On Mon, 7 Dec 1998, Ricardo Jurczyk Pinheiro wrote:
> At 12:19 06/12/98 +0100, you wrote:
>
> I think you're forgetting the latency problem. Explaining: All the
> MSXes would be connected by the joystick port, right? So, if you've 16 MSX
> connected, the first MSX would be connected to the second, the second to the
> third... And finally, the sixteenth to the first, so we'll have a 16-MSX ring.
>
> Suppose you want to send some signals from the fourth to the
> twientieth computer. So, your packages would be sent through eight
> computers, and you'll spend time sending this file, maybe some seconds.
> Sending a file through a LAN is a matter of time: The faster, the better.
> Into a game, it's a life-and-death problem: Just imagine that you lose a
> game 'cause of network lag.
Generally speaking, you are right. In this game, it is not the point,
though, since it works in turns. computer 1 never wants to send a package
to computer 4. It only sends the complete playing area to computer 2 and
gets it from computer 16. Therefor, in this case, a ring would be the
perfect architecture.
> So, does anyone has thought about a... switch, like the Ethernet
> switches, mostly common into Beowulf supercomputers, to be used into our
> networked MSXes? I don't think it would be pretty difficult to be done.
Not difficult, perhaps, but how many people do you think will buy one? If
you want a networking standard that is actually used, it need to be REALLY
low-cost. Personally, I wouldn't buy a switch if it would be more
expensive than say 3 english pounds (and I'm sure you can't make it for
that money)...
> And about the game: I don't think 256 computers connected would be a
> great idea... Huge amount of packages running over the LAN, it would be a
> great mess.
I agree. It was just to make clear that the number of robots will not be
one of the limitations.
> ByE!
>
Bye,
shevek
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