What is difference between maskable and non-maskable interrupts?
Answer:
A maskable interrupt may be prevented from executing by setting a bit within a cpu register. A NMI is a hardware thing, and will nouns the program counter with its execute address regardless of settings.
Maskable interrupts : Hardware interrupts that can be enabled and disabled by software.
Non-maskable interrupt : It is a computer processor interrupt that can not be without being seen by standard interrupt masking technique in the system. It is typically used to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors.
Maskable interrupts are one that can be avoided by the processor.
When a lateral device generates an interrupt , the processor checks for interrupt see pin. If it is activated the interrupt is permitted and the processor acknowledges it by sending INTA signal to the device.
If the interrupt see pin is inactive later the processor rejects the interrupt and does not send the INTA signal.
Nonmaskable interrupts are one that cannot be avoided by the processor and are referred to as NMI. TRAP is one of the NMIs.(In baggage of NMI , the processor does not check for interrupt enable pin. It sends the INTA)
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