[comp.sys.apple] interupts and 80 column scrolling

delton@pro-carolina.cts.COM (Don Elton) (06/22/88)

I think Jim Elliott has missed something when he says that all a program need
do to avoid losing data on an unenhanced //e is to use interrupts.  TIC has
used (required in fact) interrupts since day one.  You don't lose data on the
unenhanced //e because the scrolling is slow.  It's not that much slower than
the scrolling on an enhanced //e.   You lose characters on the unenhanced //e
because someone (the guy that wrote the firmware code) decided that the //e
wasn't going to be used in an interrupt environment so they didn't worry about
the fact that they turned off interrupts with an SEI command for long periods
of time during scrolling.  Unless you write your own scrolling code or use
undocumented entries etc you'll lose data during these time periods at any
decent baud rate.  TIC has supported up to 19,200 baud since day one by using
interrupts.  There's no good reason to go around saying that a given program
is "Silly" or not "Decent" just because you think something should be done
differently.  If you think something should be done differently then do it,
don't try to insult others who have gone the other way after careful
consideration of the alternatives.  It's also a bit overboard to condemn
software for a limination that affects so few users as to be almost totally
insignificant for them and totally insignificant for the vast majority as
well.  For example, I wouldn't comdemn AppleWorks for not being able to work
with DOS 3.3 files directly either.

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