dec 29 20:04:27 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 29-Dec-84 20:04:27 EST References: <773@amdahl.UUCP> <10468@watmath.UUCP>, <1312@eosp1.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 19 > One simple way to eliminate a significant amount of mainframe cycle > usage of the kind you cite is to eliminate "full duplex" (UNIX "raw" > mode) terminal drive. ... > ...time sharing systems worked for years with IBM 3270 protocol and the > like, and supported a full range of applications including text editing > and word processing. You need a little more down-loaded intelligence in > your terminals to cut down on trivial traffic to your central cpu. The problem is that "intelligence" is a word that one hesitates to apply to the 3270 and its ilk. Down-loaded intelligence is certainly the way to go, but only if "down-loaded" really means that I can down-load code into the terminal. This is not (necessarily) something one wants to do often, but the point is that the manufacturers cannot be expected to anticipate what constitutes "intelligent" behavior for an application. My recollection is that 3270 editor interaction tended to be quite stilted as a result of the peculiar prejudices of the terminals. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry