MX-17 Snapshot live persistence - Conky time [Solved]

[tascoast]

I created a general snapshot of my (64-bit) MX-17 install, then created a live USB.
Upon booting to the live USB, I created root and home persistence, setting time to my location (plus general desktop tweaks and a Synaptic update).
I notice after a reboot that Conky still shows the incorrect time and so wonder if there's something else required to have it match the Panel/system time?
Mick

[Jerry3904]

First of all, I would toggle off and on if you didn't try that.

Then, if you're manually setting the time to be different than the system time, I'm not sure what can be done. How did you change the time, using what method? Maybe using MX Time Settings would help if you didn't do that before.

[BitJam]

How did you set the timezone? Did you use F2 or F3 in the legacy bootloader? Did you use the text menu in the UEFI bootloader? Is the "incorrect time" consistent with EST/EDT (New York City timezone)?

Here, running live, Conky shows the correct time when I use F3 in the legacy bootloader to set the timezone but I didn't make a snapshot.

The way the timezone is handled got changed (yet again) in Debian Stretch. I suspect this is related to your problem. It may have been caused by the snapshot program or by the program you used to set the time. What is the output of these commands:

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ls -l /etc/localtime
ls -l /live/linux/etc/localtime
cat /etc/timezone

The crux of the change in Stretch is the /etc/localtime file now *must* be a symlink. It used to be that a copy of the zoneinfo file sufficed (which still works fine on my Gentoo system). On Debian stretch, if it is not a symlink then an incorrect timezone is used in X while the correct timezone is used in the virtual consoles.

If /etc/localtime is not a symlink then I suggest that you erase it and replace it with a symlink to the correct file under /usr/share/zoneinfo. This should work:

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sudo rm /etc/localtime
sudo ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/$(cat /etc/timezone) /etc/localtime

[tascoast]

Toggle Conky did not change things but MX Time Settings did, once the local time zone was entered. I only set the Orage Clock once I'd created persistence and booted up again, but I gather you could have several regional times displayed this way, without changing the system time.

I thought things had changed somehow, although a general snapshot logically reset things to defaults, I presume. It's not something I've noticed in the past running live snapshots in MX-16 with Conky included, although they were likely personal snapshots.

Everything else with the snapshot checks out really well.

Thanks for the explanation BitJam. I just use the legacy bootloader on my machines. I'm digesting the details but for me, MX Time Settings adjusted things accordingly for my needs. I'll test F3 next time around. It's a bit of a juggle since the old reliable dongle is a bit inconsistent in operation in MX-17.

[Jerry3904]

Excellent! That's the first time i actually every saw anyone say they set the local time with it, so now I know one situation where it serves a function.

[BitJam]

Unfortunately, we still don't know what caused the problem so we certainly haven't fixed it. It is possible there is still a clue left if you run:

Code: Select all

ls -l /live/linux/etc/localtime

and show us the output. It would also help if you tell us how you originally set the timezone. I'm not saying you did anything wrong or bad. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong so we can fix it so it doesn't happen again.

H'mm. Since this is a live system you can try to replicate the problem after disabling persistence. This will get you back to the raw snapshot.

[dolphin_oracle]

I created a general snapshot of my (64-bit) MX-17 install, then created a live USB.
Upon booting to the live USB, I created root and home persistence, setting time to my location (plus general desktop tweaks and a Synaptic update).
I notice after a reboot that Conky still shows the incorrect time and so wonder if there's something else required to have it match the Panel/system time?
Mick

can we presume that when you changed the system time originally, you simply used the orage clock preferences to choose a new timezone?

[tascoast]

I created a general snapshot of my (64-bit) MX-17 install, then created a live USB.
Upon booting to the live USB, I created root and home persistence, setting time to my location (plus general desktop tweaks and a Synaptic update).
I notice after a reboot that Conky still shows the incorrect time and so wonder if there's something else required to have it match the Panel/system time?
Mick

can we presume that when you changed the system time originally, you simply used the orage clock preferences to choose a new timezone?

Yeah.... A bit of a pre-vacation logic fail regarding system and application time, but happy 2018 to all.