Local time not showing for "your computer"

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Profile Keith

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Message 413910 - Posted: 3 Sep 2006, 8:09:16 UTC

On looking at each of my computers at "your computers", the local time is shown as "UTC+0" yet both are correctly running on BST, which should display as "UTC+1". Is this a bug that needs correcting?

BOINC at UTC and my computers' menu clocks at BST are correctly displaying one hour different and BOINC Manager statistics correctly update at 0100 hrs BST each day (= 0000 hrs UTC).

Keith Scott
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Message 413952 - Posted: 3 Sep 2006, 12:51:35 UTC - in response to Message 413910.  

On looking at each of my computers at "your computers", the local time is shown as "UTC+0" yet both are correctly running on BST, which should display as "UTC+1". Is this a bug that needs correcting?

BOINC at UTC and my computers' menu clocks at BST are correctly displaying one hour different and BOINC Manager statistics correctly update at 0100 hrs BST each day (= 0000 hrs UTC).

Keith Scott

Not sure I understand your question.

Your host with ID 2609187 had a last contact with the server at Berkeley today at 10:53:44 UTC as can be seen at ”Your computers”, which should be for you at 11:53:44 BST. This is the time your last WU has been reported.

Does this answer your question?
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Message 414908 - Posted: 4 Sep 2006, 23:47:08 UTC - in response to Message 413952.  

On looking at each of my computers at "your computers", the local time is shown as "UTC+0" yet both are correctly running on BST, which should display as "UTC+1". Is this a bug that needs correcting?
BOINC at UTC and my computers' menu clocks at BST are correctly displaying one hour different and BOINC Manager statistics correctly update at 0100 hrs BST each day (= 0000 hrs UTC).Keith Scott

Not sure I understand your question.
Your host with ID 2609187 had a last contact with the server at Berkeley today at 10:53:44 UTC as can be seen at ”Your computers”, which should be for you at 11:53:44 BST. This is the time your last WU has been reported.
Does this answer your question?

No, it doesn't answer the question at all, just reaffirms what I said. Maybe I did not make it quite clear that on line 3 of each of my UK "Computer Summary" pages, which were viewed via "your computers" page, the local time, as I stated previously is shown as "UTC +0", but we are in BST = British Summer Time, and should be "UTC +1" as is shown that the actual times are correctly displayed by the example I quoted to illustrate this point, and the daily "midnight cut-off" times for updating of the "Statistics" page bears this out. Sorry that is a long winded explanation, but I now realise that my previous brevity lead to misunderstanding. Keith
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Message 415014 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 3:19:22 UTC

SETI doesn't have a preference for setting your timezone so it uses UTC as a standard time reference. The only thing that SETI has in the preferences are the country, but it can't use just the country for accurate timezones because larger countries cover more than one time zone. I live near the east coast of the US and Berkeley is on the west coast so there are 4 hours difference between just myself and Berkeley. So they standardize on UTC for all the time reportings. The times shown in your BOINC manager are set to the preference of your operating system so they will be correct to your time zone if your os settings are correct.
Jim

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Message 415166 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 10:54:16 UTC - in response to Message 415014.  

SETI doesn't have a preference for setting your timezone so it uses UTC as a standard time reference. The only thing that SETI has in the preferences are the country, but it can't use just the country for accurate timezones because larger countries cover more than one time zone. I live near the east coast of the US and Berkeley is on the west coast so there are 4 hours difference between just myself and Berkeley. So they standardize on UTC for all the time reportings. The times shown in your BOINC manager are set to the preference of your operating system so they will be correct to your time zone if your os settings are correct.


Jim
Just the point I am making. They are not so.
It is appreciated that UTC time is used by SETI throughout in their reports, etc..
The only conclusion I can come to regarding to "Your Computer" summary, is that SETI does not take account of the "auto adjustment" for summer time. I assure you that my OS is correctly set to one hour later to accomodate BST and will automatically revert to UTC (=GMT) in October. However, it is misleading, when seeing "UTC+0" in the "Computer Summary" page.
I can appreciate that this is certainly accentuated if all US based computers are lumped together at the same nominal time zone (quite apart from the summertime adjustment!). But I think we may again be confusing the issue. I understand, from what you say, that anyone in the USA is treated as having the same time? So, all will have, say "UTC-8" on their "computer summary" page at line 3? But that contradicts with your statement that this detail depends on the setting in the computer's OS setting.
So, to clarify, on line 3 o f "Computer Summary" page:
1) Are summer auto-adjustments ignored?
2) Are all settings across countries spanning several time zones set at the same nominal figure?
3) Does this "UTC ± .." figure rely in any way on the computer's time zone setting?
Keith
P.S. This is a minor cosmetic problem anyway, as compared to the scrambled display on my "Your Account" page. I have a horrible feeling that I may have caused this by "back pedalling" out of a "post reply" page, which I had not recognized as being such. Keith
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Message 415177 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 11:35:18 UTC - in response to Message 415166.  


