Non-Network Time Protocol for Haiti?

[Adam Holt]

(Apologies I forgot to mention that auto-mounting and auto-dismounting the
USB stick is likely the hard part -- untrained teachers simply cannot
handle mount-point ambiguities, if they can handle the command-line at all
-- suggestions on how to solve this elegantly most appreciated!)

PS we are happy to mandate that teachers must supply an empty/formatted
FAT32 stick or similar if that's the best practice?

On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 12:08 PM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:

> In short, http://NTP.org - by - sneakernet, not carrier pigeon :>
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 12:06 PM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>
>> Clarifs below~
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>>
>>> In Haiti many teachers and kids would prefer the time was set correctly
>>> on their XO-1 laptops, no matter if the time is off by a couple minutes.
>>> So they could really use a script that creates the following
>>> /boot/olpc.fth, writing it out to an attached USB stick:
>>>
>>> \ Open Firmware
>>> select /rtc decimal 0 0 0 1 1 1804 set-time
>>> \ Optionally unlock XO
>>> disable-security
>>>
>>> Then the teacher/operator can walk around the room to fix all XO's
>>> clocks (refreshing the USB time as often as she/he wants).  Of course not
>>> every day can be Haitian Independence Day (Jan 1 1804!) so what the script
>>> should really do is create a timestamp 1 minute into the future, filling
>>> out those 6 numbers above correctly.
>>>
>>> The untrained operator (teacher typically) will then move the USB stick
>>> to the XO(s) in need, to set their RTC's (real-time-clocks).  Some
>>> ambitious teachers will want to do this every month/semester it appears, to
>>> sanitize/harmonize all clocks in their classroom/school as much as possible!
>>>
>>> Any recommended approaches to getting the UX clean, so that such
>>> untrained operator have a visual confirmation that the USB stick has been
>>> updated with a proper time-stamp, and (perhaps just as important??) the
>>> stick mounted+unmounted effortlessly without too much risk, when this USB
>>> stick is recreated hundreds of times within 1 day?  A non-confusing command
>>> line script can work, that says basically 2 things:
>>>
>>>    - PLEASE INSERT A USB STICK
>>>    - USB STICK READY: REMOVE IT NOW!
>>>
>>> The less keyboard activity required from the teacher the better.  But
>>> I'm tempted by command syntax as follows:
>>>
>>
>> usb-timestamper <minute*s*-into-the-future>
>>
>>
>>> Such that running "/bin/usb-timestamper 5" would create USB sticks
>>> timestamped 5 minutes into the future.  The default should be 1 minute into
>>> the future, so running "/bin/usb-timestamper" would be equivalent to
>>> "/bin/usb-timestamper 1".
>>>
>>> Conclusion: am just looking for general suggestions from everyone as we
>>> cook up something simple!
>>>
>>
>> We do not want to rely on networking or mesh At All.  KISS (key it
>> simple/stupid) at the firmware level allows the teacher/operator to move
>> thru the classroom quite rapidly, fixing the time on each XO laptop as
>> often as s/he wants.  2 examples scenarios, showing how this will be used:
>>
>>    1. Teacher/operator may choose to run "usb-timestamper 10" once as
>>    s/he enters each classroom, if she wants to timestamp the USB stick 10min
>>    into the future, and then apply this rapidly to all 50 XO's in a
>>    classroom/lab over the coming 20minutes.  Works great ifs/he does not care
>>    that the XO's clocks are off by +/- 10min!
>>    2. Or if teacher/operator is perfectionist, then usb-timestamper
>>    (interactive command-line program) can be left running on hir own XO laptop
>>    that s/he carries around the room -- updating the USB stick repeatedly
>>    while walking around the classroom -- such that each of that room's 50 XO
>>    laptops has an almost-exact clock, accurate within a minute or so.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> in this case, as USB sticks are the most reliable and quick approach in
>>> this case.
>>>
>>> Clarif: I will of course train the teacher/operator to set the clock
>>> correctly on their own XO-1, which will typically be running OLPC OS 13.2.7
>>> -- so that all these "offline-NTP sticks" are created based on a reasonably
>>> accurate baseline timestamp :)
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>
>
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