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April 16, 2003

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OS/2 is Boring Part 9

So far I've had one person do a portscan on my system, thanks Sjoerd Visser (I really like your website about OS/2 and networking!) For Dutch speaking people, his website is http://http://www.sjoerd-visser.demon.nl/. No one has hacked my server so far, that is as expected, but still one never knows. This time I want to speak about time, can you tell me the exact time? There is a very nice utility (http://www.xs4all.be/~basheij/OS2/time868f.zip) around that can set your server to the exact time. You can even run a timeserver with it. It's very old, if you look at the date, but it's a very cool util to keep your systems on time.

There is not much to tell about this program, it's pretty straightforward. Put in a directory and add it to your startup-folder. When it runs, you need to find a server that works, as the proggy is pretty old, not all the servers work anymore. I like to use the Kansas University Computer Center as it's the most reliable so far, but you can even use NASA if you like.

Turn autorun and continuous on. Set initial delay to 5 secs and interval to 5 minutes, that should do the trick. Beware that you need to disable the sites that don't work as it remembers all the ones you have enabled.

But there is more!

Inside the package is a TZ (Time-Zone) calculator, this will calculate a TZ string for you in order to shift summer-winter time automatically too.

You let it calculate the string, then copy/paste the string into your config.sys where the old TZ string is located. After that you never ever have to worry about that anymore, one reboot and it's ok. Here is mine to show what it should look like in Belgium:

SET TZ=CET-1CDT,3,-1,0,3600,10,-1,0,3600,3600

It's nice to have your OS/2 on time, but what about clients? Windows for example doesn't set the time of the client by the server time when logging on. I hear you thinking, here is that NetBios dude again, well YES!!! There is a simple way to let Windows take the time from the OS/2 server without the need for the OS/2 Warp Server Logon Client. To set windows clients on time, you only need to add this to the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

"Timeset"="net time \\\\server /Y /SET"

(You can also use this Timeset.reg (http://www.xs4all be/~basheij/OS2/Timeset.reg) file to add it but edit the server name to match yours!)

After this, your Windows clients will get the latest time from the OS/2 server when they boot-up. Pretty cool no? I think so. This stuff works on all versions of OS/2 as long as they are 32 bit and you have internet.

Next month is my jubilee, 10th time of OS/2 is Boring. If you have a good suggestion of what to write about in that one, email me! Bye for now, Bas.

Bas Heijermans has been using computers for 24 years - since he was 12. Bas lives in Belgium and has used OS/2 since version 1.1. He ran The OS/2 BBS and was the Belgium OS/2 Fido moderator. IBM awarded him Official OS/2 Ambassidor in 1992 for his support efforts. Today he repairs computers for a living.

This article is courtesy of www.os2ezine.com. You can view it online at http://www.os2ezine.com/20030416/page_8.html.