System time synchronization | HW problem?

[Alexander Holst]

On Mon, 2005-01-03 at 20:00,
yellowdog-general-request at lists.terrasoftsolutions.com wrote:
> From: Derick Centeno <aguilarojo at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: System time synchronization | HW problem?
[...snip...]
> Dear Alex:
> First, Best wishes to you and all for the future.

Thanks! All the best to you and others on the list too!!

> Next some standard background which I remember reading regarding OS X
> from Apple's documentation regarding OS X, which probably still is
> available via it's website.  Also you can cross-check that with the
> details on many Mac OS X software product packaging...you know...the
> fine print.  Basically all, or nearly all, suggest/strongly suggest or
> recommend/strongly recommend that OS X and software run on hardware
> which is at least 800MHz and FASTER.  There was a time when 400MHz was
> acceptable, for OS X, but that was surpassed long ago.  OS X will report
> all sorts of things if it is running on hardware it doesn't expect to
> find itself on.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my mail. I appreciate all insights.

Please understand that I am familliar with all sorts of Macs since 1986
when I first encounterd Macs and stayed with them. I certainly
understand, what Apple recomends, as I have been working for an Apple
Consultant Center for more than 4 years now. In addition, also please
understand that I have more than 8 years of Linux experiance on Macs by
now (I won't consider myself a GURU though, hence my postings on lists
every now and then) - I started with Linux on Macs in the days of
MkLinux DR2 & DR3 on NuBus machines, then LinuxPPC then YDL & others.
Therefore, I know how to boot Macs into Linux via all the different
ways, including BootX, miboot, yaboot & quik. As a matter of fact, I did
write the (now outdated) howto about getting YDL installed on the ANS
series as well as several posts on booting Linux _without_ any MacOS via
miboot. Please keep that in mind when reading my comments.

> OS 9 runs fine on such systems and slower.  I run OS9 on a 233MHz Beige
> machine myself with no problems.

My beige G3/233/DT runs OS9, YDL 3.0.1 and OSX 10.3.5 - even though
Apple would never recomend it nor certify it. All OSes recognize the
machine, RAM and speed correctly, so it shouldn't be a problem on my
Wallstreet.

> Now regarding YDL 3.0/3.0.1.  YDL 3.0/3.0.1 will have no problem running
> on the system you describe as long as you are familiar with using BootX
> so that you boot from OS9 into YDL.  Remember that you have to setup
> BootX from within OS9 and after all the preparations are done then you
> will boot into Linux.  OS X requires someother technology called yaboot
> which in your case won't help because of the hardware issue limitations
> of OS X.  Now there are work-arounds provided by Other World Computing
> (OWC)(www.macsales.com)and other ingeniously inspired Mac-crazed
> engineers creating/recreating stuff for your Mac (and even laptops)
> which Apple never considered.  And yes, these adaptations do appear to
> work well.

And indeed, they do work well!

> BUT as usual there remains the issue of the cost of getting these things
> vs. the cost of just getting new updated hardware.

My problem is: I do _not_ need _new_ hardware, I need to know what is
broken in my existing hardware! All indications I have, lead to the
conclusion, that what I want to do with my Wallstreet under YDL 3.0
should very well be possible, but some HW part regarding the clock
syncronisation _must_ be defective! And this is what I would like to
find out. Then I can replace that part and my life will be a lot easier
;)

[...snip...]

> Once you are booting into Linux running BootX from within OS9 the
> hardware oddities you report should disappear.  If not, then correcting
> the problems from within Linux is the next step.  Then examine the
> hardware browser, check the network gui and see what it tells you.

The method of booting the Linux kernel should not make any difference to
the speed the system time is ticking at. No matter whether I boot via
miboot, BootX, yaboot or others, one hour should be one hour and _not_
two - therefore my problem certainly is not related to any boot
procedure setup, nor any misconfigurations inside any of the OSes that
run on that machine in particular, but _must_ be HW related. I have seen
Wallstreets running Linux perfectly well - so my HW is at fault!

> Of course, if you really know Linux/Unix you can run
> ps -aux 
> 
> and the problem processes will then should up!

Ähem - which process would I discover that would indicate my system time
issue? And how would I see that with ps -aux?

> Best wishes...

Thanks again for taking the time and answering - please do not take this
mail personally, but what I really need is an answer to my HW problem -
I can assure you that any of the OSes running on my Wallstreet are
configured correctly.

Regards,
Alex


-- 
Alexander Holst
Hergulesse Design
ph: +49 [0]711 887 5195
fx: +49 [0]711 887 5196
<alex.holst [at] hergulesse [dot] de>