on 12/4/00 6:53 PM, Loptimiste@aol.com at Loptimiste@aol.com wrote:
quoted 10 lines <<let's not. it was made in good fun. no harm, no foul. >>> <<let's not. it was made in good fun. no harm, no foul. >>
>
> I know.. I'm just really curious.. I've just never heard an explanation.
>
> -j
>
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I have some good technical data. The Macintosh operating system is a
realtime OS. This means it has a *FIXED* amount of time to complete regular
tasks i.e. polling the keyboard to make sure it's still there, keeping the
hard drives spinning correctly, network stuff...this is why the mac is used
more for applications where very precise timing is required (read:
audio/video).
Windows (and linux) are not realtime. They take however long they damnwell
please to do regulatory stuff. This creates a problem when your sequencer is
counting 900ppq and the OS wants to check what time it is, or when
SuperCollider is processing an audio stream from the hard disk and the OS
wants to check if it's still there.
But Windows is more popular...funny that. Consequently, many people begin
programming on a Windows machine and port to the Mac. If the people doing
the port don't know much about the MacOS, then they will do what is fast,
not what is good. This is why many Windows-based audio apps collapse when
ported. It's not the computer's fault, it's the programmers.
And anyone who says that the Mac isn't a great OS for realtime audio
processing, I dare you to explain SuperCollider and MAX/MSP.
I recently learned these facts, so if anyone else wants to improve on them
go ahead.
-l[e^2]
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