Multitasking in Workbench 1.3?

[Matt_H]

What you're describing is asynchronous operation, not multitasking. Technically, Workbench is a single program, so you can run other things alongside Workbench, but Workbench itself can usually only do one thing at once.

Newer versions of Workbench have some asynchronous functions, thanks to revised code and patches like ASyncWB. An accelerator or hard drive helps a lot, too.

[Matt_H]

This happens because on Amiga when accessing menus it blocks all gfx output. It was one of many tricks to make system more efficient. It still multitasks but anything trying to display new gfx content on that screen is blocked.

There is a utility called MagicMenu which replaces standard blocking menus by non-blocking menus but it is also much slower.

OS4.x also has optional non-blocking menus, probably using the same kind of mechanism. Does MorphOS also have them? Can't recall if I've ever tested.