Another updated RTC driver for vmware users to try

[Byron Brummer]

Mike Silbersack wrote:
> Ok, I took a closer look at how the linux rtc driver actually works, and I
> came up with this updated rtc driver.  It should be a better emulation,
> but my laptop is so pokey that I have trouble noticing a difference.  It
> appears that the current rtc is making the vmware client sleep too much,
> so this might improve responsiveness a bit.
> 
> Anyway, give it a shot and tell me how it works.  I believe that this is
> the last performance-related change to the driver, next up will be device
> cloning.

	Hello again, I'm the one that was having issues with the Allegiance
	server under VMWare2, 4-STABLE. :-)

	I'm happy to report I just gave this update a whirl and it made a
	*HUGE* difference.  Not quite 100% the match with Linux's
	performance running the Alleg server, but lightyears better then
	the last version (which was lightyears beyond the version it
	replaced).

	It's too jittery to really use yet (twitch games are critical), but
	it *does* function completely and it's *very* close to perfect.
	For reference the last version allowed clients to connect and a
	game to "start", but was so out of sync that no events actually
	made it back to the server despite otherwise great network stats.
	The version previous to that allowed the server to start, but
	clients barely could connect and would get "lagged out" and drop
	very shortly after connecting.  The only thing changed is the
	rtc code.

	So from a user perspective it looks like you're very much on
	the right track.  You say it sleeps too much...is there a way,
	perhaps at the cost of extra CPU, to "overclock" the RTC driver
	so that it barely sleeps if at all?  Because of the "twitch"
	nature of this game I care more about the response of this server
	then of anything else on the machine.

	Thanks for the great work!

	Specs:
	FreeBSD 4.9-STABLE
	P4/2.4ghz 1GB/PC133
	VMWare2, bridged (same results using host mode w/IPNat)
	Guest OS: Windows 2000 SP4 w/all updates
	App: Allegiance Server (www.FreeAllegiance.org, dev.alleg.net)

-Zenin