[Sussex] Some "Time" questions

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

John David Thompson wrote:
> OK Chaps,
>
> I have a couple of simple questions concerning the "time" on my dual
> boot laptop.  I know this is "an old chestnut" ad I'm sure it's an easy
> one to answer.
>
> I am booting Suse and Windows XP.  The clock is usually wrong by two or
> three hours (and not exactly). For instance I am writing this at 16:07
> but the computer clock says 13:47.  I have set-up the hardware clock in
> Linux to "Local Time" which is what the Suse help panel suggests. Not UTC.
>   
The several hours discrepancy sounds like a "Use UTC" setting issue. But 
that is easily addressed by setting both Windows and Linux to use an 
NTP, which will automatically set the time at boot time and correct to 
the NTP server from then on.

Which Linux? I can point you to setup tools in the RedHatFedora/SuSE worlds.
> Perhaps I may have to do the same in windows (if possible).  I'll check
> this.
>
> It's not really a problem because I can contact a time server to update
> the system clock.
>
> Windows has a button built-in to set the clock from a timeserver.
>
> In Linux, I open a terminal and run the following commands:-
> su (password)
> ntpdate bear.zoo.bt.co.uk
> exit
>
> Which works a treat! But...
>   
Your NTP init scripts should do this for you automatically at boot time. 
Is NTP enabled in your init scripts? Do you have good servers listed in 
/etc/ntp.conf?


> Questions.  How can I use a simple script to automate the above so that
> I can simply click an icon on my Linux desktop to set the clock?  Can
> this script be given special permissions so that the root password is
> not required?  Can someone write this script for me - 'cause I'm a thickie!!
>
> I know there is a time service that I could run at boot - and I do this
> on my "wired" desk P.C. (which is also dual boot).  The laptop, however,
> is usually connected to the internet via a wireless link, which is not
> connected until KDE starts (and not always then) - so I need manual control.
>   
Ahh. Put it in the init scripts, and simply restart the init scripts. It 
should already be there.