Amiga 3000UX, X, OpenLook, Motif, Color, A2410, Etc. (somewhat long)

[Dan Zerkle]

In article <9K5AC+2 at xds13.ferranti.com> peter at ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>
>I don't get it. Why put compression on the modem, when the UNIX box can do
>a better job at it (after all, it's got the whle file to examine), and put
>all this interrupt handling on the UNIX box when the modem is better at it?
>Doesn't make sense to me.

Notice that when the modems are doing compression, EVERYTHING goes
faster, not just file transfer.  You have probably noticed that using
a full screen editor is much nicer at 9600bps vs 2400bps.

Also, it's nice to have it done automatically by the modem, instead of
transforming your file n times, you get to do it n-2 times (one less
compression, one less de-compression).  It can save time in this
manner.

Finally, modems with compression also usually have correction built
in.  With your editor again, this means no annoying line noise.  Also,
on-the-fly error correction via the modem is a little bit more
efficient than the usual programmed error correction.

However, all of this is pointless if your site has no budget from the
legislature this year because the last governer was a bozo and all the
funds got cut and your fees are going up and there's no way in Hell
the computer center can afford error correcting modems so your modem
might as well be the kind that cost noticably less than the one you did
buy.

But then again, that's life.

           Dan Zerkle  zerkle at iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu  (916) 754-0240
           Amiga...  Because life is too short for boring computers.