[comp.sys.apollo] GPIB-driven peripheral boards

SRFERGU@ERENJ.BITNET (Scott Ferguson) (10/30/89)

Someone recently mentioned their PC Elevator board hogging CPU time
while idling. I think I know why, and figured I'd post a message hoping
that some peripheral vendors are listening.


Some vendors write simple GPIB driver software, but don't use the pbu_$wait
calls for getting interrupts. They run through a loop checking over and over
again for their interrupts. This takes cpu time, and is pretty silly.

I've seen the same problem with National Instruments IEEE-488 cards, and
Mercury Systems Array processor cards.


SO, if any vendors are listening, please check your software, because
you might be doing more harm than good with your products.

Scott Ferguson
ferguson@erenj.bitnet
Exxon Research & Engineering
Annandale, NJ 08801