Amiga Time Utilities (Part2) -Facts
Amiga Time Utilities (Part2) -Facts
Well having tried and tested the Timeswipe program, Sadly although it was a very handy thing to have, it meant I still had to readjust my Amiga clock via the WB/Prefs. So onto a little program by Chris Young called Facts.
This program will let you log on to any NTP server, retrieve the current time and synchronise your Amiga's clock with it. Supports sntp, time and daytime protocols on any port number with potential accuracy of up to 20ms. Lots of features!
FACTS supports all TCP/IP stacks which implement bsdsocket.library v4. (eg. AmiTCP, Miami, TermiteTCP) It does *not* use the virtual TCP: device.
Version 2 and above is designed to run in the background and adjust your system time when requested by you or an ARexx script, although it can still run as a CLI command in an identical way to v1.1
You do not need an Internet connection for this program to be useful! FACTS has an "AutoDST" feature, which will automatically adjust your clock and the TZ env-var to reflect the time shift.
In addition, any alterations to TZ will make FACTS adjust your system time accordingly (can be disabled). Built-in SummerTimeGuard emulation enables YAM2 to automatically adjust for DST.
Ah! Now this sound more like what i was looking for. However I have to admit opening up the AmigaGuide Documentation for "FACTS" almost put me off. it was not unlike reading the Instructions manual for flying the Concorde.
Although i have been a Computer user and an Amiga Fan for many years, i suddenly found myself reading Words and Instruction that i had never came accross before, But them I thought to myself ... Is flying the Concorde really THAT difficult? Surely they MUST have an Autopilot, And sure enough Chris has included a perfect Example of the settings for the Program.
With a little more hope in my heart, I installed FACTS (Installer supplied). Opening the WB Start-up and clicking on "FACTS" I entered the suggested settings from the Supplied example.
Although it looked rather complicated, it only took a couple of seconds, and time to try it out with a re-boot.
On re-booting the WB Menubar gave me the dreaded "02-sept-92 21.43", So now to go online, As soon as Miami loaded the Menubar changed to 29-Jul-03 12.10. Excellent, However the time was actually 13.10 exactly 1 hour ahead of my Amiga clock.
Ah Well! Back to the Drawing Board (So to Speak) Actually back to the Help Files. A quick check showed that according to the example settings I shoulf have had (+1) in the hours setting, However it seems to have reverted back to the default "0" setting (Would this explain the hours discrepancy). I tried again to adjust this and save the settings, However upon a re-boot it always reverted to the "0" hrs.
So near but yet so Far. After pondering over this for a couple of hours i decided that as i was so close, It was something I was missing/Doing rather than the scritp/settings presented by the Author. No point in giving up now, So a quick Email to Chris and a plead for assistance to save my sanity.
A Prompt reply from Chris (Something sadly lacking by a lot of Amiga Programmers these days) and we had the Problem solved. After entering the +1 Hr Adjustment (Hit the return Key) then run the Check (Top Button on the FACTS Screen, THEN save the settings.
Next re-boot, and log on with Maimi ...Magically the System clock automatically adjusted to the correct time and date.
Joy of Joys ... FACTS had done the job and once again my Amiga was showing the Correct time. A hundred thousand Thank-You's to Chris and Unsatisfactory Software for providing one of the handiest Time programs on the Amiga Platform.
If You are having doubts about your Battery backup Amiga Clock, Then get this wonderful program - You will never regret it.
