One Guy Coding

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Please note that I will not support Microsoft Windows XP or any derived products. Unlike Micro$oft, I will continue to support earlier version of windows. I have not, as of Sun Aug 04, 2002, booted windows for almost 14 months and, at that time rarely booted Windows for a couple of years before that. I am one of Microsoft's greatest fears, like the mouse who roared, a community in revolt. Those of you who run Linux or one of the BSD variants, including Mac OS X, know what I'm talking about. Windows XP, and its heinous licensing requirements are what will kill Microsoft, not, as one might have supposed, the never ending littany of bugs that plagued its operating systems.

There are alternatives out there right now. Those of you who say that the average windows user couldn't install Linux havne't tried recently. Redhat 7.3 was a joy to install. Configuring any operating system can be difficult for the newbie, but this has to do with the jargon of the world of the computer geek. Newbie's, when asked to enter their default netmask, while configuring their network interface are likely to be just as confused by the question regardless if it has to do with configuring eth0 under linux or the same device under windoze. I've been using Microsoft products since the early 80's and it was time that I officially swore off them -- their stock price is inflated after all, just like the rest. I've been using Linux in one form or another since before the first version of slackware, and have been a System Administrator using several other OS's and platforms that outperform and are more stable than anything that Microsoft has managed to produce (Netware 3.1, HPUX 8-10.x among others.) I wouldn't touch any windows product as a server OS with a ten foot mouse cord.

If you disagree with my decision to abandon Microsoft, well that's your perogative. Me, I'm happy with my decision. I don't get mad at my computer any more. My computer doesn't suddenly freeze anymore. I reboot *only* when I decide to upgrade my kernel, as I did yesterday upgrading to linux kernel 2.4.19. Oh what joy, what tranquility that is. Take my advice. It's time, get out while the getting is good. Don't just dump Windows, dump the lot. As my friends' 2 year old daughter said after being told to go to bed, "death to tyrants!" Okay, perhaps that's a bit harsh, how about, "enough with tyrants!" She is only two years old though, so you have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Gates, Balmer and Allen have had their chance and they've blown it. Fsck 'em.

-- One Guy Editorialising (or ranting, take your pick)

--!>


Automachron 4.00d

April 10, 2001
Need More Free Time?

Automachron (pron. ah-TAW-ma-kron) is a freeware SNTP client - Simple Network Time Protocol - for synchronizing your computer's time with an NTP server.  Automachron works under Win95/98, NT4 and Win2000. Automachron supports SNTP as well as TIME (both UDP and TCP) for synchronizing time over the internet. Automachron is much less intrusive than its predecessor Netdate.

The first time you start Automachron you will be prompted to enter an NTP host from which to get time.  Ask your ISP or SysAdmin if they have a local NTP server.  As a last resort you can check out these Public NTP Servers.  If you're not sure about NTP versions try the defaults - NTP version 2 and port 123.

Automachron is unaffected by the Y2K problem and will behave correctly until Feb 2036 (a limit imposed by the Network Time Protocol as specifed in rfc 2030). In fact, automachron and netdate have both been reported to reset the sytem time correctly on non-compliant hardware! This compliance assumes that both the Micro$oft libraries used internally by Automachron for setting the system time are compliant and that the server from which you are getting time is compliant also.

A screen shot showing the details page.

Note: if you are currently using or interested in using Netdate you should consider switching to Automachron unless you're still running Win3.x.

NT Server 4 can run automachron as a service with the srvany application included in the Microsoft Windows NT Resource Kit. I don't run NT server but this email exchange with an Automachron user shows that Automachron can be run as a service using srvany.exe along with achron.exe and the /s switch.

  • There have been some reports of Automachron failing with a socket error under Win95. This appears to have something to do with the Winsock version and was fixed for at least one user by updating to Winsock version 2. Why this would help I don't know since I'm using Winsock version 1.1. Nonetheless, you can snarf Winsock 2 from the Microsoft web site at,

    • www.microsoft.com - Winsock 2

  • Please be sure that there are no spaces before or after the host name that you've entered. This problem has been addressed in Achron 4.007.
  • See the link above if you cannot find a time server host. 

    •  

    Version changes

    Download Automachron

    The Automachron download from oneguycoding.com has been removed because of bandwidth concerns from my hosting service. Since this program is freeware and accounts for > 10GB of downloads per month I cannot afford the premium to increase the monthly traffic limit on this site. If you can mirror automachron on your site please let me know.

