Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 10:49:13 GMT
From: fran AT isis DOT demon DOT co DOT uk (Fran Berry)
Organization: DIS(organised)
Reply-To: fran AT isis DOT demon DOT co DOT uk
Message-ID: <1178@isis.demon.co.uk>
To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Multitasking and net access
Lines: 21
Precedence: bulk

Here's a question about phone access to the net under the DR-DOS Taskmgr 
in multitasking mode. Normally this is a bit fraught if the modem is 
fast and the PC slow, mainly due to the minuscule buffer in even a 16550 
UART and the interrupt servicing being delayed by Taskmgr's time-slicing.

However, what I'm asking about is the idea of using the Novell PPP stack 
(as found in the DRwebspyder demo) loaded *before* Taskmgr. Will this 
enable the UART interrupt's service to take precedence over the 
multitasking time slicing ?  A LAN card appears to get it's interrupts 
serviced by the PNW stack "above" the Taskmgr activity, so how about 
this ?
As I understand it, the Novell PPP stack has, or can have, a large 
buffer so if it gets to service the interrupts OK the multitasked net 
app should be, well, happy :)
Anybody tried it ?  Any thoughts ?  Pointers ?

Fran.
-- 
   _________________________________    ______
  (    Fran Berry                   )  (      )
 (_)   fran AT isis DOT demon DOT co DOT uk       (____)    (___________  Know Thyself