On Tue 10 Feb 2026 at 03:52:09 (+0000), Russell L. Harris wrote: > I live not far from Austin, Texas, but I keep all my computer clocks > set to GMT, which is close enough to the Netherlands. > > But seeing the shadow move across the globe gives a better feel for > how much time is available for a comfortable interface with the other > guy across the globe. I hate to awaken him in the middle of the > night.
If you want to see a globe, xplanet might be a better package. Austin and the Netherlands are quite far apart, so you could start it with the Lat/Long of a point midway between, which would show both places nearer the centre. I started sunclock with just the command. That displayed a small sunclock/clock window with time at the bottom. I clicked the window and a sunclock/menu appeared. I clicked around on the letters: W displayed a sunclock/map, which is the thing you want. The default map showed a selection of cities, and clicking on the Paris dot makes it red and displays the time/sunrise/sunset at the bottom. As you know where Austin is, that's probably good enough for a start. Y plots the Sun and Moon if you want them. Z, for the Zoom window, is probably pointless for your usage. O opens an Option window. Clicking G and ' gives you an animation that could be useful for judging how much daytime you have in common with your associate. ' and J will stop and reset it. Plenty to be playing with. I used to run Xearth on Debian (buzz) in the 90's, but just for eye-candy and kudos. As for mobiles, people have to take responsibility upon themselves for muting them at night if that's how they receive their emails. Cheers, David.
