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I’m amidst digging into getting some gps clock hardware to make sure an open source db we're developing at work can work in some interesting situations. (Hit me

I’m amidst digging into getting some gps clock hardware to make sure an open source db we're developing at work can work in some interesting situations. (Hit me up if you wanna join the team ;) ) High accuracy time is a fascinating domain. It’s this weird mix of general relativity, hardware, and anthropology. Cesium atoms and satellites vs calendars vs astronomy: who wins? :) Point being: more organizations making high accuracy time available to more folks is a good thing!

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ac2u 9y ago
Cool, something like what happens in Google's datacentres to provide Spanner?
- carterschonwald 9y ago
  Yes! The system we're working on is one that benefits from the exact same sort of idea : having time info of better accuracy should allow better performance of the same system. (Logical time works too, but will often require much more coordination to resolve ordering or conflicts )
dfc 9y ago
What trouble are you having with the GPSs? Getting them hooked up to ntpd is fairly easy after you get used to some of the common hiccups. As far as who wins for a long time now it has been astronomers. The fact that Google and Amazon are doing leap smearing is a nice sign that the tide may be turning. It is very rare that you see organizations supporting leap seconds during big standards discussions that are not astronomers.
- carterschonwald 9y ago
  Getting a rig for some servers is easy. Figuring out a range of hardware to test and support for a range of different types of possible users with different budgets, from some tiny hobby user at home to the entire global economy... have very different needs and hardware budgets. :)
  - denimnerd 9y ago
    Anything that has PPS and is compatible with GPSD will work..
  - dfc 9y ago
    The entire global economy? Maybe you should narrow your market focus a little. NTPD and or GPSD support anything with NMEA and PPS. You should be able to satisfy a large range of users with any ublox 6, 7 or 8T.
    - Veratyr 9y ago
      Yep, you can buy a Neo-6M with breakout board and antenna for $5 and hook it up to a Raspberry Pi without much trouble. Software can be fiddly but I found this guide to be helpful: http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html Hell, you can hook it up to a NodeMCU as well: https://blog.squix.org/2016/05/esp8266-peripherals-ublox-gps-module.html https://blog.squix.org/2016/05/esp8266-peripherals-ublox-gps... Bam, $10 wifi enabled GPS.
    - carterschonwald 9y ago
      For near term dev the 8T kit is probably what’s gonna happen. Gpsd is definitely a nice piece of tools

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ac2u 9y ago

Cool, something like what happens in Google's datacentres to provide Spanner?

carterschonwald 9y ago
Yes! The system we're working on is one that benefits from the exact same sort of idea : having time info of better accuracy should allow better performance of the same system. (Logical time works too, but will often require much more coordination to resolve ordering or conflicts )

dfc 9y ago

What trouble are you having with the GPSs? Getting them hooked up to ntpd is fairly easy after you get used to some of the common hiccups. As far as who wins for a long time now it has been astronomers. The fact that Google and Amazon are doing leap smearing is a nice sign that the tide may be turning. It is very rare that you see organizations supporting leap seconds during big standards discussions that are not astronomers.

carterschonwald 9y ago
Getting a rig for some servers is easy. Figuring out a range of hardware to test and support for a range of different types of possible users with different budgets, from some tiny hobby user at home to the entire global economy... have very different needs and hardware budgets. :)
- denimnerd 9y ago
  Anything that has PPS and is compatible with GPSD will work..
- dfc 9y ago
  The entire global economy? Maybe you should narrow your market focus a little. NTPD and or GPSD support anything with NMEA and PPS. You should be able to satisfy a large range of users with any ublox 6, 7 or 8T.
  - Veratyr 9y ago
    Yep, you can buy a Neo-6M with breakout board and antenna for $5 and hook it up to a Raspberry Pi without much trouble. Software can be fiddly but I found this guide to be helpful: http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html Hell, you can hook it up to a NodeMCU as well: https://blog.squix.org/2016/05/esp8266-peripherals-ublox-gps-module.html https://blog.squix.org/2016/05/esp8266-peripherals-ublox-gps... Bam, $10 wifi enabled GPS.
  - carterschonwald 9y ago
    For near term dev the 8T kit is probably what’s gonna happen. Gpsd is definitely a nice piece of tools