PSLLSP
commented
10 months ago REST API for timezone, WorldTime API; easy to use, returns correct time zone offset in minutes raw_offset and other useful information.
$ curl "https://worldtimeapi.org/api/timezone/Pacific/Kiritimati"
{"abbreviation":"+14","client_ip":"234.23.23.234","datetime":"2023-11-22T19:43:04.245664+14:00","day_of_week":3,"day_of_year":326,"dst":false,"dst_from":null,"dst_offset":0,"dst_until":null,"raw_offset":50400,"timezone":"Pacific/Kiritimati","unixtime":1700631784,"utc_datetime":"2023-11-22T05:43:04.245664+00:00","utc_offset":"+14:00","week_number":47}When timezone is not configured in the device, timezone could be guessed on IP address.
$ curl "https://worldtimeapi.org/api/ip"Really useful online service but not well known... FAQ
stl1988
NerdMinersupports TimeZone in configuration, it is an integer. This is the first issue, there are timezones with offset of 30 or 45 minutes, etc. strange timezones To address this issue, timezones, offset should be defined in minutes (60 means +1 hour offset)..Other issue is, that timezone is defined as an offset from UTC. This works when timezone is not using Daylight saving time. In other case, time is correct only for an half of the year; to fix the time, NerdMiner has to be reconfigured with new timezone every 6 months, like most of cheap clocks...
As most
NerdMinerdevices will never find BTC block, the clock is important function that gives this device a real usage, It will be nice to address time issue and define TimeZone in a better way. With current NerdMiner firmware, I would recommend to run it in UTC timezone, that timezone doesn't have Daylight saving time and device will have correct time... ;-)I checked code and I see that NerdMiner uses NTP protocol and reads time from NTP server
europe.pool.ntp.org. It is hardcoded! It would be nice to have this as a configurable parameter... (file src/monitor.cpp)Some hint how to address Daylight saving issue is described here
Other solution could be that a dedicated time server will be created for NerdMiner devices, it could be a mining pool service. Such time server will handle TimeZone information and will serve it to NerdMiner; NerdMiner just asks time server for a time and it will add a parameter "TZ" (timezone) and time server will serve local time. I do not understated why such feature was not already added to NTP (or SNTP) protocols, it will allow to design simple clients, really useful for IoT devices... (timezones are handled at server side, not by clients).
There is really small chance that
NerdMinerdevice will find any BitCoin block; the chance is really small but it is not zero... It is marketed as "lottery miner" but better description could be "Clock with heater and lottery function" ;-) The clock format ofNerdMineris 24H. I like 24H format but some parts of World prefer 12H format and that one is not supported... Another item for TODO list, there should be a configuration option to define time format. NerdMiner could show date too, my device (T-Dongle-S3) doesn't show date, only time...One more note, one more issue... ;-)
Current firmware can configure timezone in range -12 and +12, at least this is written in the configuration form. There is timezone GMT+14, it is used in Kiritimati...
Local time is tricky, you can check how it is addressed in Tasmota, timezones rules and timezone table The table is interesting, there are even areas that cannot be described with Tasmota timezone rules...