18 Jul
2015
18 Jul
'15
10:26 p.m.
On 07/18/2015 09:06 PM, Mike Stein wrote:
I always wondered which was more efficient,
multiplexing among
essentially complete 'computers per user' sharing a common I/O 'channel'
or swapping processes and memory banks...
Well, the multiplexing (via hardware) memory among a single processor
did have the advantage that it was possible to hang a single "processor"
without taking down the whole shebang--you could simply label the
processor as unavailable in the processor pool. Believe me, when
debugging PPU programs that was very handy--hang a PPU, try again,
without rebooting the system.
Later versions of the Cyber (e.g. 170/180) actually used separate
completely autonomous processors.
--Chuck