OT: Re: Computer loosing time

[Rashkae]

This is all kinds of incorrect.  I may not know all the nitty hardware
details, but here's what I know of how Linux works.

NoOp wrote:

> In the case where the system is set to use UTC, with a working network
> connection at boot, Ubuntu goes out and gets the time from Canonical by
> default. For example, on the laptop that has the dead CMOS battery I
> booted without changing the clock. If I do 'sudo hwclock -r' it shows:
> 

This has nothing to do with whether the cmos clock is in UTC or not.  If
NTP service is installed (It's not by default in any of the Ubuntu
systems I've installed so far, but that may be an option in the
installer dialogues I skip),  Then the time will by synced with the
ubuntu server on boot, as you say.

The system time gets written to the CMOS on shutdown, and only on
shutdown (unless manually done with the hwclock -w command).  hwclock
keeps track of whether you want CMOS clock to be written in UTC or local
time, and makes any adjustments needed.

Presumably, with NTP service enabled, the time will resync with the
Internet servers on a periodic basis.  I don't know what the default
interval is, however.. my own observation is that it cannot be more than
once a day.  (Is it a cron job?)  In any case, assuming all hardware is
working correctly, there should be no need to resync time on a running
modern system.