"date" reports correct time zone and time; UI reports a time several hours off

Synthead · 07-10-2013, 06:47 PM

I pushed a file from /usr/share/zoneinfo to my kindle's /var/local/system/tz file. It shows the time zone I want when I run "date" on it, but the Kindle's time (in the UI) is several hours off. What's wrong?

For the record, this Kindle is not registered to Amazon.

knc1 · 07-10-2013, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthead

I pushed a file from /usr/share/zoneinfo to my kindle's /var/local/system/tz file. It shows the time zone I want when I run "date" on it, but the Kindle's time (in the UI) is several hours off. What's wrong?

For the record, this Kindle is not registered to Amazon.

Set BOTH the system time and the hardware clock.
Both set to the same (GMT) time.

?? Is the "several hours off" happen to be your offset from TZ-0?

Synthead · 07-10-2013, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

Set BOTH the system time and the hardware clock.
Both set to the same (GMT) time.

?? Is the "several hours off" happen to be your offset from TZ-0?

I'll give an example. From my Linux machine, I push my Los_Angeles (PDT) zoneinfo file to /var/local/system/tz:

Code:

$ scp America/Los_Angeles kindle:/var/local/system/tz
Los_Angeles                                                                       100% 2819     2.8KB/s   00:00

On my Kindle, I run ntpdate to sync the time:

Code:

# ntpdate pool.ntp.org
10 Jul 16:16:26 ntpdate[8386]: step time server 74.120.8.2 offset 25966.135014 sec

I check the date on the Kindle:

Code:

# date
Wed Jul 10 16:17:56 PDT 2013

The time and time zone is correct. On the Kindle UI, I press the Menu button, and it reports 11:17 PM instead of the 4:17 PM on the system time. If I write the current time to the hardware clock (hwclock -w), the time in the UI remains the same.

knc1 · 07-10-2013, 07:38 PM

And after you do a re-start? (Which should not be required)

And my earlier question - how many hours off is that time displayed in the UI?

NiLuJe · 07-10-2013, 08:07 PM

Yeah, it gets tricky sometimes.

Cf. /usr/sbin/setdate && /usr/sbin/settz && /usr/sbin/updatetime

The K5 ;st shortcut calls setdate with the wanted time in the %s format. (use date -D "inputfmt" +outputfmt "time" to convert, or use the output of a full fledged date from a proper Linux system).

farfeduc · 07-11-2013, 07:40 AM

Same problem here : Paperwhite not keeping Time

The problem has already been covered.

Synthead · 07-11-2013, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Yeah, it gets tricky sometimes.

Cf. /usr/sbin/setdate && /usr/sbin/settz && /usr/sbin/updatetime

The K5 ;st shortcut calls setdate with the wanted time in the %s format. (use date -D "inputfmt" +outputfmt "time" to convert, or use the output of a full fledged date from a proper Linux system).

I want to set the date via NTP with a correct zoneinfo file

I could fidget with "date -s MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]", but that just feels gross working as a sysadmin

Quote:

Originally Posted by farfeduc

Same problem here : Paperwhite not keeping Time

The problem has already been covered.

I don't want to register the Kindle with Amazon.

NiLuJe · 07-11-2013, 05:08 PM

/usr/sbin/updatetime is Amazon's wrapper around ntp, IIRC.

knc1 · 07-11-2013, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthead

I want to set the date via NTP with a correct zoneinfo file

I could fidget with "date -s MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]", but that just feels gross working as a sysadmin

I don't want to register the Kindle with Amazon.

Install the KUAL.ntpdate button.
Change the time server(s) or time server network(s) as desired per the directions.

knc1 · 07-11-2013, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthead

Code:

# ntpdate pool.ntp.org
10 Jul 16:16:26 ntpdate[8386]: step time server 74.120.8.2 offset 25966.135014 sec

I check the date on the Kindle:

Code:

# date
Wed Jul 10 16:17:56 PDT 2013

The time and time zone is correct. On the Kindle UI, I press the Menu button, and it reports 11:17 PM instead of the 4:17 PM on the system time. If I write the current time to the hardware clock (hwclock -w), the time in the UI remains the same.

