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- Workstation date & time
- Introduction
-
- 11.. PPuurrppoossee
-
- Changing the workstation time is a simple matter, once you have
- understood how fancy _L_i_n_u_x is. Here is the story.
-
- _L_i_n_u_x use internally the GMT (Greenwich time). All operation are done
- this way. Files time stamp are stored this way. Displaying the time in
- "local time" is a user interface issue. This strategy allows
- meaningful data exchange over a wan (over the Internet for one).
-
- To show the time correctly, _L_i_n_u_x must be told about the time zone
- (How much hour difference between your place and GMT).
-
- 22.. SSeelleeccttiinngg aa zzoonnee
-
- The zone field allows you to select the zone/country code which
- reflect how the time is managed at your place. This selection also
- influence the deviation from normal time used in some country (winter
- time vs summer time).
-
- Type Ctrl-X to get an endless list of zone/country code.
-
- 33.. HHooww ttoo ssttoorree tthhee ddaattee iinn CCMMOOSS
-
- If your computer is used exclusively with _L_i_n_u_x, then select the
- universal format. If your computer is used with other operating
- system, don't select this option.
-
- The drawback of not selecting the option is that you will have to
- manually update the time few times a year (twice in many countries).
- No big deal...
-
- 44.. GGeett ddaattee ffrroomm sseerrvveerr
-
- You may specify here one or several server to probe to obtain the
- time. This will be done at boot time only though, whenever the network
- is configured.
-
- To get a more complete synchronization, you can either call
- /usr/sbin/netdate from root's crontab or use the xntp time server.
- This is not yet supported by _L_i_n_u_x_c_o_n_f, but not incompatible with it.
-
- 55.. SSppeeccttaaccuullaarr eeffffeecctt
-
- The screen-saver built-in in _L_i_n_u_x may surprise you. Be aware that the
- fact of advancing the time of your computer does not get un-notice by
- it. If you jump 15 minutes ahead, it sees it a 15 minutes without
- activity. The last time I saw the screen go black right after I hit
- "Enter" on a computer was with another so called _O_S designed to
- crash...
-
-