changht@EECS.NWU.EDU (God) (02/28/89)
Hi: I would like to have some entry level infos about transputers. Right now I am wdeveloping a san application programs (C language) on transputer. I e Here are my problems: 1. cCan hTransputer dsupport multi-tasking ? If so, howow? @2. How do ICan I assign nodeprocess to specific nodes? If so , how? Your response is appreciated.
wortley@hwee.UUCP (Tim Wortley) (03/06/89)
In article <> changht@EECS.NWU.EDU writes: > I would like to have some entry level infos about transputers. Right now >I am developing a application programs (C language) on transputer. > 1. Can Transputer support multi-tasking ? If so, how? Em.. Well sort of. Try looking in some OCCAM books and spot those PAR's The reason the multitasking is so fast ( i.e. very fast context switching ) is that the parallel 'OS' is microcoded. ie forget the push & pops > 2. Can I assign process to specific nodes? If so , how? I suppose you are using a C compiler intended for the transputer. The one I am using at the moment has full parallel support. There is the concept of a task ( ie main(){....} function ) and of threads ( co-routines in Modula-2 ). Threads are dynamically created within tasks, and always run on the same processor. Tasks are built up as individual programs which use channels to communicate with each other. these tasks are linked together into an 'application' by a configurer, where you have to declare h/w links, physical processors together with the s/w tasks and channel communications. This is where the tasks are allocated processors ( place task_1 processor_1 ). There usually will be an option to "flood-fill" all transputers in a network with an identical tasks, but ( I've found ) that it is quite difficult to re-design an idea to run in such a way. If your C-compiler doesn't come with such embellishments, whats the point of using a transputer in the firstplace ? ( well other than the fact a T800 is 10x faster than a 286++ ). I would suggest you return to vendor ( or a bucket might be more appropriate ). I hope this was usefull! ttfn Tim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tim Wortley ( Elec Eng 4 ) UUCP: ..!uunet!mcvax!ukc!wortley Dept Electrical & Electronic Eng. JANET: wortley@uk.ac.hw.ee Heriot-Watt University. ARPA: wortley%uk.ac.hw.ee@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk