[plug] Scheduling Problems

[Scott, Simon]

While we are on the subject, could someone quickly explain what blocking is
for those of us who don't know?

I've always wondered, how is the pre-emptive multitasking maintained? By
interrupting every n timeframe? What happens if I turn interrupts off in a
routine? When would I use a blocking call as opposed to a non-blocking call?
Just who is that masked man?

I understand the differences between polling and interrupts, although I have
never played with interrupts on an intel machine (but I can code some mean
IRQ/NMI routines on a 6502! :)

Does someone want to spend 5 minutes writing a quick summary?

Stay up hacking each weekend. Sleep is for the week.
> ------------------------------------------------------
>  Simon Scott
>  DBA
>  Sealcorp Holdings Limited
>  Perth, WA
>  e-mail:  simon.scott at sealcorp.com.au
>  phone:  08 9265 5648
> ------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Holland [mailto:myk at golden.wattle.id.au]
> Sent: Thursday, 18 May 2000 1:22
> To: plug at plug.linux.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] Scheduling Problems
> 
> 
> On Thu, 18 May 2000, Leon Brooks wrote:
> 
> > Brad Campbell wrote:
> > > I can't do a blocking read, in case I have a device go down.
> > 
> > Yes you can! You're not on a single-user machine. Have a watchdog
> > thread/process tap the main thread/process on the shoulder 
> if it dies.
> 
> Could you also try setitimer() to interrupt a blocking read?
> 
> Brad - maybe just to be sure, use strace to check pascal isnt 
> doing any
> unexpected syscalls.
> 
> 
> Mike Holland  <mike at golden.wattle.id.au>
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>