What does “Optimize Communications\ in DESQviews setup program do?
A214: The cards that you install in your computer use “hardware interrupts” to tell the CPU that the card has or needs data. The hardware interrupts are like grade school students raising their hand in class. When the teacher recognizes a student with his hand up, that student can ask/answer a question. Like many teachers, DESQview has a “teacher’s pet.” This pet is hardware interrupt 0. If a bunch of hardware interrupts raise their hands at the same time, DESQview will always recognize 0 first, then 1, then 2, and so on. However, most COM ports use hardware interrupt levels 3 and 4. So by answering “Y” to “Optimize Communications”, you force interrupt level 3 to become the teacher’s pet. DESQview will then recognize the interrupts in this order: 3, 4, 5, … 0, 1, 2. Rather than answering “Y”, you can put in any interrupt number you prefer. For example, if you answer “5”, DESQview will recognize the interrupts in the order 5, 6, 7, … , 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. Setting “Optimize C
