FOR MORE INFO, also look at the file "mptsk.cpy" (Message inbox:666) Received: by ATHENA-PO-1.MIT.EDU (5.45/4.7) id AA29175; Thu, 31 Mar 88 15:02:49 EST From: Received: by ATHENA.MIT.EDU (5.45/4.7) id AA15862; Thu, 31 Mar 88 15:02:26 EST Received: by M11-111-1.MIT.EDU (5.45/4.7) id AA08526; Thu, 31 Mar 88 15:01:45 EST Message-Id: <8803312001.AA08526@M11-111-1.MIT.EDU> To: mitacm@ATHENA.MIT.EDU, sipb@ATHENA.MIT.EDU, oconsult@ATHENA.MIT.EDU, bboard@xx.lcs.mit.edu Cc: mbparker@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: PORTABLE THREADED MULTITASKER Available for UNIX, IBM PC's, and others Date: Thu, 31 Mar 88 15:01:41 EST Dear Programmers, A `portable' threaded multitasker is now on-line for your use. On UNIX, it will allow your programs to have inexpensive threads of execution which share memory. It also runs on personal computers as the IBM PC, which have no mulitasking support at all. ``Mailbox Multitasker'' is a layered multitasking package to appear in the July '88 issue of BYTE magazine on multitasking (look for: "Build a *Portable* Multitasking Environment in C"). It features pre-emptive and non-preemptive multitasking, inter-task communication, basic resource contention management, and multiprocessor support. It it simple and can easily be extended for elaborate schedulers, deadlock detection, interrupt-based optimizations, and the like. It is divided into three layers, so you may add portability/functionality as desired: Layer Status ===== ====== MPTHD: Context Switching -Complete MPTSK: Task Scheduling and Communication -Complete MPRES: Resource Management, Pre-emptive Multitasking -Implemented The source code, library, and documentation is on-line. From athena, % attach mitacm % cd /mit/mitacm/mptsk ;; WARNING (release 0.5. Cur. Release: 0.7) Important files are: *.man - "Man" pages *.h - Header files (with interface descriptions) *ex.c, *ex1.c,..- Example files mptsk.tex - Byte Article Please feel free to experiment with the package. Though this is not yet an official release, if you decide to incorporate any of the code in your programs, please preseve the copywrite notices. The package is distributed as shareware, and if you find it useful, $35 would help cover the costs of developing it. Send me your feedback. Thanks, and enjoy! Michael B. Parker, '89