[CLUE-Tech] too many clocks

[Roger Frank]

It started when I noticed that the clock icon showed the correct
minute but the wrong hour.  After investigating this for some time,
I am more confused than I was.  There is a hardware clock
on the motherboard and there is a software clock - the system
clock - and somehow they work with each other.  Somehow
one of these becomes the time that shows on the screen or
as the output of `date`.  RIght now it's showing 10:35 but it's
also very dark outside, so I'm pretty sure it's really 4:35.

Should I be storing UTC in the hardware and/or the system
clock?  Does anything in Linux care?  I know locate runs at
4 AM each morning (because the system slows down appreciably
when I'm trying to get work done and it clicks over from 3:59).
And if I store time in UTC, I'd rather have it displayed in local
time, so scripts that use `date` as timestamps make sense.

I would like this sequence of commands to show the correct local time:
  # ./netdate -v tcp ntp2.cs.wisc.edu
  # /sbin/clock -w
  # date 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

-- 
Roger Frank
Ponderosa High School, Colorado