rhkra...@gmail.com writes: > I know this is off point (because you are not the original poster, who, > iirc, > is blind or partially blind), but, if the only reason to reconfigure the > BIOS > is to set the correct date and time, an alternate would be to boot with > the > wrong time, then use, set the (software) clock to the correct time > (possibly > using the utility that syncs to the atomic clocks in Colorado or > wherever, and > then using that other utility that lets you set the hardware clock from > the > software clock.
Raspberry Pi's do exactly what you are describing when they run Linux. They have no running internal clock so when they power up, they can only reference seconds that start from 0 in their timer register. Instead of a big bang, we are talking about a little pop. At some point, the Pi gets a network connection going and goes out to pool.ntp.org where there are thousands of unix boxes all over the world that can give you UTC or coordinated universal time to within a second or so if you use a pool near where you live. Search for pool.ntp.org. Very briefly, servers connected to actual atomic clocks are Stratum 1 servers. You can even become one of those by having your own atomic clock or by using a receiver that can sync to the atomic clocks carried by such systems as GPS. These are incredibly accurate. For the rest of us, not trying to crowd source a radio telescope or do some other task that requires accuracy to umteen decimal places, ntpd can get you there to within a second when configured correctly. Ntpd even has routines that check your clock against all the others and add or delete fractions of seconds so the longer your clock runs, the more accurate it gets to a certain point. If you do have a hardware clock, Linux automatically updates it. If you look at system shutdown messages, that's one of them as processes are being shut off. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