I’ll never be late again - Open Timecard Mini
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the importance of accurate timekeeping in computers, especially in large networks. It introduces two products: the Time Card Mini and the G0 KK (Gawk), which use GPS to achieve time accuracy down to 0.03 seconds per year. These devices connect to satellites for precise time data and output it through a Raspberry Pi. The script also covers setting up a time server using these devices, addressing initial technical issues and achieving synchronization with public time servers. The result is a local time server with remarkable accuracy, demonstrating a fun and advanced solution for time synchronization.
Takeaways
- ⏰ Time synchronization is crucial for computers, especially in large clusters, where all machines must stay in sync.
- 🖥️ The Time Beat Time Card Mini and G0KK (Gawk) are specialized devices designed to provide highly accurate time synchronization for computers using GPS data.
- 📅 Most computers have real-time clocks, but they can drift by seconds per day, which can be problematic for precision applications.
- 📡 The Time Card Mini connects to satellites (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) to get precise time data, which it relays to a Raspberry Pi or other systems.
- 📈 The SI T 5811 chip included in these devices can maintain time accuracy within one part per billion for up to 8 hours.
- 💻 The Ethernet connection allows the time card to be integrated into existing systems, sending time signals through the network without needing a new rack or system.
- 🕒 In a Linus Media Group project, the Time Card Mini was used to set up a precise time server, which was essential for syncing computers in a cluster.
- 🔄 The Raspberry Pi kernel used to run the time sync software had issues with simultaneous GPS serial and PPS data, but a fix is in progress.
- ⚙️ Proper setup can lead to nanosecond-level accuracy, with occasional minor offsets caused by the hardware and software configuration.
- 🔧 Although precise time synchronization is not always necessary, it's a fun and interesting project, particularly for those working with clusters or requiring high precision.
Q & A
Why is time synchronization important for computers?
-Time synchronization is crucial for computers, especially when multiple computers need to communicate or perform tasks in sync. It ensures that all systems are working with the same time reference, which is essential for operations that require precise timing.
What is a real-time clock (RTC) and why might it not be accurate?
-A real-time clock is a hardware clock found on computer motherboards that keeps track of the current time. However, it may not be highly accurate as it can drift by several seconds per day due to the inherent inaccuracies of the clock hardware.
How does the Time Card Mini help improve time accuracy?
-The Time Card Mini uses a GPS chip to connect to GPS and other satellite systems like Galileo to receive very accurate time data, which it then outputs to a connected Raspberry Pi, significantly improving time accuracy.
What is the purpose of the u-blox M8F0 GPS chip on the Time Card Mini?
-The u-blox M8F0 GPS chip is used to receive accurate time data from GPS and other satellite systems. It sends a pulse at the start of every second, which helps to synchronize the system time with high precision.
What is the function of the PCIe card mentioned in the script?
-The PCIe card is used to provide power to the Time Card Mini. It allows for the addition of a powerful and accurate time server to existing infrastructure without the need for significant hardware changes.
Why did Linus Media Group set up a time server using the Time Card Mini and gawk One Mini?
-Linus Media Group set up a time server to meet the precise time synchronization requirements of their Proxmox cluster setup, which needed time sync within about 5 milliseconds.
What is the issue with the Raspberry Pi's kernel code as it relates to the Time Card Mini?
-The kernel code has an issue handling both the GPS serial connection (NMEA) and the PPS (Pulse Per Second) at the same time, which can cause instability. The Time Card Mini's manufacturer is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.
What is the significance of the PPS signal from the GPS chip?
-The PPS signal provides a highly accurate time reference, with the potential to achieve synchronization within nanoseconds, which is essential for applications requiring precise timekeeping.
Why might using a public time server as a primary clock source be problematic if the internet goes down?
-If the internet goes down, a public time server as a primary clock source would not be accessible, potentially causing synchronization issues. However, the GPS chip would still provide accurate time data, though without the internet, the system would lose the ability to sync with the actual time.
How accurate is the time synchronization achieved with the Time Card Mini and gawk One Mini?
-The time synchronization achieved with these devices can be within 10 nanoseconds, which is extremely accurate and suitable for high-precision applications.
What is the practical use of such accurate timekeeping for a typical user?
-While most users do not require such precise timekeeping, it is essential for specific applications like scientific research, financial trading systems, or any system that requires highly synchronized operations across multiple devices.
Outlines
🕒 Importance of Time Synchronization in Computing
The paragraph discusses the critical role of time synchronization in computing, especially when managing multiple computers. It introduces two products: the Time Card Mini and the g0 KK (possibly pronounced 'gawk'), which are used to maintain accurate timekeeping. These devices connect to GPS and other satellite systems to provide precise time data. The Time Card Mini includes a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, a GPS chip (u-blox LEA-M8F0), and additional features like USB, SD card slot, and Ethernet for connectivity. The devices are set up to create a time server for Linus Media Group, which is necessary for their Proxmox cluster setup requiring time sync within 5 milliseconds. The video also mentions a minor issue with the pronunciation of the product name 'g0 KK' and the setup process involving connecting antennas for GPS reception.
