As stated above, Channel 0 is implemented as a counter. Typically, the initial value of the counter is set by sending bytes to the Control, then Data I/O Port registers (the value 36h sent to port 43h, then the low byte to port 40h, and port 40h again for the high byte). The counter counts "down" to zero, then sends a hardware interrupt (IRQ 0, INT 8) to the CPU. The counter then resets to its initial value and begins to count down again. The fastest possible interrupt frequency is a little over a half of a megahertz. The slowest possible frequency, which is also the one normally used by computers running MS-DOS or compatible operating systems, is about 18.2 Hz. Under these real mode operating systems, the BIOS accumulates the number of INT 8 calls that it receives in real mode address 0040:006c, which can be read by a program.