[ntp:questions] help with setting up NTP on windows with a USB GPS

David J Taylor david-taylor at blueyonder.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.co.uk.invalid
Fri Dec 4 20:45:57 UTC 2009


"unruh" <unruh at wormhole.physics.ubc.ca> wrote in message 
news:slrnhhilur.scb.unruh at wormhole.physics.ubc.ca...
[]
> Please, do not use a Windows box as your main server. get a cheap ( your
> local flea market should have one for $50) computer, install linux or
> freebsd, purely for running ntp on it, and use it as your server.

Bill,

The requirement is to provide time within a millisecond or so for a 
program running on a Windows PC.  It makes much more sense to have that 
same PC work as its own NTP server using a GPS/PPS source, purely from a 
performance point of view.

Providing an extra PC with a network connection, would result in poorer 
performance for the task in hand, together with all the overheads of 
learning a different OS and the time that would take, plus all the energy 
costs of running that extra PC!

Yes, you can get better absolute performance from a FreeBSD box, but in 
this case that performance is not needed, could not be communicated to the 
application which needs the time, and would provide a quite unnecessary 
overhead.  Linux/FreeBSD provides a /worse/ solution in this case.

I tire of the anti-Windows mantra which sometimes appears in this group, 
particularly when it occurs with no consideration for the task in hand.  A 
good solution will not be over-engineered nor require two PCs where one 
would do.

David 




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