The Thorny Problem of Keeping the Internet's Time An obscure software system synchronizes the network's clocks. Who will keep it running? https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-thorny-problem-of-keeping-the-internets-time "In 1977, David Mills, an eccentric engineer and computer scientist, took a job at COMSAT, a satellite corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C. Mills was an inveterate tinkerer: he'd once built a hearing aid for a girlfriend's uncle, and had consulted for Ford on how paper-tape computers might be put into cars. Now, at COMSAT, Mills became involved in the ARPANET, the computer network that would become the precursor to the Internet. A handful of researchers were already using the network to connect their distant computers and trade information. But the fidelity of that exchanged data was threatened by a distinct deficiency: the machines did not share a single, reliable synchronized time."
One of the many unsung heroes of the "Internet Age" who also happened to be Amateur Radio Operators. It's hard not to stumble across them if you really go looking
There are other threads here on the Zed about this: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?th...ping-the-internet’s-time.833340/#post-6326567 https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?posts/6323894/ Maybe a mod could merge 'em into one in a public area.
Something to remember, NTP works well across any connection, slow, fast, symmetrical or not. So yeah, Ethernet, wifi, cable, dsl, ... Dial up. Well done.
It's been a long time since I listened to this but here's a good interview with Harlan Stenn who is mentioned in that article. https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/350
Great interview. Thank you for the linkage. I had read the Atlantic article, so this was a natural follow up for me. Though only halfway through the interview, the quote that really grabbed my attention - so much so to transcribe it for posting here - was this: "If you don't have people around who have that level of knowledge of history, you end up on some goose chases that are incredibly wild. So yes, having Dave Mills still around and the ability for me to call him and chat with him is a truly wonderful and glorious thing." - Harlan Stenn on Dave Mills Now back to the interview.