    If you are upgrading a version prior to 4.00a please be sure to uninstall before installing this upgrade. I changed from the InstallShield setup program to Inno Setup. Uninstalling will not remove the Automachron settings from the registry.

    If you want an install/uninstall package then choose one of the setup packages. If you want to install the program manually, that is, without a setup program, choose one of the zip files.
    USA
    ftp://ftp.cbeon.net/pub/automachron/achron4.exe(ftp)400KB Setup install
    ftp://ftp.cbeon.net/pub/automachron/achron4.zip(ftp)130KB Manual install
    http://oneguycoding.com/automachron/achron4.zip(http)130KB Manual install
    ftp://oneguycoding.com/pub/achron4.zip(ftp)130KB Manual install
    http://www.hansenonline.net/files/achron4.exe(http)400KB Setup install
    Canada
    http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/ftp/win95/achron4.exe(http)400KB Setup install
    ftp://ftp.eps.mcgill.ca/pub/Win95/achron4.exe(ftp)400KB Setup install
    UK
    http://www.obcom.co.uk/Downloads/achron4.zip(http)130KB Manual install
    http://www.sandvika.net/time/achron4.exe(http)400KB Setup install
    India
    http://www.omtechsys.com/others/achron4.exe(http)400KB Setup install
    http://www.omtechsys.com/others/achron4.zip(http)130KB Manual install
    Czech Republic
    http://2b.cz/mirrors/automachron/achron4.exe(http)400KB Setup install
    http://2b.cz/mirrors/automachron/achron4.zip(http)130KB Manual install
    Hong Kong
    ftp://nanaland.com/achron4.exe(ftp)400KB Setup install
    ftp://nanaland.com/achron4.zip(ftp)130KB Manual install

    Automachron Icon
    Thanks to Ross for the new and improved automachron icon.

    Features

    • Broadcast client support
      • Automachron will now act as a broadcast client.  To use this feature you must be on a network on which NTP is being broadcast by the server.  If you're not sure ask your local SysAdmin or click the Broadcast client checkbox and see if you recieve an update (usually within a couple of minutes).  Note that logging with this feature will generate large log files.
    • Context sensitive help in dialog boxes
      • Click on the ? icon at the top left of the dialog box, then click on the control for a description of its function.
    • Wait for dialup connection
      • Synchronisation is not attempted with this option until a dialup connection is made when this option is selected.  Do not use if you're connected to the internet through a LAN.
    • Adjustments
      • Max Ahead - maximum time adjustment forward (default 3600 secs)
      • Max Back - maximum time adjustment backward (default 600 secs)
      • Prompt - ask when time change is greater than either of the adjustment limits
      • Accept - ignore the adjustment limits and set the time received
      • Truncate - truncate the time adjustment according to the adjustment limts (default)
    • Startup shortcut
      • Run Automachron automatically at startup (a shortcut named Automachron is place in your startup folder)
    • Log
      • Log to file
      • Verbose log option
      • View log
    • Sync at startup
      • Synchronises time when Automachron starts unless the wait for dialup connection option is selected
    • Close after Sync
      • When this option is set Automachron gets the time and closes immediately after setting the local time.  Note that if this option is set the only way to turn the option off is to hold down the Ctrl key when the program is starting.
    • Sync every x seconds
      • minimum - every 16 second
      • maximum - every 127 years
      • most will use a value somewhere between these extremes, I use 1800 seconds
    • SNTP versions 1,2,3,4
      • SNTP version 2 is the default
    • TIME/UDP
    • TIME/TCP
    • Quiet
      • Don't open the Automachron properties dialog box when the program starts (default) and log errors more quietly.
    • On Top
      • Set the Automachron dialog box on top of all other apps
    • Report Only
      • Don't set the time, just get it
    • Command Line Options
      • /s - Use this option once to tell Automachron to use HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE rather than HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Automachron will always use the settings under HKLM\One Guy Coding\Software\Automachron if that key exists. This means that the /s switch is redundant on subsequent use. This also forces automachron to use the All users Startup folder. To stop using HKLM you'll have to delete the key using regedit (Standard Registry Disclaimer: proceed at your own risk.)
      • /q - quit after getting time
      • host (enter a fully qualified domain name FQDN and Automachron will use this as the default host)
    • Registry
        • HKCU\Software\One Guy Coding\automachron

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