As part of the linux kernel course we are explained that high resolution timers or may may not be supported by the hardware. The hardware that affects this support is only the CPU.
So I took my time and opened one of the intel CPUs specs I am trying to understand If by reading the specs of a given CPU, I can determine if the OS can support high resolution timers.
In that specific manual I am uncertain what to look for, but my first guess is the "Clock Topology" section (2.6 in the link). The section lists under it three types of HW clocks: Base Clock reference clock (100MHz), PCIe reference clock and fixed clock 38.4MHz.
Now if the high high resolution clock support is based solely on the hardware, and not by some complex computation of multiple clocks and so forth, then the base reference clock's 100Hz is 10 nanoseconds, not 1. High resolution timers are supposedly support 1 nanoseconds resolutions.
I assume INTEL high-end CPU do support high resolution timers, but it seems I lack knowledge in how to read the manual and what is needed for that support.
Can someone elaborate more? does nanosecond resolution actually mean 1 nanosecond resolution? If this CPU does support HR-timers, what mechanisms are used to compensate the lack of HW support. Can this information be obtained from the OS itself?