> Eric Lammerts writes:
> > On Wed, 28 Jul 1999, Riley Williams wrote:
>
> >> However, the standard used by MSDOS (which I assume is what you're
> >> referring to) is for the clock to tick ~18.2 times per second (to
> >> be more accurate, 65536 ticks per hour), in which case the correct
> >
> > This is incorrect. The BIOS/MSDOS clock is generated from a 14.31818MHz
> > crystal clock divided by 12 * 65536.
>
> Nope. Clock frequency varies. Originally it was related to a standard
> video frequency. More recent computers use a frequency designed to make
> DOS timekeeping be more accurate. (the 65536 ticks/hour I suppose)
Nope. Many modern computers use an el. cheapo clock that is just plain
inaccurate, and they don't keep time very well. Any Compaq ProLiant produced
in the last 6 years keeps time to no better than plus or minus one to two
minutes per day. Since these are generally used as servers, its a significant
pain in the posterior - unless you are connected to the Internet, or have
some other way to sync. the time of day to an external source.
In several stand alone systems I have had to use NTP to sync the Compaq
machines to cheap no-name Taiwanese ones that are accurate to a few seconds
per month. Silly, ain't it.
Steve
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