date and GPS related questions

[Fernando Martins]

Daniel Willmann wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:35:37 +0100
> Fernando Martins <fernando at cmartins.nl> wrote:
>
>   
>> BTW, the date was automatically set, somehow, some days later. Is
>> this done when there is a phone call? (I have few phone calls).
>>     
>
> Timezone will be set according to the nationality of the GSM network
> you're associated to. Since this is annoying for a couple of people
> we'll probably make this optional/prompt for new timezone.
>
> Time will be updated either through NTP if your FR has a connection to
> the Internet or through GPS if you wait long enough.
>   
I'm a bit confused with this: I would assume that if timezone is 
changed, time/date would be automatically updated. So, why then bother 
to update time based on NTP or GPS? Also, it would be nice to know, 
grossly, how much is "long enough", but I suppose it's not yet done or 
decided...

When I'm traveling for short periods, usually I don't bother to change 
times to local, unless I have tight schedules to follow and prefer not 
to risk missing a mental time translation. For longer periods, usually I 
do. I think it would be nice to go to a date/time setting panel having 
(also) a  button to just change the timezone. Of course this requires 
the FR to know at all times that the set timezone is not the local one.

Also, a very small but annoying issue: busybox date command displays a 
very brief help string that does not tell which is the input format to 
set date/time. If one is on the road, without a GUI to set date/time, 
and no man page, the format is difficult to guess (date -s 
MMDDhhmmYYYY.ss). I suggest to show this format on the help string of 
date (I know technically it is a trivial change, but no idea of what 
this involves regarding patch bureaucracy).

Regards,
Fernando