DMA IN MP
What is DMA and Why it is used? Direct memory access (DMA) is a mode of data transfer between the memory and I/O devices. This happens without the involvement of the processor. We have two other methods of data transfer, programmed I/O and Interrupt driven I/O. Let’s revise each and get acknowledge with their drawbacks. In programmed I/O, the processor keeps on scanning whether any device is ready for data transfer. If an I/O device is ready, the processor fully dedicates itself in transferring the data between I/O and memory. It transfers data at a high rate, but it can’t get involved in any other activity during data transfer. This is the major drawback of programmed I/O. In Interrupt driven I/O, whenever the device is ready for data transfer, then it raises an interrupt to processor. Processor completes executing its ongoing instruction and saves its current state. It then switches to data transfer which causes a delay. Here, the processor doesn’t keep scanning for periphe...