DMB@PSUVMA.BITNET (10/14/86)
OK Guru's let's have it! What is envolved with a multitasking O/S for the
Mac? No snide remarks to the effect that it can't be done, let's assume it
can but will be slow.
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Process Swapping - What needs to be saved
All registers. General Purpose/Status/etc..
Code Segments - either in memory or on disk
Protection registers for each segment
Priorities, other status information
Segment map table,other location tables
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Screen management
-> Many Solutions, one may be
Menu Bar is for the system only (task info,system services,launches,etc)
Processes run within subscreens (we know them as windows)
Each process has it's own "system window" including menubar
Current Process window is NOT updated on task switch
Screen Dynamics are handled by user commands (mouse clicks, etc.)
Other Considerations
All I/O should be Asynchronous - increase device demand by putting
processes to sleep if waiting for I/O
Is there memory protection in the hardware for segmented addressing?
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What else/ what problems/solutions,etc.
dave