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-
- netdate v. 1.04 for Windows 3.1
-
- Copyright (c) 1995, Gregorian Programmers Guild
-
- ***************
-
- Description
- -----------
-
- This is netdate v. 1.04. I wrote netdate to synchronise my
- desktop PC's clock with my Unix server. The program requires
- that you give it a host which is providing the time service on
- Port 37 (most, if not all unix boxes). Getting time from a
- unix box you know is using NTP will give you the most accurate
- time on your desktop PC. This program seems to be accurate to
- within about +/- 1 sec.
-
- You must also specify your local timezone. Basically there
- are two methods for specifying the Time Zone. You can either
- setup a TZ environment variable in DOS (the hard way) or specify
- a city from the time zone drop down list box. I've also provided
- a method to adjust the time ahead one half hour for those of you
- living in Newfoundland, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Rangoon, ...
-
- See below for a description of other options.
-
- Refer to the file rfc868.txt for a description of the time
- service on port 37.
-
- Installation
- ------------
-
- - Unzip the archive in a temporary directory.
- - Copy the files netdate.exe and netdate.hlp somewhere convenient
- (eg. c:\winsock).
- - Check to see whether the file ctl3dv2.dll exists
- in your Windows System directory, if not, do the
- following (assuming your system directory is as
- below),
-
- 1) copy ctl3dv2.zip c:\windows\system
- 2) cd \windows\system
- 3) unzip ctl3dv2.zip
- 4) del ctl3dv2.zip
-
- MAKE sure the file ctl3dv2.dll is NOT in the same
- directory as the executable (ie., netdate.exe)!
-
- - add a program manager item
- - run the program
-
- Setting up netdate
- ------------------
-
- This is pretty trivial. Specify a host from which you
- would like to get time. If you don't know of any try
- tick.usno.navy.mil or tock.usno.navy.mil. You'll also
- have to specify your local timezone. As mentionned
- above there are two ways to do this.
-
- 1) Select Time zone from the Drop down List box. These
- are arranged according to city and I've tried to include
- as many as possible. There are also 25 timezones at
- the end of the list listed as GMT[+-]nn. If you are
- west of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) you'd might select
- GMT+05 (this would be Eastern Standard Time).
-
- 2) TZ Environment variable
-
- At the DOS prompt (before starting windows) do
-
- set TZ=EST5EDT
-
- ideally you'll want to put that line in your autoexec.bat
- file. Of course if you live in Los Angeles you'll use
- PST8PDT instead, but you all knew that. If you live
- elsewhere in the world you'll have to find out what the
- TZ code is for your area.
-
- Other Options
- -------------
-
- * Use daylight savings
- If you live in an area where daylight savings time does
- not apply click this button off. This effectively subtracts
- 3600 seconds from the time returned by the host.
-
- * Use TZ Env Var
- If this button is greyed you do not have a TZ environment
- variable set in DOS. Select a time zone from the Local TZ
- drop down list. Otherwise, click it on to use the TZ
- environment variable, or off to select a TZ from the list.
-
- * Add 30 minutes
- If you live in Newfoundland click on Add 30 minutes to
- adjust the time accordingly.
-
- * Report Only
- If you just want to see the time from the host without
- actually resetting your system clock click on this
- button.
-
- * Auto Close
- If you click on Auto Close the program will automatically
- close 5 seconds after time is recieved from a remote host.
- This gives one enough time to turn this option off.
-
- * About
- Click on the About button to get all the gory details,
- including how to snarf a copy of my desktop windows
- program DWM, which is meant to replace that monstrosity
- Program Manager.
-
- * Sound
- Set sounds in the control panel Sound applet. You must
- run netdate at least one time to have the appropriate
- entry placed in the [sounds] section of win.ini. There
- are now 3 sound events that may be set,
- - connect
- - reset
- - max adjust
-
- Advanced Options
- ----------------
- * Max adjust
- Specify 0 to have no maximum time adjustment. Otherwise,
- enter an integer between 1 and 65353 representing the
- largest time adjustment. If the time returned differs
- from the local time by more than this value a message
- box will prompt asking whether you want to override the
- maximum adjustment.
-
- Specify one of prompt, ignore or accept to deal with
- maximum time adjustments.
- prompt - the user is prompted to deal with the event
- ignore - the time recieved is automatically ignored
- accept - the time recieved is automatically accepted
-
- * Logging
- Specify use log to enable logging and Verbose for extra
- information. You must also specify a logfile.
-
- Normal Logging Record (tab delimited fields)
- host date TZ Net_Time Cur_Time (nTime-cTime) Total_Net_Lag Action
-
- Verbose Logging Record (tab delimited fields)
- host date TZ Net_Time Cur_Time Net_Time_Secs Cur_Time_Secs (nTime-CTime)
- Total_Net_Lag Connect_Net_Lag Action
-
- Action can be one of,
- report - time reported but not changed
- reset - time reset
- ignore - ignore returned time (max Adjustment event)
- accept - accept returned time (max Adjustment event)
- partial- partial reset (max Adjustment event)
-
- * Calibration Attempts
- Each time netdate is run the time is retrieved this number of
- times in an attempt to calibrate the net lag more accurately.
- Note that this does not apply when the time is retrieved with
- the Get Time button.
-
- Caveats
- -------
-
- You must be running Winsock.
-
- The file gpg.ini is created in your windows directory
- the first time you run the program.
-
- Net lag is calculated to be half the difference between the time
- at connect and when the time data is recieved. This is a crude
- approximation of the time for the return trip but should suffice
- for most users. Getting the time several times and averaging
- successive net lags may be a better overall approach and may be
- implemented if deemed necessary.
-
- Anti-Caveats
- ------------
-
- Netdate is free! Although I retain copyright and thus the
- program is not released into the public-domain, yada-yada-yada.
-
- Author
- ------
- Steeve McCauley
- steeve@eps.mcgill.ca
-
- ftp://ftp.eps.mcgill.ca/pub/windows/ndate100.zip
- http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~steeve/
-