Newsgroups: comp.sys.transputer
From: jdd@aiki.demon.co.uk (Jim Dixon)
Subject: Re: Windows <--> Transputer Link
Organization: AIKI Parallel Systems Ltd
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:49:02 +0000
Message-ID: <774103742snz@aiki.demon.co.uk>

In article <774024775snz@oiiag.demon.co.uk>
           ijg@oiiag.demon.co.uk "Ian Gillingham" writes:
> 
> We have an instrument under development which uses a transputer 
> network.
> 
> A Windows application will 'talk' to the instrument via a transputer link.  
> We have decided to use a 'link to bus adapter card' based around the INMOS
> CO12 chip.  I know of the ISERVER and WISERVER (Windows), but don't
> know if they will do the job.  We have a custom command set and 
> message transport protocol specified.  All we need to do now is to
> send the messages down the link, from the PC (Windows 3.1 application and 
> get status info back from the transputer application.
> 
> Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
> 
You can use WIServer to interface a transputer application to Windows.
The distribution package contains examples with source code.

In order to do this, you must write a converter to translate your custom
command set into the ISERVER protocol.	This should not be difficult.
If you have one of the Inmos Toolsets (Occam or C) one of the manuals
documents the ISERVER protocol.

The 'natural' thing to do is to have all of the application code running
on the transputer network, with WIServer providing host services to the
transputers.  But WIServer also allows data to be passed to a DLL, so
it is also possible to run programs on the host concurrently with the
application running on the transputers, with the two exchanging data
through a DLL.

Performance would almost certainly improve if the ISERVER code were itself
modified to directly support the application.  This is a considerably
larger project.  Inmos supplies source code for ISERVER; this can be
freely reused, as I understand it.  Source code is also supplied with
WIServer, but you would have to approach UWE about licensing.  Our own
company also licenses source code for a high-performance ISERVER
interpreter.
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