[comp.sys.sgi] lampon/off

sjm@cs.purdue.EDU (Scott J Mark) (09/26/89)

	Can anyone explain why on earth the calls to lampon() and lampoff()
take such a significant portion of a second on a Personal IRIS?  Thanks 
in advance.

							Scott Mark
-- 
sjm@cs.purdue.edu

msc@ramoth.esd.sgi.com (Mark Callow) (10/03/89)

> 	Can anyone explain why on earth the calls to lampon() and lampoff()
> take such a significant portion of a second on a Personal IRIS?  Thanks 
> in advance.

Thanks to the "magic" of write only registers,  some central agent has
to remember
the current keyboard state and all requests to change that state must go
through
the agent.

The chosen agent is the window server.  Hence there is a network trip involved.
--
From the TARDIS of Mark Callow
msc@ramoth.sgi.com, ...{ames,decwrl,sun}!sgi!msc
"There is much virtue in a window.  It is to a human being as a frame is to
a painting, as a proscenium to a play.  It strongly defines its content."