  This article introduces the {\Omega} counter, a frequency counter -- or a
frequency-to-digital converter, in a different jargon -- based on the Linear
Regression (LR) algorithm on time stamps. We discuss the noise of the
electronics. We derive the statistical properties of the {\Omega} counter on
rigorous mathematical basis, including the weighted measure and the frequency
response. We describe an implementation based on a SoC, under test in our
laboratory, and we compare the {\Omega} counter to the traditional {\Pi} and
{\Lambda} counters. The LR exhibits optimum rejection of white phase noise,
superior to that of the {\Pi} and {\Lambda} counters. White noise is the major
practical problem of wideband digital electronics, both in the instrument
internal circuits and in the fast processes which we may want to measure. The
{\Omega} counter finds a natural application in the measurement of the
Parabolic Variance, described in the companion article arXiv:1506.00687
[physics.data-an].
