Hi Ann,
On 2 Apr 2004 at 16:33, Ann Parsons spoke, thus:
> Nobody who uses Windows of any flavor knows what *true* multitasking
> is because even though you don't know it, your processor is switching
> between tasks. Even though you *think* you're multitasking, you
> aren't. A windows OS may spend a millisecond on each successive task, but
> it does so singly. Only Linux does *true* multitasking, running operations
> concurrently.
This is an impressive (and, regrettably, untrue) myth. All operating
systems multitask by running operations in tandem. The CPU provides the
instructions necessary to queue and perform multitasking operations, which
they do by replicating state data and registers from memory in turn prior
to invoking each slice. The "True" in "True multitasking" refers to the
quality of selection made by the operating system scheduler. The so-
called multitasking in Windows, is - I agree - utterly braindead. There
is no other OS in the world which allows a process to actually choose how
much processor time it should be assigned. <Sigh> Linux and other
*NIXes, on the other hand, are very particular about process priority; a
single nice value given by the user determines how often a process gets
attention from the processor when selection is necessary, and an idle loop
handles the condition where the processor has no work to do and an
interrupt is awaited from the hardware.
Cheers,
Sabahattin
--
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A penny saved is ridiculous.
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