On non 486 boxes in 2.1.x the local APIC is already the interrupt source
for timer interrupts
> Then it would have to figure out that the other cpu isn't working. (LIKELY
> EASY)
Very
> Then it would have to reboot and reinitlize the other cpu. (VERY HARD)
Actually that bit is fairly easy if the CPU still responds to reset - you
can ask the APIC to reset the other processor. The problem is you would
need to know exactly what the other processor was doing at the time and
reverse it. Some fault tolerant systems do just that.
Alan