Re: GMT vs UTC

["Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>]

On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 04:49:10PM -0300, Marcelo Chiapparini wrote:
> 
> I am running etch. How can I know if the clock is set to GMT or UTC. And
> how can I switch from one to another?
> 

Do you mean is your hardware clock set to GMT/UTC or localtime during
install?  Go to VT2 and type date.  If the time is correct for where
you're living, then its on local.  If the time would be correct for UTC
then its UTC.  If its not correct for either, you may want to reboot
into the BIOS and set the time to close to GMT.

Note that while there is a difference between GMT and UTC, mostly
computers are set to GMT.  The "M" is for Mean time which smooths over
leap seconds that occur in UTC due to the jitter of the earth's
rotation.  Check wikipedia for a more precise answer.  Note, however,
that its unlikely that you'll manage to keep your system clock, even
with ntpd, close enough to one or the other to notice the differnce
(which needs sub-second accuracy).  

Doug.