Message-ID:	<327810B9.6FAF@gbrmpa.gov.au>
Date:	Thu, 31 Oct 1996 10:36:42 +0800
From:	Leath Muller <leathm AT gbrmpa DOT gov DOT au>
Reply-To:	leathm AT gbrmpa DOT gov DOT au
Organization:	Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	Avery Lee <Psilon AT cris DOT com>
CC:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: Preemptive Multitasking under DPMI
References:	<5538hu$2ue AT news DOT latnet DOT lv> <28OCT96 DOT 22083606 AT skyfox DOT usask DOT ca> <32769365 DOT 536643 AT news DOT concentric DOT net>

> I am among the first to admit that Windows 95 is not great (okay... it
> sucks in many areas) but I am sick of this argument that when you format a
> disk everything else stops.  I can have netscape downloading, compile a C
> program in a DOS shell, print a document, and even play solitaire or
> minesweeper.  In the meantime a disk is being formatted in the background
> (format a:/f:1.44/u) and absolutely no slowdown or sluggishness occurs.

Ok - If you use the format is a DOS shell, you can do everything you
said. If you use format via a right click or similar, you can do
everything
you said. If you do it from a DOS shell, you can't do anything from
that DOS shell until it finishes... :)  SO Win95 as an operating system
(well
a seeming operating system) can multi-task, I agree...

BUT, where you compiling from the same DOS shell you were formatting
from?
:)

And have some thought for me eh? I am using a Mac here at work...if you
think 95 is bad, try MacOS ... ;)

Onto a different topic:

As for DOS multi-tasking, the implementation I will take is to use the
uclock timer, select a time slice size - say, 10ms, and run my
subroutines
from my uclock timer interrupt (well, thats the plan anyway... :) that
way my uclock interrupt will decide what gets to run when, and will as a
result be fully pre-emptive. I was also looking at having an interrupt
run at say 44100 times a second, and use my own sound mixing code. This
interrupt would pre-empt my uclock interrupt, having absolute priority.
Isnt this pre-emptive multi-tasking? (although its for a dedicated
application and I have no idea how I am going to do it yet... :)

Leathal.

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