There are five units in the timer device.
TIMER DEVICE UNITS
Unit Use
------------ ---------------
UNIT_MICROHZ Interval Timing
UNIT_VBLANK Interval Timing
UNIT_ECLOCK Interval Timing
UNIT_WAITUNTIL Time Event Occurrence
UNIT_WAITECLOCK Time Event Occurrence
* The VBLANK timer unit is very stable and has a granularity comparable
to the vertical blanking time. When you make a timing request, such
as "signal me in 21 seconds," the reply will come at the next
vertical blank after 21 seconds have elapsed. This timer has very
low overhead and may be more accurate then the MICROHZ and ECLOCK
units for long time periods. Keep in mind that the vertical blanking
time varies depending on the display mode.
* The MICROHZ timer unit uses the built-in precision hardware timers to
create the timing interval you request. It accepts the same type of
command - "signal me in so many seconds and microseconds." The
microhertz timer has the advantage of greater resolution than the
vertical blank timer, but it may have less accuracy over long periods
of time. The microhertz timer also has much more system overhead,
which means accuracy is reduced as the system load increases. It is
primarily useful for short-burst timing for which critical accuracy
is not required.
* The ECLOCK timer unit uses the Amiga E-Clock to measure the time
interval you request. This is the most precise time measure
available through the timer device.
* The WAITUNTIL timer unit acts as an alarm clock for time requests.
It will signal the task when systime is greater than or equal to a
specified time value. It has the same granularity as the VBLANK
timer unit.
* The WAITECLOCK timer unit acts as an alarm clock for time requests.
It will signal the task when the E-Clock value is greater than or
equal to a specified time value. It has the same granularity as the
ECLOCK timer unit.
Granularity vs. Accuracy.
-------------------------
Granularity is the sampling frequency used to check the timers.
Accuracy is the precision of a measured time interval with respect to
the same time interval in real-time. We speak only of granularity
because the sampling frequency directly affects how accurate the
timers appear to be.