In fact I think there were actually very few locations that depend on the
clock being 100Hz, most of those have been removed by the Alpha port.
I think the best solution would be to combine _both_ clocks on the PC,
have the timer chip interrupt the system at a variable rate between 18Hz
and several thousand depending on system requirements.
Have HZ set to a fixed value (a variable one would be a BAD idea) for
the many 'tick' based users (kernel functions and user level).
Get the _real_ time by adjusting the interrupt time from the time on
the CMOS chip clock (adjusted for simple inaccuracies)
As I see it the only real problem would be the xntp daemon, I think
'all' you'd have to do is have a virtual timer that counts at the
1193180Hz rate of the timer chip and update it every real interrupt as
if the virtual chip were running at HZ (eg every 11931.81 +-20ppm!).
This would probably fix the free-run accuracy too, but not as well as
syncing to an adjusted CMOS would.
This does leave you with three clocks on the system, but has the
advantages of interrupts at _any_ rate and accurate time keeping
whatever the conditions...
-- Rob. (Robert de Bath <robert@mayday.compulink.co.uk>)