On Wed, 6 Nov 1996 14:19:53 -0500, der Mouse  
<mouse@Collatz.McRCIM.McGill.EDU> mumbled:
[..]
> This is how my NeXT does
> dialin/dialout, and it is quite pleasant to use.

I like that idea very much.

> The second idea is to have only ptys be tty devices in the current
> sense (stty settings and all), with the hardware device drivers being
> optimized for high throughput to user-land and no tty goop.
> Interactive logins are then handled with a user-land daemon that
> interfaces between a hardware line device and a pty master half.

You mean you're in essence creating a serial port server, right?.. Oh boy,  
maybe there is hope for migrating NetBSD onto a Mach4 (or just plain Flex)  
mk and run it single (UX) or multi server a la Mach_US, and solve all our  
worries about multiprocessing at once...

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

> I do realize these two ideas are at least somewhat incompatible with
> one another. :-)

Well, nah, you can implement the "port locking" functionality a la NeXT's  
Mach drivers in NetBSD and go to a serial server architecture.  The first  
is redefining the functionality, the second is moving the actual handler  
around.

My guess is that you could very well implement it that way, without  
conflict.  Or am I missing something here?

Regards,
--
Christian Kuhtz <kuhtz@ix.netcom.com>, office: ckuhtz@paranet.com
Network/UNIX Specialist for Paranet, Inc. http://www.paranet.com/
Supercomputing Junkie, et al               MIME/NeXTmail accepted
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