Re:Windows Timer Resolution: The Great Rule Change
by toast0 on Monday October 05, 2020 @02:57PM
(#24690798)
If you want to be really mad, consider that modern x86 chips can fire a timer interrupt from the timestamp counter (TSC). Early TSCs weren't frequency stable, but most (all?) now use some fixed frequency, something around the bus speed, and the most recent models even tell you what the frequency is. With that, you could have sub-microsecond timers, if your system isn't too busy and/or you have the right priorities set for preemption.
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Re:Windows Timer Resolution: The Great Rule Change
by JoeAltmaier on Monday October 05, 2020 @04:44PM
(#24691827)
I remember that! Worked at Intel's biggest chip customer (very early on). They asked us what we wanted in the next generation. Nobody said much, so I made a manifesto - bus data breakpoint interrupts, jump history fifo, and a timestamp counter and count-match interrupt register! It showed up in the next spec, but as a privileged instruction sadly. And at clock speed. I wanted it at a fixed frequency for I/O timing, and I wanted it for everybody - drivers, apps, kernel, everbody.