Warp wrote:
>   I think it would cause security problems if a userland program could turn
> off interrupts, even if for a limited period of time.

I can't really think what kind of problems it would cause if it was limited 
to a certain number of cycles and the system was written knowing the CPU had 
that capability. I mean, it normally takes dozens if not hundreds of cycles 
to handle an interrupt.

Of course, you'd probably want it to only be able to turn off the lower 
priority interrupts.

>   Besides, most/all CPU designs (especially Intel's) have always supported
> multiprocessor setups, so having to support true multitasking has always
> been there.

I had this thought back when I was working on computers with actual core. 
I'm not even sure Intel existed as a company at that point. :-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Serving Suggestion:
     "Don't serve this any more. It's awful."

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