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From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Battery-Backed Clock Goes Back
Message-ID: <3854@well.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 29-Aug-87 19:39:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: well.3854
Posted: Sat Aug 29 19:39:08 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Aug-87 10:20:44 EDT
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Distribution: na
Organization: None lately.
Lines: 54
Keywords: Spirit Tech, clock, battery, fertilizer

[ This line intentionally left blank. ]

	Well, I finally gave up on the Spirit Technologies battery-backed
clock I got.  I was willing to hold on to it only if it kept good time.

	It didn't.  It gained about ten seconds a week.  In my book, that's
awful.  So, back it goes.

	I called Spirit Tech and told them I wanted to send it back.  The
person on the other end was very nice about it, and gave me a return
merchanise authorization number.  I'll throw it at UPS next week.  Exactly
when I'll see my money back is another issue, but I have no reason to expect
they'll be underhanded about it.

	In the meantime, my little Amy has her RF shield back, and is happy
as a clam.

	To be perfectly fair, Larry Rosenman (sp?) on PeopleNet recommended
the clock to me, saying that it kept wonderful time, and that he was elated
with it.  So obviously, Spirit Tech does make stuff that makes people happy.
This particular people wasn't happy - what can I say?

--------

	In the time that I had the clock, I came to some decisions about
what I'd like to see in a battery-backed clock, which I'd like to share with
people out there who might be making such beasts.

	It has to be at least as accurate as my watch (for the record, my
watch gains about five seconds a month), preferably more so.  I wince at
anything worse than 1 second/month.  (Mebbe I should buy an atomic clock?)

	It should auto-config.  I want to be able to reset the machine, and
during the reboot process, have the system time be set.  I would prefer that
I didn't have to clutter my Startup-Sequence with Yet Another Command.  My C
development startup script is long enough, thank you.  It seems to me that
it should be possible to have a true auto-configuring clock, possibly on a
Zorro board or something.

	Failing that, then it would be nice to SetFunction() the DOS's time
of day calls to custom code to read the clock hardware (although I can think
of a couple of possible problems with this).

	The battery should last "forever".  In other words, I want to see
the battery trickle-charged by system power when the system is on.

	Anyone working on such a beast?  Perry, I remember you working on
some such thing....

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_	 Bike shrunk by popular demand,	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	 But it's still the only way to fly.  hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor