Re: setting the date with date [ Netdate ]

[Peter Ross <petdr@cs.mu.OZ.AU>]

On 04-Nov-1999, Dave Sherohman <esper@usinternet.com> wrote:
> Ray Schultz said:
> > Netdate will sync your computer clock with that of a Network
> > Time Protocol server (NTP).  An example is "time.uh.edu"
> 
> What's the difference between netdate and ntpdate (other than that ntpdate is
> a separate package)?
> 
There is no difference between netdate and ntpdate, however the xntp
package provides some more services that allow a clock to be kept in
sync with another clock continuously.

For example, my computer clocks gains 1 sec every minute
(hypothetically) using netdate means after one minute my clock will be
out by 1 second.  However if I use ntp the two clocks will be kept in
sync for the entire day, very useful if the two computers share a
filesystem.

I personally use ntp, found in the xntp package, to sync with an atomic
clock on a GPS satellite (well the computer I sync with gets its time
from the satellite and I can at most be 20ns out).

Pete