[time-nuts] FreeBSD, NetBSD, or Minix-III?

Lux, James P james.p.lux at jpl.nasa.gov
Sat May 16 21:06:15 UTC 2009




On 5/16/09 1:43 PM, "Chuck Harris" <cfharris at erols.com> wrote:

> Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:

> 
>> I have no idea how the timing code is in minix3, but I do know
>> how much time it took me and subsequently Warner to get it right
>> and good in FreeBSD.
> 
> Given that minix was written by a CS professor who has no apparent
> experience with real time operations, and has never been heard from
> on timenuts, I would guess it will be primitive.
> 
>> I'll still claim that FreeBSD is a generation ahead of all other
>> operating systems with respect to timekeeping, if for no other
>> reason, because FreeBSD is the only OS that truly splits the
>> nanosecond.
> 
> I don't believe that will be happening in a message passing microkernel
> (like minix) anytime soon... unless you build all of the timekeeping
> software into the kernel, and then you are in the process of becoming
> a monolithic kernel ;-)
> 

Or, do what I'm doing for a software radio that uses RTEMS, do the critical
timing stuff in hardware, and the software just manages the hardware.




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