[supercat]

Can you explain the consequence of priority inversion in a real time operating system?

A low-priority task holds a resource needed by a high-priority task, and so the high-priority task can't execute until all intermediate-priority tasks have been serviced.

How about a quick exposition on the merits of FSK, PSK or QAM?

The latter allow more data to be exchanged in a given bandwidth, but are more complex and more sensitive to frequency-dependent timing distortions.

Would you choose CSMA/CD or token passing for best deterministic response?

Token passing.

How did Shannon improve upon Nyquist's sampling theory?

Did he clarify the exact way in which frequencies above f/2 fold back, or had Nyquist already done that?

[Myrddin]

I see someone reading the thread has done more than figure out how to "work a PC". The element I was seeking on Shannon's behalf was the impact of signal to noise ratio on the carrying capacity of a channel.