[UKids] Re: Non-Network Time Protocol for Haiti?

Sun Mar 6 19:36:34 EST 2016

On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 6:58 PM, Tony Anderson <tony_anderson at usa.net> wrote:

> Adam
>
> I have a script that attempts to accomplish this through ds_backup. The
> goal is to have all of the clients with the same time as the school server
> (may not be internet accurate but at least gives some consistency to time
> stamps). The problem is that this must be done by a command issued from a
> tty. In the case
> of xsce, this could be done at connect-time when the XO1 time is off by
> more than X.
>

Cool, please post?

My problem is there are many school in Haiti that do not and will not have
school servers -- for the forseeable future -- so let's attack this problem
from both angles -- thanks!

Tony
>
>
> On 03/07/2016 01:19 AM, Adam Holt wrote:
>
> (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>
>> holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Clarifs below~
>>>
>>> On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Adam Holt < <holt at laptop.org>
>>> 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>
>>>> http://unleashkids.org !
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ <http://unleashkids.org>
>>> http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ <http://unleashkids.org>
>>> http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ <http://unleashkids.org>
>>> http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ <http://unleashkids.org>
> http://unleashkids.org !
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