Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Chris Albertson
On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 1:03 PM, wrote: > An older laptop (Pentium M for instance) can be had for $80 or so any day of > the week, won't take much space, is completely standalone (built-in keyboard > and display, built-in battery backup) and sips power when idle, which it will > be most of the

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Dennis Ferguson
On 5 Apr, 2012, at 13:03 , shali...@gmail.com wrote: > An older laptop (Pentium M for instance) can be had for $80 or so any day of > the week, won't take much space, is completely standalone (built-in keyboard > and display, built-in battery backup) and sips power when idle, which it will > b

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread gary
le I do other things... -Original Message- From: gary Sender: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:09:14 To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitt

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread shalimr9
o.com Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:09:14 To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131663 Yep. This is wh

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Chris Albertson
On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 11:11 AM, Hal Murray wrote: > > My guess on the original question is that keeping the CPU busy puts junk into > the cache so the whole interrupt processing path takes every possible cache > miss. Cache misses are nanosecond level events not tens of microseconds. If you see

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Hal Murray
My guess on the original question is that keeping the CPU busy puts junk into the cache so the whole interrupt processing path takes every possible cache miss. NTP doesn't care how fast that code is as long as it's consistent. (Of course, you probably get a different answer, but we are discus

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Javier Herrero
El 05/04/2012 12:20, Azelio Boriani escribió: On a side note, speaking of deterministic systems, why has no one built a GPSDO with an FPGA yet? Or an NTP server? :) Oh, I've done that (an NTP server, not GPSO) in a Cyclone III FPGA. But well... it has a Nios-II CPU and runs Linux, so I suppose

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Mike S
On 4/5/2012 2:51 AM, David J Taylor wrote: Mike, have you tried FreeBSD instead? Does it show the same problems? I have a couple of Soekris Net 4501s running FreeBSD and NTP. They don't have much jitter, but they're a very different architecture. The machine with the jitter is my home "do al

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-05 Thread Azelio Boriani
>>On a side note, speaking of deterministic systems, why has no one built a GPSDO with an FPGA yet? Or an NTP server? :) Yes, I have: I have a GPSDO entirely on a 50Kgates FPGA (Spartan3 XC3S50) without microprocessor. GPS is the iLotus M12M and OCXO is a Morion MV201, the DAC is... well, not exac

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread David J Taylor
I asked this on an NTP list, got some guesses, but no knowledgeable responses. [] So, running a process(es) which keep the CPU completely busy reduces the jitter. The busier, the better. Why? I'm guessing it has something to do with interrupt latency, but why does a busy CPU make it more consi

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread MailLists
Nice toy, but the question of the necessity of a fully fledged OS for most tasks thrown at such a small system still remains (integrated network connectivity is a plus). NTP isn't capable to improve the precision of a system's clock, as it works over a heterogeneous path, which is quite unpredic

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Steve .
> I stand firm that the only proper way to do this is with a 100% > deterministic architecture. > ..only proper way to do what? The goal is to discipline the internal > software clock to GPS. A typical application is a database server > that is running a web e-comerse site so that transactions

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Gmail
Indeed, I'm looking forward to getting a few raspberry pis to play with. NTP is but one of the interesting time related projects possible with a $35(us) Linux platform. The system has a number of i/o pins directly exposed that will make interfacing interesting. On a side note, speaking of dete

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread MailLists
As a rule of thumb, any general purpose architecture will be less effective at a specific task than a specially designed one. That applies more and more to the "modern" way of solving tasks: software. The PC is one of the classical examples of GPA, and as such it is best to know its limitations,

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Chris Albertson
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 9:22 PM, Steve . wrote: > If the architecture has cache or wait states, it is still subject to be a > moving target. I'm naturally skeptical on all architectures that have > multiple channels, show me an architecture with cache or waits states and > i'll show you a problem

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread gary
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131663 Yep. This is what I run 24 and 7 for a number of monitoring tasks. It has an Intel SSD. Mobo was $140 at Fry's. SSD was a Fry's special too. It has a Nvidia ion2 (it does home theater PC streaming at times.] USB 3. Gigabit ethern

