[en] Because devices like the Spin Spectrometer described in a previous paper to this conference can produce an extremely fast but fairly simple-to-process data stream, it seems reasonable to consider front-end preprocessors having special characteristics. In general, the kinds of transformations being considered do not require floating point calculations or extensive calculations. In order to be somewhat specific, the particular data acquisition/processing problems posed by the Spin Spectrometer at the Holifield Heavy Ion Facility will be discussed