Real Time UNIX

[Ron Natalie]

I have recently completed an application using UNIX on a MULTIBUS
II 386 system (note that these boxes tend to be a bit expensive as
there aren't a lot out there yet).  I read from a dataloggin recorder
that drops 32K blocks on me every tenth of a second (and can't reposition
so I have to pick them up) and write them to a Storage Tek 6250 tapdrive
(I hate Digidata).  Multibus II is fun for this type of application.
The use of the Ciprico tape controller makes life fun because I can
just throw the received 32K blocks at it and let it run the tapedrive.
Unlike a normal UNIX device driver the Ciprico has no queue of I/O's
in the driver.  You just keep chucking the MBII messages at it and it
will send you back the answers when it is done.

-Ron