QTimer *timer = new QTimer;
timer->start(10);
connect(timer,SIGNAL(timeout()),someObject,SLOT(someFunction()));

QApplication app(argc, argv);
[...]
app.exec();

while(1)
 {
     SleepUntilThereIsSomethingToDo();  // not a real function name!
     DoTheThingsThatNeedDoingNow();     // this is also a name I made up
     if (timeToQuit) break;
 }

int select(int nfds,
           fd_set *readfds,
           fd_set *writefds,
           fd_set *exceptfds,
           struct timeval *timeout);

void SleepUntilThereIsSomethingToDo()
{
   struct timeval now = gettimeofday();  // get the current time
   struct timeval nextQTimerTime = [...];  // time at which we want to emit a timeout() signal, as was calculated earlier inside QTimer::start()
   struct timeval maxSleepTimeInterval = (nextQTimerTime-now);
   select([...], &maxSleepTimeInterval);  // sleep until the appointed time (or until I/O arrives, whichever comes first)
}

void DoTheThingsThatNeedDoingNow()
{
   // Is it time to emit the timeout() signal yet?
   struct timeval now = gettimeofday();
   if (now >= nextQTimerTime) emit timeout();

   [... do any other stuff that might need doing as well ...]
}