📡 Setting Up GPS Time Server and Resolving Technical Issues
This paragraph details the process of setting up a GPS time server using the Time Card Mini and gawk One Mini. It covers the initial lack of GPS reception, which was resolved by plugging in the correct antennas. The video explains the configuration of the time server, focusing on primary and secondary clocks. The primary clock uses PPS (Pulse Per Second) from the GPS chip for nanosecond accuracy, while the secondary clock sources time from public servers like Cloudflare. The paragraph also discusses a technical issue with the Raspberry Pi's kernel code, which affects the simultaneous use of GPS serial (NMEA) and PPS connections. The video concludes with a successful setup of the time server, achieving synchronization within 10 nanoseconds, and a demonstration of syncing a laptop to the local time server. The host expresses enthusiasm for the setup, despite it not being a necessity, and encourages viewers to subscribe and share their thoughts.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Time Synchronization
💡Time Card Mini
💡Real-time Clock (RTC)
💡GPS Chip
💡PPS (Pulse Per Second)
💡Proxmox
💡NTP (Network Time Protocol)
💡Cluster Computing
💡Kernel Code
💡Cloudflare
Highlights
Time synchronization is crucial for computers, especially when coordinating tasks across multiple machines.
The Time Card Mini and the g0 KK are products designed to provide highly accurate timekeeping for computer systems.
Computer motherboards typically have a real-time clock that can drift, making external timekeeping devices valuable.
The Time Card Mini can maintain time accuracy to within 0.03 seconds per year.
The device uses a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and a GPS chip to sync with global satellite systems for precise time data.
It offers USB, SD card slot, DIP switches, GPIO pins, antenna connection, USB on-the-go, and Ethernet for connectivity.
The PCIe card is used to provide power to the Raspberry Pi, allowing it to function as a time server.
Setting up a time server at Linus Media Group was motivated by the need for precise time sync in a computer cluster setup.
Proxmox, a virtualization platform, requires time sync within about 5 milliseconds for cluster operations.
The Time Card Mini and g0 KK can be configured to use PPS from the GPS chip for nanosecond accuracy.
The device can also sync time with public NTP servers like time.cloudflare.com for a secondary time source.
MSI sponsored the video, offering back-to-school deals on a range of laptops, gaming PCs, GPUs, and more.
GPS antennas are required for the device to receive signals and maintain accurate timekeeping.
The device can achieve time accuracy within 10 nanoseconds, which is exceptionally precise.
There was an issue with the Raspberry Pi's kernel code that prevented simultaneous use of NMEA and PPS.
Time Beat is working on a fix for the kernel code issue to improve the device's functionality.
For now, it's recommended to use a public time server for major time sync and GPS for PPS to avoid issues.
The time server can sync time with devices on the same network, providing accurate local time.
While not necessary for all setups, the Time Card Mini and g0 KK offer a fun and precise way to manage time on a network.
Transcripts
as you can probably imagine time is very
important when it comes to computers you
want your computer to be in time
especially if you have more than one
computer say you have a thousand
computers and you want to like do stuff
across all of them well they better be
in time sync and it's not really a
problem that we have but when I saw this
product the time beat time card mini and
the other one in here this one called is
called the g0 KK I don't know if you're
supposed to call call it gawk I probably
should have asked them how to pronounce
it but it doesn't matter it was just too
cool to not check out I've never played
with one of these this guy right here
the gawk
one and this one as you could probably
guess is the time card mini you may or
may not be aware but basically every
computer on the planet I think I imagine
phones have them but definitely like
your gaming computer on its motherboard
will have something called a realtime
clock usually the clocks on computer are
not super accurate for example the
real-time clock in your average computer
will drift multiple seconds per day for
example this little add-on chip right
here can hold time down to 0.03 seconds
per year which is very accurate let's
focus on the time card mini for now
because the actual bones of these two
products are pretty much the same you've
got a Raspberry Pi compute module
4 we've got a little spacer board on the
back but this is the important part this
is the time teller right here you can
see the ublock Lea M8 F0 it's a GPS chip
so what this board basically does is
connects to GPS glow Nas Galileo
satellites gets very accurate time data
from them and then outputs it through
these pins to our little Raspberry Pi
and then we've got two little spots over
here for add-on modules these uh you can
put little chips on them and this chip
the SI T 5811 can hold one part per
billion accuracy for up to 8 hours in
terms of the rest of IO it has USB here
it's got an SD card slot here bunch of
dip switches primarily used for setup
you've got your connection points for
the raspy the full set of GPO pins for
the raspy which is super nice an antenna
connection USB on the- go connection two
type-c USBS and ethernet now you would
use this ethernet to well provide
internet to the Raspberry Pi and also to
send your time signaling out um as you
can imagine it's a little weird to be
plugging a computer into a computer
right this is a pcie card why would you
plug this computer into your other
computer the function of this is
literally just to give power it's
basically so you can add a very powerful
very accurate time server to your
