xntpd and linux on PPC question

["Sunil N. Goda" <sngoda@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

  I am trying to use xntpd (or ntpdate) to set my clock at boot up (after 
xdm loads). I have a file ntp.conf as follows:

> logfile /var/log/xntpd
> driftfile /var/lib/ntp/ntp.drift
> statsdir /var/log/ntpstats/

> statistics loopstats peerstats clockstats
> filegen loopstats file loopstats type day enable
> filegen peerstats file peerstats type day enable
> filegen clockstats file clockstats type day enable

> #server
> server 128.118.25.3
> server 128.175.1.3

  The servers are working servers.  After boot up and xdm starts, I get a
message in the console saying that the time has been corrected by a few
microseconds.  The problem is that my time is always 5 hours
(exactly) early.  I figure the problem is with time zones, but not more
than that.  I also have a file '/etc/timezone' which contains EST, which
is my timezone.  How do I get the correct time?

  Also, I am trying to convince a Power PC (Mac OS 8.5) user to convert to
linux, but I was wondering how well linux works on a PPC (assuming the
newest kernel 2.2.1).  I have heard that gnu compilers don't compile code
very efficiently for the PPC, but then again I have heard the opposite as
well.  Any input would be helpful.

  Thanks,
    Sunil Goda