Oral History Questions

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Fri Dec 11 01:56:16 1998

"Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner" <spc_at_armigeron.com>
> Oh, pullDOWN. Okay. Sorry. I'm a software guy, and it pains me to think
> that just about every other computer ever made could share interrupts but
> the PC. Makes writing of software just that more complicated.

Yes, but I'm not sure you grasp my point that the resistors are not enough
to solve the problem. They should have made the interrupts level-sensitive;
that is fundamentally what is required to make sharing them practical.

I can't imagine any sensible reason for making them default to edge-sensitive;
the 8259 is very flexible and can be configured either way. I can only
surmise that they had no clue and decided by flipping coins or throwing
darts.

Cheers,
Eric
Received on Fri Dec 11 1998 - 01:56:16 GMT