An apparatus for transferring data between a memory and an input/output device via a serial data transfer line including a central channel unit for sending to the input/output device a chaining instruction for chaining data stored at a plurality of locations in the memory, a remote channel unit for requesting from the central channel unit a new command causing the transfer of any succeeding data, and a unit for informing a data processing unit of an amount of data which has not been transferred from the memory to the input/output device.
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