Better timer resolution

[Stevens Brian]

I have been investigating the PC architecture and as far as I can establish
the only timer conencted to the interrupt controller is timer 0 on the the
8254 PIT.

This leaves the following alternatives:

*	Modify the default clock to use a better resolution
		This has the problems of increased processor load and needs
the clock routine to be modified to scale back to the original values.

*	Use the real time chip
		This can give a resoloution of 122 micro seconds, which is
good enough for my needs.

*	Use the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
		This is available on later chips (pc686 ?) and seems to have
a timer function. I need to investigate this and may go this route if my
hardware will support it.  this of course means that it is not usable on all
PC systems.

Any comments, thoughts or assistance greatfully received.

Brian Stevens

QinetiQ
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