| Introduction I’ve been a Windows user for years. I’ll admit it. At the time of this writing, I’m still fairly new to Linux. Being used to Windows, I regularly launch my government’s time service and check my computer clock to see if it is accurate. Generally it is off by a few minutes after a month or so. Ahh, well, I change it and go on working. Turns out that I do not have to do this in Linux. Since I’m running KDE, I have the clock right next to the current weather and all my system tray icons. Just like I did in Windows.  There’s a nifty utility, called Network Time Protocol – or NTP, which will set my clock for me. From the description in the YaST tool: Quote:The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize the time of a computer client or server to another server or reference time source, such as a radio, satellite receiver, or modem. It provides client accuracies typically within a millisecond on LANs and up to a few tens of milliseconds on WANs relative to a primary server synchronized to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) via a Global Positioning Service (GPS) receiver, for example… (If you are really into technical details, you can read the rest when you setup your system.) How To Install Installation is simple. Like everything else, launch YaST and click on Install and Remove Software. When the search screen comes up, simply type NTP and click search.  Place checkmarks next to the two items, xntp and yast2-ntp-client. You can optionally check the xntp-doc item if you wish to read more, however it is not necessary for configuration. Go ahead and click Accept and NTP will be installed on your system. That’s it! But wait, you say. How the heck do I use it? Where’s the icon? How To Configure The final link in getting NTP setup is to configure your system to check the NTP servers at start time. Using this method, your Linux sysem will check the NTP server every time you start the computer. Again, start Yast, if it isn’t already. This time, select the Network Services icon. You will get the following screen:  Clicking on the NTP client icon will get you the setup screen:  You’ll want to check the option to start the NTP daemon “When booting system” if it isn’t already selected. Then you need to select an NTP server. Fortunately there are several for you to choose from. Click the Select button. You will get a new dialog, with the option to select a local NTP server (which you don’t have) or a public one. Click the public selection and then choose one geographically close to your location.  Once, you’ve selected a server, click the Test button to be sure you can access the information. If you get the message that the server is reachable, click on OK then Finish. Conclusion Well, that’s it. Linux will configure itself and launch the daemon. (There’s no need to reboot, since this isn’t that other operating system.) The daemon will start and then launch everytime you boot. You will now have an up-to-date clock on your system tray. The only side effect is that you’ll no longer have an excuse to be late, “because your computer clock isn’t set.” Go to it! |
Know the Time with NTP
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