Designing SOCs with Configured Cores

1.8. Multitasking and Processor Core Clock Rate

Multitasking is another system-design choice that tends to increase processor clock rates. Processor multitasking predates the introduction of microprocessors by at least a decade. Early computers of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s were very expensive. Consequently, computer time was also very expensive. One way to distribute the high hardware costs was to give each computer user a share of the computer’s time—timesharing. Timeshared operating systems started to appear on computers by 1961. Multitasking is timesharing, recast. Multitasking operating systems queue multiple tasks (rather than users) and give each task a time-multiplexed share of the computer. Multitasking makes one processor appear to ...