direct-coupled machines

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direct-coupled machines A system in which two (or more) machines are connected by a high-speed link in order to perform the total workload. Typically a small machine, the master, deals with file editing, job submission, and all scheduling. Larger jobs that would take too long to process on this small machine are passed to a larger machine, the slave, for processing, the results being returned to the user via the small machine. See also master-slave machine.