Subject: Re: options "BLINK" in config file for kernel?
To: port-sparc@netbsd.org <port-sparc@netbsd.org>
From: Simon Burge <simonb@telstra.com.au>
List: tech-kern
Date: 01/20/1999 10:08:53
On Tue, 19 Jan 1999 12:28:23 -0700  Herb Peyerl wrote:

> David Maxwell <david@fundy.ca>  wrote:
>  > Perhaps the reason that some have suggested the lights blink faster as the
>  > load gets higher is that the current range is 1s -> 2s -> 3s -> 4s and
>  > that people don't percieve phenomenon under 1Hz very well. Perhaps a 
>  > suggestion would be to start the blink at a faster rate at load=0, like
>  > 10 blinks per second, and get slower as load goes up, 9 per second at load 2
>  > etc... to 1 per second at a load of ten and above.
> 
> I don't know why _others_ are suggesting it and I don't know about you,
> but I know _my_ heart beats faster when I'm working harder...

I use the analogy that the machine has less time to blink the lights if
it's busier.

>From an implementation point of view, you could toggle the light each N
times you enter the idle loop, so it really wouldn't be slowing anything
down.  The less the box enters the idle loop, the slower the light
blinks.

Simon.