Jan Ceuleers wrote:
Terje Mathisen wrote:
The canonical DIY ntp server would be to base them on phk's choice, the
Soekris single-board computer:
http://phk.freebsd.dk/soekris/pps/
Since this board has a hw counter capable of accurately timing the PPS
signals,Poul-Henning got it to run at sub-us accuracy, using a cheap
timing GPS.
A few more points:
- It does not explicitly say so at the page above, but the Soekris model that
Poul-Henning used was the 4501. I've only got 4801s and they're not as good for
timing.
- The results shown on the above page are of a 4501 that has been significantly
hacked by adding a Rubidium oscillator to the mix. Not for the faint hearted
and not cheap either.
- The net4501 costs €136 for the board and case. Add €15 for the power supply.
Then add around €100 for a GPS riming receiver and another $1700 for the
Rubidium standard. Admittedly the latter is optional if your needs are modest.
You're right that the hardware hacks (documented on my web site at
http://www.febo.com/pages/soekris) aren't for the faint-hearted. I'd
like to stress, though, that you don't need an expensive Rubidium or
Cesium standard to make a noticeable improvement in timekeeping,
particularly short-term response to things like ambient temperature
changes. An inexpensive (<$20) temperature compensated crystal
oscillator (TCXO) will be significantly better than the stock crystal on
the Soekris (or any other PC).
The quality of the oscillator will impact stability over time periods
shorter than NTP's loop time constant, but will have no effect over
longer time intervals where NTP steers the clock. The basic idea is
that *anything* will be more stable than the crystal on the motherboard.
BTW -- if you get a TXCO operating directly at 33.333 MHz, you don't
need the "ClockBlock" board either, which saves $70 over the
configuration shown in my article.
And if you can live with a surplus solution, there are tons of LPRO-101
Rubidium oscillators available on eBay for less than $100. They require
soldering to interface, but if you're already hacking a Soekris board,
the wiring is trivial.
John
_______________________________________________
questions mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ntp.org/listinfo/questions
