Is there some way that I could easily syncronize my QNX2 networked machines with a time server somewhere? We do a time sync with our Windows domain controller which then syncronizes the time on all of our windows machines on our Ethernet network when they log into the network. Is there some way to syncronize the machines on the QNX network with one of the Windows PCs if there’s no way to syncronize them with a time server? Could I syncronize over the serial ports between QNX machine and Windows machine? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Ernie
You like to ask the easy questions don’t you 
I am assuming that you don’t want microsecond resolution (1 second resolution).
Hmmm, let’s see, without writing code I don’t think this is possible. Can you write code for your QNX2 system? If so, it wouldn’t be hard to do, simply have a windows program that (once per minute at 15 seconds before the minute) printfs a time string out the serial port, and then a single “.” exactly at the minute transition. On the QNX side the program reads the time string, preps the time set buffer, and when it sees the “.” it calls the time set function (in a loop once for each node in the QNX2 network). If you want to get fancy you can measure the network latency (this is arcnet so it is deterministic), and then adjust each call in the time set loop to add the round trip time to the time buffer from the previous time set call). This should get you to within 250ms of the windows machine time.
Thanks for the response. I didn’t think it would be an easy one. No, I don’t have the capability to write code for my QNX 2 system. It was provided as the HMI on some German made injection molding machines that we bought and I’ve really not delved into it. The reason for that being that it’s so darned bullet proof that I rarely need do anything to it. As long as the hardware doesn’t crap out, the software just keeps doing what it was designed to do. Anyway, know anyone who could write the code? I’d even be willing to throw a few bucks at it. We don’t need micorsecond resolution. I’d be happy if we got it within 30 seconds and I really only need to update the time on the QNX machines once a day as they don’t gain or lose that much time in a single day. Thanks again for the help.
Ernie
I still am willing and able to write QNX 2 code. I started using QNX 2 around 1983 so I have lots of experience. You can contact me at maschoen@pobox.com.
I should also say, this looks like a 1-2 hour job max.