They kept the LCD dot matrix character display, the dual-color status LED, and the chassis. All of the other original guts remain in-place; it's completely reversible and no new holes were made.
I agree that rebuilding is an awkward fit here. Repurposing fits better in some ways and worse in others.
edit: Maybe retromod works. New stuff in an old box, with continuation of parts of the original vibe.
Part of the project which I think is in the spirit of a 1990s time server is I also got Timelord + Tardis working (time service over AppleTalk, tested on a Mac SE/30, courtesy of netatalk) and tested multiple NTPv1, NTPv3, and NTPv4 clients through this (and soon an Xserve G5).
It's less about getting the 1995 hardware working, and more about rebuilding the actual time server to serve the original purpose, for for the next 5-10 years at least.
I'm planning on using this chassis to build up an NTP Stratum 1 server for the global NTP pool, hopefully later this year. I thought it would be a lot more fun than letting the box go to e-waste.
And leaving the guts completely untouched means I can do a full restoration someday, if I want.
The two main things I'd need to do:
1. Modify the RF chain so I can use normal GPS antennas that don't down-convert the frequency.
2. Modify the DC bias voltage so it doesn't fry GPS antennas.
After that, I could work on patching firmware, but I'd probably just use the original guts as a frequency reference and leave time to other hardware.
I could even run the Pi and the old hardware simultaneously. The old hardware providing IRIG-B, 10 MHz, and 1 PPS references that are a little more accurate (it has a TCXO, haven't measured its timing accuracy yet). And the Pi could provide PTP and NTP, using a more modern GPS chip which even supports dual band and survey-in for more accuracy.
Yeah, I got recommended this video and felt very clickbaited and stopped watching when he mentioned that he's just replacing the innards with a Pi. Incredibly lame.
After the Telstra NTS issue and preparing for the upcoming summer storms and power outages, I set up a chrony mesh on three devices, each with a different upstream stratum 1 NTS. I seriously considered a GPS reference too, but I live on the bottom floor of apartment blocks so reception is probably quite poor. After blocking the firewall ports, the mesh stays linked and drift is well within sensible boundaries for the typical length of internet and power outages of a few hours. Although, a man with a watch knows the time but man with two watches cannot be certain.
I have a GPS based PTP server, the antenna is indoors 15 feet away from a south facing window, it locks on pretty well (though this will probably depend on the surrounding buildings)
On Telstra, they brought in an external auditor and the report was recently release:
* Post: https://www.telstra.com.au/exchange/what-we-ve-learned-from-...
* Report: https://www.telstra.com.au/content/dam/tcom/dynamic-media-pr...
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49549656
The author is not rebuilding anything, they just stuck a Raspberry Pi in the case.
They kept the LCD dot matrix character display, the dual-color status LED, and the chassis. All of the other original guts remain in-place; it's completely reversible and no new holes were made.
I agree that rebuilding is an awkward fit here. Repurposing fits better in some ways and worse in others.
edit: Maybe retromod works. New stuff in an old box, with continuation of parts of the original vibe.
Part of the project which I think is in the spirit of a 1990s time server is I also got Timelord + Tardis working (time service over AppleTalk, tested on a Mac SE/30, courtesy of netatalk) and tested multiple NTPv1, NTPv3, and NTPv4 clients through this (and soon an Xserve G5).
It's less about getting the 1995 hardware working, and more about rebuilding the actual time server to serve the original purpose, for for the next 5-10 years at least.
I'm planning on using this chassis to build up an NTP Stratum 1 server for the global NTP pool, hopefully later this year. I thought it would be a lot more fun than letting the box go to e-waste.
And leaving the guts completely untouched means I can do a full restoration someday, if I want.
The two main things I'd need to do:
1. Modify the RF chain so I can use normal GPS antennas that don't down-convert the frequency.
2. Modify the DC bias voltage so it doesn't fry GPS antennas.
After that, I could work on patching firmware, but I'd probably just use the original guts as a frequency reference and leave time to other hardware.
I could even run the Pi and the old hardware simultaneously. The old hardware providing IRIG-B, 10 MHz, and 1 PPS references that are a little more accurate (it has a TCXO, haven't measured its timing accuracy yet). And the Pi could provide PTP and NTP, using a more modern GPS chip which even supports dual band and survey-in for more accuracy.
Yeah, I got recommended this video and felt very clickbaited and stopped watching when he mentioned that he's just replacing the innards with a Pi. Incredibly lame.
After the Telstra NTS issue and preparing for the upcoming summer storms and power outages, I set up a chrony mesh on three devices, each with a different upstream stratum 1 NTS. I seriously considered a GPS reference too, but I live on the bottom floor of apartment blocks so reception is probably quite poor. After blocking the firewall ports, the mesh stays linked and drift is well within sensible boundaries for the typical length of internet and power outages of a few hours. Although, a man with a watch knows the time but man with two watches cannot be certain.
I have a GPS based PTP server, the antenna is indoors 15 feet away from a south facing window, it locks on pretty well (though this will probably depend on the surrounding buildings)