Re: KDE changing system time
Good day, everyone. Just my two cents on this subject: I know that many
motherboards are often set to UTC. Linux and UNIX in general have been
known to be set to UTC. In my case, I am in UTC-5 time (central time).
Try setting the time via the date command and then follow that by
systohc (best done in single user mode). If you have ntpdate running as
a daemon, that can also mess with the time if it's using UTC.
On Thu, 2002-08-15 at 07:55, Donald R. Spoon wrote:
> Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> wrote:
>
> > There's a discussion on the OxLug mailing list where people are saying that
> > KDE messes with the system clock and Debian developers know about this.
> >
> > What is it?
> >
> > I've been running the latest Debian/unstable for the last 6 weeks with SE
> > Linux banning such time changes and my logs indicate that KDE hasn't tried
> > anything.
> >
>
> This is the result the logical fallacy of arguing from the "specific' to
> the "general", IMHO. The people who are making such "authoritative"
> statements probably started using KDE and noticed the system time was
> off about the same time. They connected the dots and began making
> proclaimations without much further research.
>
> I have experienced this phenomena long before KDE became a reality! As
> it turns out, it is a function of several other factors at the hardware
> and OS level.
>
> 1. The hardware "clock" on the MB isn't always as stable a reference as
> one would assume. Bad design without too much consideration of inherent
> drift, and sometimes a failing power source on the BIOS make them poor
> time pieces over the long run. If you buy a "cheap" MB, then you
> probably are buying a poor timepiece in the bargin. You HAVE to correct
> the BIOS settings periodically, just like you have to set your wrist
> watch occasionally!
>
> 2. The system clock is run in the OS and is quite different from the
> "hardware" clock on the MB. It is a much less stable reference than the
> hardware clock and is normally synched with the hardware clock on
> bootup. On shutdown the two times are again compared, a drift rate is
> computed, and this drift rate is applied to the system clock the next
> time the computer is booted. IIRC, heavy disk usage and other OS
> functions can cause the system clock to miss a few beats, which
> accumulate over time and can cause a highly variable estimate of that
> drift rate on shutdown. Things that make heavy use of system resources
> will exacerbate this phenomena (KDE, X, large file transferes to & from
> the HD, compiling a kernel, graphics, etc.).
>
> 3. The longer your computer is "up" the bigger these differences
> between the two clocks become, unless corrected periodically. Servers,
> routers, and others with long "uptimes" are particularly prone to large
> time errors unless corrected.
>
> I could go on into finer details, but you get the idea. We are dealing
> with an imperfect time keeping method to begin with, and it is ludicrous
> to state/or imply that KDE is the sole cause!
>
> The fix to all this is to synch your computer(s) with an external,
> stable time reference. You can do this manually if you want, but it is
> quite easy to do it automatically. I have set up one of my LAN
> computers as a local time-server that is synched to an external
> time-reference and then I synch all my other LAN compters to my local
> time server. I have been running this config for over a year, while
> using KDE exclusively on all the computers, and I have NEVER had any
> problems nor seen "KDE messes with the sytem clock".
>
> I would not place such people in a position of authority....
>
> Cheers,
> -Don Spoon-
>
>
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--
--
* Derek J Witt | Email: cappicard@cox.net, djw@flinthills.com
**
* Home Page: http://www.flinthills.com/~djw/ | "...and on the eighth
day, God met Bill *
* Gates. But, the Almighty had to send him back with postage due." -
Unknown *
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