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Date:      Tue, 11 Jun 1996 12:40:59 +1000
From:      Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
To:        bde@zeta.org.au, nate@sri.MT.net
Cc:        current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: CLOCK stuff at bootup
Message-ID:  <199606110240.MAA08156@godzilla.zeta.org.au>

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>> >> The i8254 clock determines long term accuracy.  Run for a while and
>> >> determine the drift and/or the time daemon adjustments.
>> 
>> >How?
>> 
>> Compare the output of `date` with an accurate clock or look in the time
>> deaemon log files.

>And how would I do that?  I'm not sure what kind of 'drift' I'm
>expecting.

>(Forgive me, but I'm not clock expert, nor do I understand what all of
>this buys me if I have to hand-set all of these variables.)

Then don't ask.  The defaults work the same as before.

>> >> Use sysctl to
>> >> specify the i8254 clock frequency that minimizes the drift and/or the
>> 
>> >How?
>> 
>> Look in the output of `sysctl -a` to find the relevant variable and set
>> it as usual.

>machdep.i8254_freq: 1193182

>This was set at bootup time already, so how do I determine what to set
>it to except via trial and error.

The boot messages give another possible values.  Otherwise, use trial
and error.

>> >> The i586 clock determines intra-clock-interrupt times.  Specify the i586
>> >> clock frequency that minimizes the jitter in getttimeofday().
>> 
>> >How?
>> 
>> First find the frequency.  Set it as above.

>machdep.i586_freq: 0

Nothing set it, so it remains at 0.

>Set it to the stuff that was kicked out by the kernel?  Why isn't aren't
>these values already set by default?

Because they are relative to the mc146818A clock, which is not known to
be a better reference point than the i8254 clock (it probably is, but a
sample size of 3 or 4 systems is not enough to decide).

Bruce



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