Output devices sharing by minicomputers

摘要

With the dramatic reduction in cost of central processors in recent years, the peripheral devices occupy an ever larger share in terms of cost of a minicomputer system. Sharing the expensive components among users is a time honored way of increasing utilization and hence reducing the cost of unit operation. This paper presents the results of a simulation of sharing an output device, such as the printer, by more than one processor under different workload conditions.