avoid syncronising clock and how to dial-up

[enrike at altern.org]

> At 11:44 04/12/04, altern wrote:
>
>>couple of stupid questions I guess.
>
> Not in the least!
>
>>I just setup my network connection yesterday and my problem now is that
>>every time Ubuntu loads up it tries to syncronise the computer clock to
>>the one on ubuntu server. Because i have dialup connectionn at home its
>>cannot syncronise at all as its not connected by default. So it takes
>>several seconds until this is timed out. How could i disable this?
>
> I've been meaning to do this for a while myself, so you've nudged me into
> it :)
>
>
> The script that calls for the update is /etc/init.d/ntpdate.  This is
> called as part of the later stages of the general boot process by a link
> from /etc/rcS.d/S51ntpdate.
>
> The are differing views about how to disable such a process...
>
> My opinion on it is to rename the link from /etc/rcS.d/S51ntpdate to
> /etc/rcS.d/_S51ntpdate.  This simple renaming stops the script running
> automatically, as the system is looking for names that begin with S (for
> start) or K (for kill).  The link is easy to rename back if you want to
> start the service again.
>
> (I don't know your level of experience of Linux, so I'll just point out
> you'll need to be in a root terminal to do this renaming;  it is not
> allowed as a normal user.  Email me for more info if this is problematic.)

I understand then that there is no way to do something as root in a GUI
mode. In other words to do admin work you have to use the terminal and do
it with commands. In this case then i would have to edit the file with a
commands line editor. Is this correct? if so could you explain me how to
do it? i have done it once but i cannot remember very well how to use this
command line editors. Or maybe i should read some manual about this basic
unix tasks? otherwise i am gonna be bombarding the list with such basic
questions ...

>>And this is the stupid question: how do i dial up? I was using SuSE
>> before
>>and there was some small application to do this but i cannot find
>> anything
>>like this in ubuntu.
>
> Not at all stupid.  The key here is to add the Gnome 'Modem Lights' applet
> to your top panel on the screen.  You'll also need to set up your
> connection.  I'd suggest ignoring the ppp connection setup under the
> Networking menu in Gnome, you're probably better off going for the
> pppconfig utility;  it appears less friendly but sets up a connection
> properly to be used with 'Modem Lights'.
>
> (Again, if this is confusing, I can let you know more if you ask.)

i am now at OSX (i have dual partition) so i cannot check. I will change
to ubuntu and try to see if this makes sense. Thanks!!


> Neil
>
> PS  I've just disabled the ntp clock update on my machine - should have
> done that ages ago...  Thanks for giving me the nudge.
>
>
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