So, to clarify, on line 3 o f "Computer Summary" page:
1) Are summer auto-adjustments ignored?
2) Are all settings across countries spanning several time zones set at the same nominal figure?
3) Does this "UTC ± .." figure rely in any way on the computer's time zone setting?
Keith
P.S. This is a minor cosmetic problem anyway, as compared to the scrambled display on my "Your Account" page. I have a horrible feeling that I may have caused this by "back pedalling" out of a "post reply" page, which I had not recognized as being such. Keith[/quote]

I have just reset my "time zone" seveeral yimes and the "UTC ±" responds every time, even across USA, so that answers questions 1) and 2), just leaving the third query, which would appear to be a bug in the programming, as I had initially pointed out. Possibly "BST" is in a different field of the database from the "Time Zones" which in the majority of cases have differing Summer and Winter settings?
Keith
P.P.S. I have come across another sinilarly scrambled "My Account" page for "cleaner" in Canada, who uses computer # 2481229. So I'm not the only one! Keith.
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Message 415189 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 12:29:01 UTC - in response to Message 415177.  

[I have just reset my "time zone" seveeral yimes and the "UTC ±" responds every time, even across USA, so that answers questions 1) and 2), just leaving the third query,

Sorry, should be "answers Qns 2) and 3) leaving the first a query". (Sorry also for my typo mis-spellings!!)
Keith
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Message 415210 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 13:20:36 UTC - in response to Message 415189.  
Last modified: 5 Sep 2006, 13:33:20 UTC

[I have just reset my "time zone" seveeral yimes and the "UTC ±" responds every time, even across USA, so that answers questions 1) and 2), just leaving the third query,

Sorry, should be "answers Qns 2) and 3) leaving the first a query". (Sorry also for my typo mis-spellings!!)
Keith

Ok, I'll admit I might have been wrong in my asumptions. I run Linux and have my time set to automatically synchronize with the Network Time Protocol servers. Changing the time zone in my operating system doesn't have any affect the computer's system time, which is set to UTC. So it's possible that the servers are picking up my computer's time instead of my operating system's time.

So it might be also that your problem is similar in that your computer's time is set to standard and your operating system does the conversion to daylight time automatically without resetting the system clock.

/Edit/ BTW, I am also getting errors on the preferences pages. Must be something wrong with the script on that page. I know they have been doing some upgrading to the various web pages recently.
Jim

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Message 415215 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 13:59:26 UTC

It is correct that Seti doesn't change its pages all over the place to accommodate Daylight Saving Time. I'm in The Netherlands at UTC+2, but my setting on the page shows UTC+1.

I take it that they don't do it because it takes quite a lot of memory & CPU power to change this setting for a couple of 100,000 computer pages each time that the clock changes. It's also, in my humble opinion, not necessary. But I'll ask Matt Lebofsky what the real reason behind this is.
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Message 415519 - Posted: 5 Sep 2006, 21:15:44 UTC - in response to Message 415215.  

It is correct that Seti doesn't change its pages all over the place to accommodate Daylight Saving Time. I'm in The Netherlands at UTC+2, but my setting on the page shows UTC+1.

I take it that they don't do it because it takes quite a lot of memory & CPU power to change this setting for a couple of 100,000 computer pages each time that the clock changes. It's also, in my humble opinion, not necessary. But I'll ask Matt Lebofsky what the real reason behind this is.


Good, I'm glad we have come to the crux of the matterand are in agreement. Thanks.
I do notice, however, it is stated as "Local Standard Time", which is, of course, on reflection, correct.
It would be helpful if Line 3 stated specifically "(ignoring summer adjustments)" or words to that effect.
That would save all confusion. I must admit I incorrectly assumed it had just said "Local Time" .
Keith
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Questions and Answers : Preferences : Local time not showing for "your computer"


 
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