existing infrastructure without having
to put like a a whole new rack Unit in
or like duct tape it to the side of your
rack or whatever aside from these just
being cool the reason I asked for them
was to make a Time server at Linus Media
Group for us the thing that kind of
sparked this idea is we were setting up
a cluster of computers using proxmox and
proxmox requires that the time sync be
within about 5 milliseconds you can
achieve that pretty easily by having any
local time server for instance most
routers will let you enable an ntp
server that runs on them which is what
we did and it worked totally fine but
you know it's me I want to do it like
fancy or silly and that's what we're
going to do with these do you think that
this I mean it just needs to provide
Power right I run the time card mini in
the gawk One Mini it's like time server
setion okay now I think I have to try
that I really hope this doesn't break it
I'd feel kind of bad if I broke it oh
look at that they're both blinking look
at that wow it works okay
we've got a Time server in the time
server can you see how this makes
perfect sense now it should be running
already you can see from the logs it's
connecting to cloudflare um that's an
ntp server a public time server uh that
I configure just as like a secondary
source usually you'd see a bunch of GPS
logs but that's because I haven't told
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below sorry wrong thing I mean I haven't
plugged in the antennas yet so let's do
that you can use basically any GPS
antenna as far as I'm aware I got these
ones on Amazon this is meant for a boat
and I needed to get an adapter cuz this
uses BNC connectors now I wonder will we
have GPS reception in here zero
satellites in view look at that 10
satellites in view ooh wah wa we woo all
right look at this we got our gawk one
oh look it's ripping dude nothing like
measuring your time in Nan seconds it's
a very in-depth config file you can mess
around with a lot of different settings
and some far more advanced than others
um but what we're most interested in is
the primary clocks and secondary clocks
primary clocks usually you set as your
most accurate source of time in our case
we're going to use PPS from the GPS chip
and that's one pulse per second PPS
stands for and basically Bally what's
happening is the GPS chip on the time
card is sending a little electrical
signal at the start of every second and
that's going to sink our time down to
like Nan seconds or micros seconds and
be very accurate then in the secondary
clock section we're getting our major
time which is like what time of day it
is just down to the minute or second uh
we're getting that from cloud flare
time. cloudflare.com wow look at
that hey I don't know I feel like
something's funky is going on with this
one
the thing that's strange is it's like
reporting to the
dashboard very
infrequently ooh look at our offset it's
terrible we have 5c
variants I don't know what to do boys
it's been a few days but we've got the
GPS antennas outside we've got them
hooked up and we've sorted out the
couple little issues we were running
into I worked out with the time beat
guys and now this all makes a lot more
sense and it isn't crashing anymore I
want to just give you guys a little bit
of background here on the Raspberry Pi
there's like an issue with the kernel
code that they use to run the time beat
software it doesn't like having the GPS
serial connection which we call nmea as
well as PPS at the same time and they
did admit to me it is kind of their own
fault because they wrote the code but
they are working on a fix but for now we
can't really do both at the same time at
least not on the newer version
this is the older version you can see
here I'm running this on the time card
mini you can see we're reading the major
time from the GPS chip and it's several
hundred milliseconds out which makes
sense and then if we look at our
PPS it's pretty accurate but it's also a
bit all over the place for the most part
we're
talking within 10 nond accuracy but then
on other times it's 14 or 45 nond out
which is still mindboggling accurate but
they were telling me on a proper setup
without this bug they usually within 1 2
3 NS at all times which is so so stable
generally they recommended to me to just
disable this nmea data and use a public
time server like time. windows.com time.
cloudflare.com as your major time Source
now you might have a problem if the
internet goes out because you're losing
your major time Source but the GPS chip
does still have that information and the
pulse per second should still stay
relatively accurate but generally if you
have downtime of your main internet you
probably have bigger problems let's sync
my laptop to it hey it worked look at
that look how accurate the time is if I
sync to this local time server or like
half a millisec out some of that is just
going to be the clock on this Mac
probably not being the greatest thing
ever but uh we're also syncing over
Wi-Fi but there you go we have a local
time server getting its data from GPS
and from public time servers our gawk
One Mini our very own generally pretty
much within 10 NS which is kind ofing
insane I like this thing it's not
necessary for us at all don't get me
wrong what for our cluster setup as long
as they're all synced to like a local
time server we have our router acting as
that it's got a pretty accurate Nick and
maybe it's not true to actual time but
as long as they all think that they're
on the same time it doesn't really
matter but this is just cool and I like
doing cool stuff like this and I like
sharing it with you so get subscribed
hit like and tell me what you think
about acurate time you probably don't
need it either but it is fun and not
that expensive if you buy the normal
version of this and build it
yourself bye
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