Working through an academic OS class where you implement interrupt handling is super helpful for that - hardware interrupts and software interrupts are similar

Working through an academic OS class where you implement interrupt handling is super helpful for that - hardware interrupts and software interrupts are similar but not quite the same and actually writing the interrupt handlers makes some things clear. I can endorse MIT's 6.828 (I've taken it and taught a version if it), which (at least before this semester, they seem to be redoing things) has a lab about setting up interrupt handling: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2018/labs/lab3/ https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2018/labs/lab3/ It's entirely possible to complete the labs on your own, and doing labs 1-3 is worthwhile, but it's also a significant time commitment. Watchdog timers fall in the category of "there is so much" - they're not crucial to how network drivers work, but drivers in a production OS have to care about every feature that might interact with them. :(