dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU.UUCP (02/04/87)
> I would like to know if the Amiga can be used as a Multi-user system. If > so what Equiptment do i need and What data base program can i use. > Thank You. > Jared A McNeal > Columbus Ohio Theoretically, there is no problem. Practically, it's infeasible... (assuming your talking about a generalized interface for each user). I can tick off three reasons off the top of my head which apply to ANY micro: -Lack of I/O bandwidth -Lack of Processing Power -Lack of memory protection (applies only to programming enviroment) -Filesystem not optimized for multiple process file access. -Multiple CRT's is impossible, and thus a multi-user interface would have to be run over multiple serial ports, with only one user able to use the screen and mouse Unfortunetly, the rest of your question is too vague to give a proper answer, and even if you were more specific, I doubt anybody would be able to come up with an exact answer. -Matt
cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (02/04/87)
In a recent article, dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes: > [ Replying to Jared's question about running an Amiga multiuser ] > > Theoretically, there is no problem. Practically, it's > infeasible... (assuming your talking about a generalized interface for > each user). I can tick off three reasons off the top of my head which > apply to ANY micro: > -Lack of I/O bandwidth Certainly there is a lack of I/O bandwidth to do two intuition interfaces however there is no problem with serial port access. > -Lack of Processing Power I have run multiuser on a Z80, not that it was much fun, however... The above means is will get slow at times. > -Lack of memory protection (applies only to programming enviroment) You run into the exact same problems here as you do when running multiple tasks. Well behaved ones don't interfere, some do. > -Filesystem not optimized for multiple process file access. Whoa! The filesystem *was* optimized for multiple process file access, thats why you have to lock a file before writing to it, etc. When running multiple tasks or users this prevents files from getting corrupted. What the file system isn't is fast. > -Multiple CRT's is impossible, and thus a multi-user interface would > have to be run over multiple serial ports, with only one user able > to use the screen and mouse Yup, this would be impossible. But you can run programs over the serial port. And since the CLI interface makes no use of menus or the mouse you don't lose there. What you do lose is a simple way to throw the window behind and stuff like that. > Unfortunately, the rest of your question is too vague to give a proper > answer, and even if you were more specific, I doubt anybody would be able > to come up with an exact answer. > -Matt The reference to "What data base program can i use." in Jared's question was incredibly nondeterministic. I think with the following caveats - It will be slow - #define Multiple Two /* Thats MAXUSERS = 2 */ - One person lives in a serial/tty world - Other person doesn't hit Ctrl-Ah-Ah :-) - You don't try to do new code testing (writing/compiling is ok) - You have at least 1M preferably 2.5M of memory - You have a CLI that talks to the serial port You can run multiple users. -- --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.