Comment by ssl-3
19 days ago
I have a Pi Zero W that is a spooky-good GPS-backed NTP server. It relies on GPIO for getting tightly-accurate PPS pulses from the GPS module (which a USB-connected Arduino won't help me with -- the timing would be much sloppier).
I have also used a different Pi Zero W with an SDR dingle to decode APRS weather data, while also using GPIO to read a local DS18B20 temperature sensor and to switch a solid-state relay.
I could have done this last thing with any random Linux-ey PC plus an Arduino, but then I'd have two problems. (It would have also cost me rather substantially more money: I bought these Zero Ws very, very cheaply from Microcenter.)
https://github.com/DennisSc/PPS-ntp-server
Not mine, just something I found. I had a feeling one could run a GPS backed NTP server on a microcontroller without too much difficulty.
Cute, but missing some things that real ntpd on *nix offers.
And I like ntpd. I also like self-contained systems that I can tweak without using a compiler and a dev environment. I'm a fairly competent computer user, but I have zero aspirations of being a programmer when I grow up.
(If a Pi Zero W can do the job, then: Why must it not do that job?)
Oh of course, if you want to run it on a Pi go for it, makes no difference to me. I just had a feeling there was a way to do it without Linux.
I'm generally a fan of make it small, and Linux is kind of the opposite of that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on the topic as always!
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