ntp (or xntp) for Evans & Sutherland ESV workstation?
Rich Thomson
mc...@gimli.bio.purdue.edu (Dwight McKay) writes:
>Evans & Sutherland sells a series of graphics workstations called ESV.
>These appear to be R3000 based and running RISC/os (?).
Yes, the machine is R3000 based (both 25Mhz and 33Mhz versions along
with a dual CPU option for compute intensive graphics). The OS (ES/OS
2.2) is RISC/os 4.52 with device drivers, etc., added. We are fully
binary compatible with MIPS binaries (as certified by MIPS Computer
Co.).
>Has anyone ported ntp or xntp to one of these?
Er... excuse my ignorance, but what is ntp/xntp? If you are referring
to NNTP (network news transfer protocol), we have compiled that
without any problem, although we don't include it on our releases.
We use NNTP locally for all our news connections, both internal and
external.
>Is there a mailing list for folks who own these machines?
You are not the first to ask about this. We are in the process of
setting up such a mailing list. If you, or anyone else, would like to
be on the mailing list when its formed, just send me some mail.
For now, there are several groups on the net that are read regularly
by people at E&S that might be able to answer questions:
comp.graphics General graphics oriented things
comp.graphics.avs AVS (Application Visualization System) discussions
comp.windows.x X Window System programming discussions (beware of
high volume, though; I don't even read all the
messages -- there are just too many!)
comp.sys.mips MIPS/unix related stuff
I am also in the process of taking votes for the creation of
comp.windows.x.pex, a newsgroup for discussing PEX. The call for
votes ends January 1st.
Any specific questions which you don't feel are appropriate to those
forums (i.e. programming/use of E&S specific features, etc.) I'd be
happy to attempt to answer in e-mail.
-- Rich
Note: I'm just a software engineer, not a support person, so I don't
get paid to do this :-)
--
Repeal the personal income tax; vote Libertarian in 1992.
Disclaimer: I speak for myself, except as noted.
UUCP: ...!uunet!dsd.es.com!rthomson Rich Thomson
Internet: rtho...@dsd.es.com IRC: _Rich_ PEXt Programmer
Klaus Steinberger
>Er... excuse my ignorance, but what is ntp/xntp? If you are referring
>to NNTP (network news transfer protocol), we have compiled that
ntp and xntp are implementations of the NTP protocol (Network Time Protocol).
xntp runs fine on my CD4330 and CD4680 (R3000 and R6000 based).
Both machines run EP/IX 1.4.1, which is fully compatible with RISC/OS 4.52.
Set "/bsd43/bin" in front of your Path and it should compile without trouble.
You should start tickadj before starting xntpd in your /etc/init.d/netdaemons.
Make sure that timed will not be started, or they fight against each other.
Klaus
--
Klaus Steinberger Beschleunigerlabor der TU und LMU Muenchen
Phone: (+49 89)3209 4287 Hochschulgelaende
FAX: (+49 89)3209 4280 D-8046 Garching, Germany
BITNET: K2@DGABLG5P Internet: k...@bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de
Rich Thomson
k...@bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de (Klaus Steinberger) writes:
>ntp and xntp are implementations of the NTP protocol (Network Time Protocol).
Thanks for the clarification. What are the advantages/disadvantages
of NTP versus timed? Or does timed just implement NTP? Alot of this
network stuff is *very* confusing for people who are trying to learn
it through man pages and manuals.
The ESV uses 'timed' for managing local time on a network of machines.
-- Rich
Klaus Steinberger
>Thanks for the clarification. What are the advantages/disadvantages
>of NTP versus timed? Or does timed just implement NTP? Alot of this
>network stuff is *very* confusing for people who are trying to learn
>it through man pages and manuals.
The advantages of NTP are the following:
NTP can and does synchronize to radio/caesium or whatever you find as
an time standard. There are many servers on the internet, which are
synchronized to DCF, WWVB, Caesium or other reference clocks.
It is possible (and common prctice) to build a hierarchy of clock servers,
say you can designate some of your servers to aks the stratum 1 servers (those
with reference clocks). Your other machines didn't ask these stratum 1
servers directly to avoid the traffic over the WAN's, instead they
ask your stratum-2 servers.
NTP measures the delay and dispersion of the servers, and uses the
one with the best quality of service. This is especially essential
when you synchronize over a WAN.
NTP handles leap seconds correctly.
timed is not a implementation of NTP. timed is a relatively simple
protocol for synchronizing the clocks of some machines on a LAN.
It's was never designed to use WAN's . It has no drivers for
reference clocks.
For those who are interested in more specific details:
RFC 1119 specifies the NTP Version 2 protocol.
There exists a newsgroup "comp.protocols.time.ntp"
Sincerely,
Klaus Steinberger