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Aihuxl.122 net.works utzoo!decvax!harpo!ihnss!ihuxl!ignatz Tue May 4 14:45:09 1982 Re: Cooperative Personal Computers I understand your problem; however, there is a solution which seems reasonable. With judicious selection of your personal computer, it is possible to offer services through your mainframe to expand the function of the PC without unduely loading the mainframe. I refer you to, at least, the Gamesmaster net, as well as efforts by companies such as Datalogics in Chicago (a phototypesetter manufacturer). The basic approach is to allow the mainframe, when so requested, to use the micro as an intelligent terminal (granted, normally a waste of resources; but if you know what the micro is, and how to access its resources, you've got a terminal with floppies or whatever, ports, etc., etc.). Going farther along your integration scheme, the approach used (at least in part) by the above-mentioned firms is to download either the entire utility requested, or a communication protocol handler. For instance, if the micro user requires a sophisticated text editor, the portion handling just the modifications to the current buffer ('page', 'segment', whatever) is downloaded initially. This then requests buffers as required, which are sent to the terminal after modified buffers are returned. This isn't just whistling; it's been done. Obviously, such an approach presupposes high-speed communication and an efficient I/O handling scheme in the mainframe. But I think you see my point.

Dave Ihnat Analysts International Corp. Bell Telephone Laboratories Indian Hill, IL (312) 979-6747 ihuxl!ignatz

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