[ntp:questions] Trying to use Dimension 4 time keeper

unruh unruh at invalid.ca
Sun Sep 8 19:02:38 UTC 2013


On 2013-09-08, W. eWatson <wolftracks at invalid.com> wrote:
> On 9/7/2013 9:16 PM, David Taylor wrote:
>> On 07/09/2013 22:38, W. eWatson wrote:
>>> I'm told that Dimension 4 is an accurate time keeper.
>>> <http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/> I downloaded it and installed it.
>>> It's freeware, but would appreciate a $10 donation. Oddly it comes w/o
>>> any description to use it. Am I missing something? I'm running it on my
>>> XP machine. Nothing is said about an OS.
>>>
>>> Out of curiosity I installed it on this Win7 PC. It acts like my XP
>>> install. That is, it has no useful help, what to do is not obvious.
>>
>> There are instructions for installing NTP here:
>>
>>    http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/setup.html
> That's a daunting install process. See my comments about Meinberg below.
>
>>
>> Why would you want to install NTP rather than Dimension 4, or the
>> Windows own time service?  See:
>>
>>    http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/setup.html#why
> My XP machine quickly loses accuracy. BTW, it needs to be pretty 
> accurate, since I have a science application that runs on it 7/24. The 
> XP is on a LAN of three PCs. Two are on Win7 in my den. The XP PC is in 
> a building 120' from where I am now. The XP PC Data from the app is 
> uploaded every day to a distant location, and saved in a DB. 1,000 miles 
> from me here in N. Calif.

If time is important, Windows is probably not the best operating system
to use. 

>
> I tried Meinberg for quite some time, but it flops fairly often. As I 

flops? What are the symptoms? Also, if time is important why not invest
in a GPS (35 dolalrs or so) with PPS.

> recall, my Meinberg software was not nearly as involved as shown in the 
> link above.  Given the XP is outside, I don't often go out there to 
> check the time against an atomic clock. Consequently the data becomes 
> erroneous.

Since the computer is obviously linked to the net, it is not necessary
to go out there to check the time. You could do it against one of your
local machines or whatever via the net. 

What time accuracy do you need?



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