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Chris Albertson
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 9:17 PM, gary wrote: > I built a small form factor PC using the Intel D525. >> >> >> http://ark.intel.com/products/49490/Intel-Atom-processor-D525-%281M-Cache-1_80-GHz%29 I did the same thing. They work well and even if you have a "free" quad core PC in a closet some place

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Steve .
On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 12:17 AM, gary wrote: > I built a small form factor PC using the Intel D525. > >> >> http://ark.intel.com/products/49490/Intel-Atom-processor-D525-%281M-Cache-1_80-GHz%29 >> > > If you look at the features (or lack thereof!), it lacks "turbo boost" and > "enhanced Intel Spe

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread gary
I built a small form factor PC using the Intel D525. http://ark.intel.com/products/49490/Intel-Atom-processor-D525-%281M-Cache-1_80-GHz%29 If you look at the features (or lack thereof!), it lacks "turbo boost" and "enhanced Intel Speed Step technology". So you may not have to resort to using

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Steve .
It doesn't matter how fast the CPU clock rate is because you are not dealing with a simple rate monotonicity. There are far too many inconstancies in a PC to properly apply simple O(n) algorithms. >Your reply ignores the simple fact that it _does_ track within a couple of microseconds, as long as

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Mike S
On 4/4/2012 10:41 PM, Steve . wrote: breaking the 1pps down as far as 10micro seconds,The most obviously problem is that you are trying to use an inaccurate clock source(the pc) Your reply ignores the simple fact that it _does_ track within a couple of microseconds, as long as the processor is

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Steve .
There are a lot of problems here. I'm not even sure where to start, but here goes. ;) I suspect if you keep within the input period, ie, of 1pps you may not see long term problems. All the pase shifting will average out to 1 in the long run. 1 second is a lot of time for a PC to miss, but it cou

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Dennis Ferguson
On 4 Apr, 2012, at 16:10 , Mike S wrote: > On 4/4/2012 6:51 PM, Eric Williams wrote: >> Could the CPU be reducing its clock rate when it's not being loaded? Just >> a guess, most multi-core processors these days have power saving features >> like that. >> >> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:22 PM, Mike

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Javier Herrero
El 05/04/2012 00:58, gary escribió: That is the AMD speed step, but doesn't intel do the same thing? I suppose so. In any case, under Linux you can force off the speed step (i.e. force the CPU to a fixed clock). I did that some time ago in a Dell server with a dual quad-core Opteron with Fedor

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Mike S
On 4/4/2012 6:51 PM, Eric Williams wrote: Could the CPU be reducing its clock rate when it's not being loaded? Just a guess, most multi-core processors these days have power saving features like that. On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:22 PM, Mike S wrote: > I've played around with different > cpufre

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Randall Prentice
-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of gary Sent: Thursday, 5 April 2012 10:58 a.m. To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux That is the AMD speed step, but doesn't intel do the same thing? Incidentally, there are hacks for linux to ma

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread gary
That is the AMD speed step, but doesn't intel do the same thing? Incidentally, there are hacks for linux to make it more real time, i.e. lower latency. I never messed with them, but you find this mentioned related to multimedia oriented distributions. On 4/4/2012 3:53 PM, Randall Prentice wr

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Randall Prentice
Sent: Thursday, 5 April 2012 10:22 a.m. To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux I asked this on an NTP list, got some guesses, but no knowledgeable responses. I've got a Trimble Thunderbolt PPS source for NTP, Linux 2.6.35, on a quad

Re: [time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Eric Williams
Could the CPU be reducing its clock rate when it's not being loaded? Just a guess, most multi-core processors these days have power saving features like that. -- eric On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:22 PM, Mike S wrote: > I asked this on an NTP list, got some guesses, but no knowledgeable > responses.

[time-nuts] NTP jitter with Linux

2012-04-04 Thread Mike S
I asked this on an NTP list, got some guesses, but no knowledgeable responses. I've got a Trimble Thunderbolt PPS source for NTP, Linux 2.6.35, on a quad core CPU. PPS source is coming into a multiport serial card, which /proc/interrupts shows is sharing IRQ with some inactive USB ports (IRQ