Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!uhccux!yuan From: yuan@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Yuan 'Hacker' Chang) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Multitasking revisited Message-ID: <4567@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> Date: 15 Aug 89 09:34:29 GMT References: <8908041840.AA00412@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <4522@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <10977@watcgl.waterloo.edu> Reply-To: yuan@uhccux.UUCP (Yuan 'Hacker' Chang) Organization: Univ. of Barbarians. Honolulu, Hawaii Lines: 34 In article <4522@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> yuan@uhccux.UUCP (That's me!) writes: > Alright! 8) If I want to run spell-checking on a document in >my word processor, heck, re-write the word processor so that it >runs in the background. After all, I don't need a full blown >multitasking environment for something as simple as spell-checking in >the background. > [same for database, spreadsheet, and CAD] In article <10977@watcgl.waterloo.edu> wsflinn@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Scott Flinn) writes: - -In fact, since this discussion began, I have carefully monitored my usage -of multitasking while using the multivarious UNIX boxes around here, and -I can honestly say that, since Greg Csullog's original article first -appeared, I HAVE NOT BENEFITTED FROM MULTITASKING. I am doing task -SWITCHING like its going out of style, but I just can't keep up with -more than a couple of things. I didn't say that I want to run a database, a spreadsheet, a CAD program, and a word processor ALL at the same time. In fact, I don't see how you got the idea that I'm adding fuel to the multitasking vs. task- switching war. 8( In the original article to which I was following up to, the author was wondering why a full-blown multitasking system should be necessary, when you could find programs that push themselves to the background. What I was trying to point out was that user programs do not have to know about being in a multitasking/switching system, because the system takes care of the details. Think what happens if TOS doesn't provide file services for user programs, and each single program must handle raw disk I/O in order to use a disk drive. -- Yuan Chang "What can go wrong, did" UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax,dcdwest}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!yuan ARPA: uhccux!yuan@nosc.MIL "Wouldn't you like to INTERNET: yuan@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu be an _A_m_i_g_o_i_d too?!?"