From: Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: how to find out what processor is being used?? Date: 15 Mar 1998 13:34:22 GMT Organization: Triode Internet Lines: 26 Message-ID: <6eglcu$ad6$3@hyperion.triode.net.au> References: <199803150138 DOT RAA29692 AT adit DOT ap DOT net> NNTP-Posting-Host: xenon.triode.net.au Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Precedence: bulk In comp.os.msdos.djgpp Nate Eldredge wrote: > At 12:42 3/13/1998 GMT, Perry DOT Fecteau AT Republican DOT COM wrote: > >i'm guessing it's a bios call. or is there an address i can find this > >information in? > Nothing so simple. It depends on just what you want to know. The Linux kernel code snoops out the model, some brand details (not much), whether there is an FPU bug, and takes a rough speed measurement called BogoMIPS. Well all of the routines to do this are in publicly readable source code form but understanding exactly how they work is a bit tricky. The basic rule for timing critical situations is to use the hardware timer interrupt 0. The Linux people found out that there are situations where very brief time intervals must be generated and this is what the BogoMIPS are used for. The old standby for graphics programs is to base everything off the video refresh (a programmable interrupt on most VGA cards) this keeps flicker off the screen and gives a known time-frame for actions to take place within. Again, it's not much use for very brief time intervals. - Tel