Right ! Your off by the gmt offset in the two readings.
Being a sysadmin, you can probably fix that better than we could.

ixtab · 07-11-2013, 06:34 PM

... this method has always worked for me:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kind..._the_time_zone

Synthead · 07-11-2013, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ixtab

... this method has always worked for me:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kind..._the_time_zone

That's what I mentioned in my original post. The time is still incorrect on the Kindle's UI.

ixtab · 07-11-2013, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthead

That's what I mentioned in my original post. The time is still incorrect on the Kindle's UI.

Try rebooting your Kindle. And maybe try symlinking the /etc/localtime file directly to the timezone file, instead of indirectly via /var/local/system/tz.

I just tried it again on a Kindle Touch, and it worked again as expected (but only after a reboot, not immediately via SSH - not even if restarting the framework).

EDIT: Yep... you're right. Even after setting up everything correctly, the K4 will simply stick to displaying UTC in the user interface. I guess "inability to show the correct timezone" is just one more thing to complain about to Amazon CS. I'm personally not terribly surprised.

knc1 · 07-12-2013, 08:51 AM

Ah, phooey.
Lab126 forgot the -u option use in their testing and/or scripting.
And that crew **gets paid** to turn out this stuff!

@ixtab: Any chance that Java is somewhere maintaining its own idea of the date/time/tz without reference to the system/hardware clocks?
I.E: A module that should only be used on systems that do not have hardware date/time?

Hmm...
I guess I could re-write the ntpdate button to store local time in the hardware of the K4.
But that seems kind of like a kludge to me.

ixtab · 07-12-2013, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

@ixtab: Any chance that Java is somewhere maintaining its own idea of the date/time/tz without reference to the system/hardware clocks?
I.E: A module that should only be used on systems that do not have hardware date/time?

Nothing specific that I'd know of. But (even without being able to provide exact code), something like "get current time, and display it as Zulu time" should be straightforward to code.

It doesn't really make sense, but it's seemingly what they did. Maybe because they didn't even ship the files required to support time zones in the first place, so they assumed the only "existing" TZ would be UTC anyway?

"Who needs more than one timezone anyway? Or, for that matter, who needs the correct date and time on an e-book reader?"

07-10-2013, 06:47 PM	#1
Synthead Member Posts: 10 Karma: 536 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kindle 4NT	"date" reports correct time zone and time; UI reports a time several hours off I pushed a file from /usr/share/zoneinfo to my kindle's /var/local/system/tz file. It shows the time zone I want when I run "date" on it, but the Kindle's time (in the UI) is several hours off. What's wrong? For the record, this Kindle is not registered to Amazon.

07-10-2013, 07:38 PM	#4
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	And after you do a re-start? (Which should not be required) And my earlier question - how many hours off is that time displayed in the UI? Last edited by knc1; 07-10-2013 at 07:53 PM.

07-10-2013, 08:07 PM	#5
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,477 Karma: 26012492 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	Yeah, it gets tricky sometimes. Cf. /usr/sbin/setdate && /usr/sbin/settz && /usr/sbin/updatetime The K5 ;st shortcut calls setdate with the wanted time in the %s format. (use date -D "inputfmt" +outputfmt "time" to convert, or use the output of a full fledged date from a proper Linux system). Last edited by NiLuJe; 07-10-2013 at 08:11 PM.

07-12-2013, 08:51 AM	#14
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	Ah, phooey. Lab126 forgot the -u option use in their testing and/or scripting. And that crew gets paid to turn out this stuff! @ixtab: Any chance that Java is somewhere maintaining its own idea of the date/time/tz without reference to the system/hardware clocks? I.E: A module that should only be used on systems that do not have hardware date/time? Hmm... I guess I could re-write the ntpdate button to store local time in the hardware of the K4. But that seems kind of like a kludge to me. Last edited by knc1; 07-12-2013 at 08:56 AM.

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07-11-2013, 07:40 AM	#6
farfeduc Kindle Addict Posts: 32 Karma: 107422 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Same problem here : Paperwhite not keeping Time The problem has already been covered.

07-11-2013, 05:08 PM	#8
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,477 Karma: 26012492 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	/usr/sbin/updatetime is Amazon's wrapper around ntp, IIRC.

07-11-2013, 06:34 PM	#11
ixtab (offline) Posts: 2,907 Karma: 6736092 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: K3, K4, K5, KPW, KPW2	... this method has always worked for me: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kind..._the_time_zone