On 03/08/2018 09:16 PM, Barry Roberts wrote: > It's not Linux-related, but I'm curious what other nerds think. I was > listening to KUER on the way home from work tonight, and they were > talking about this: > https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/8/17095440/europe-clocks-running-slow-electricity-frequency-kosovo-serbia > > I don't know if I've ever owned a clock that would act like that. > Maybe some really old clock with an AC motor. But they talk about the > clock on a microwave, and show a digital clock on a stove. Those all > have crystal oscillators that run on DC and I'm pretty sure would not > be affected at all by a .1% change in the AC frequency (that number > was from the radio --.1% or 344 seconds in about 6 months, I think).
Yeah the folks who chose the picture to go with the article got it wrong! A digital clock on a microwave or stove would be timed from quartz crystal and wouldn't care about A/C line frequency. > Am I crazy? Are there really a bunch of clocks in Europe that > actually depend on the 50hz alternating current frequency for > timekeeping? The whole thing sounds like some non-technical reporter > grossly misunderstanding electronics to me. There are some, yes. Maybe not a lot. And I doubt most people noticed or were affected by it. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
