[Info-vax] Time change

[Neil Rieck]

On Mar 9, 2:21 pm, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> Woke up this sunday and to my surprise, the TV clock had changed. I
> hadn't even seen that one coming. The ALphas changed their time, as did
> the thermostat, and my switch. Had to change time manually on the VAX
> and on my DSL modem.
>
> Are there any hopes that a patch would be issued to get VAX-VMS 7.3 to
> have auto auto-daylight stuff working ? Would this be a very complex
> change or fairly simple one ?
>
> How is this implemented in alpha ? Does the system do a glorified
> SYS$SETTIM to call a routine to execute at the next scheduled time
> change ?  or is there some other type of mechanism that allows VMS to
> schedule some event in the long term ?
>
> Also, if I have an alpha that was shutdown during this time, when it
> next boots, will it automatically change its time ?

There is a good article in the March issue of Scientific American
claiming that the supposed energy savings involved with time changes
is too small to be relevant. The only validated metric involves the
amount of extra moola pulled in by golf courses and country clubs.
(which means the lobbyists will make sure we never get rid of it)

Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/