TECH Signal 334
NTP, an atomic clock, and having a great time at the world's largest VCF
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An exhibit at VCF Midwest 21 showcased a tiered NTP hierarchy using a TrueTime Pi, an Xserve G5, and older Macintosh hardware.
The project demonstrates the practical application of Stratum 0 through 3 time synchronization on legacy hardware. It highlights the continued viability of ntpd on older operating systems like Mac OS X 10.3 and Mac OS 9.2.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
A TrueTime Pi served as the Stratum 0 GNSS reference and Stratum 1 NTP server.
An Xserve G5 running Mac OS X 10.3 Server acted as a Stratum 2 ntpd server on the domain time.vcf.
Legacy devices including a Mac SE/30 and iBook G3 functioned as Stratum 3 clients.
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What the cluster adds up to.
The setup established a functional time distribution chain starting from GNSS satellite constellations. A TrueTime Pi received these signals via a donated antenna to provide the primary reference. This signal was then passed to an Xserve G5, which served as the Stratum 2 server for the local network.
Client-side implementation varied by hardware era and operating system. An iBook G3 utilized the built-in NTP service of Mac OS 9.2, while a Mac SE/30 used the Network Time control panel. The SE/30 also ran Tardis, though this specific software only synchronized time during system startup.
The exhibit also highlighted hardware risks associated with vintage computing. A Mac IIcx was displayed to show the effects of a battery bomb, where an explosive 1/2 AA battery destroyed the motherboard, power supply, and drives. This serves as a warning to remove batteries from old hardware immediately.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · checked for specifics the sources never containedTHE CLUSTER