Steve Baker (sbaker++at++link.com)
Thu, 18 Dec 1997 09:44:06 -0600 (CST)
> I'd like someone to explain how is it possible to write a RealTime
> application without a RealTime operating system ?
It's probably impossible on a multi-CPU machine.
> As far as I know, but I am not a specialist on that, Windows 9x/NT does
> not provide any equivalent of locking a CPU or having non degradable
> realtime process priorities that prevent the system to take time over the
> application.
That is also true.
> Is it that the meaning of RealTime changes when we deal with PC ?
Don't make the mistake of equating PC's with Microsoft Operating Systems.
It's perfectly possible to write realtime on a PC - you just have to use
something more appropriate (like Linux).
> Are final customers happy with uncontrolable frame drops ?
Some are, yes. It depends on the application and how much they are
paying.
There are certainly areas of human endeavour that would benefit from
simulation and 3D graphics that simply are not reasonable on machines
costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are certainly
people who would benefit from being able to simulate something on a
$2000 box - even if it drops the occasional frame.
Of course, there are other areas where that isn't true.
Take for example Air Traffic Control tower training. (Something
that my company can provide). In many countries around the
world, they train their control tower operators using a 10'x10'
model of the airport - and have a dozen or so people walking around with
model aircraft on sticks doing the "simulation".
For those people, a PC that updated the image maybe only 5 times a second,
and which occasionally dropped to perhaps 3 frames a second, would be
*FAR* preferable to the model board. Those people can't always afford
an Octane, or perhaps even an O2. But a reasonable application running
on a PC would certainly do the job.
Using Performer in those applications is not at all silly.
> Or is there other ways to ensure RealTime with NT ?
No, probably not.
Steve Baker 817-619-8776 (Vox/Vox-Mail)
Hughes Training Inc. 817-619-4028 (Fax)
2200 Arlington Downs Road SBaker++at++link.com (eMail)
Arlington, Texas. TX 76005-6171 SJBaker1++at++airmail.net (Personal eMail)
http://www.hti.com http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1 (personal)
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