The current package can be used under Windows NT as well as Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista/2008, in order to synchronize the computer's system time. It supports all Meinberg plug-in radio clocks for PCs with PCI or ISA bus, all Meinberg USB devices and all external radio clocks which are attached to a serial port of the computer (COM port) and transmit the Meinberg standard time string.

The Meinberg Time Adjustment Service runs in the background and keeps the system time synchronized with the radio clock's time.

The monitoring utility MBGMON is used to start, stop, control, and monitor the time adjustment service. The program is also used to monitor and configure the supported plug-in boards and USB devices.

Detailed information on the software can be found in the online help of the monitoring utility.

The public domain NTP software can be used together with this package to synchronize additional computers on the TCP/IP network.

Note:

Windows NT 4.0 should have been updated at least to Service Pack 4 (SP4). We have observed that up to SP3 the Win NT system clock may lose lots of time under heavy CPU load.

Version Information:

DKWIN306:

• Support reading the raw IRIG time from IRIG receiver cards which support this.
• Introduced new status line in MbgMon which displays a warning if the system time is also adjusted by some other program.
• Upgraded help files to include PTP.

• Support configuration of LAN interfaces and PTP settings with cards which support this like the PTP270PEX.
• Timeout for cyclic USB messages was set to 1.2 seconds as default.

• Support configurable time scales (TAI, GPS) with cards which support this.
• Support reading GPS UTC parameters with cards which support this.
• Support reading IRIG control bits with cards which support this.
• Support reading raw MM timstamps without cycles count with cards which support MM timestamps.
• Bug fix in non-pnp driver: A trap could occur with the previous version if two applications accessed the device simultanously.
• Bug fix in MbgMon: number of handles were increasing if the NTP tab was left opened.
• Bug fix: programmable synthesizer on TCR170PEX cards was not detected.

• Additionally support the new PCI Express card TCR170PEX and the new WWVB USB device WWVB51USB.
• Improved detection and suppression of time steps on a faulty reference clock device.
• Improved time adjustment accuracy with DCF77 and USB devices.
• System time adjustment with GPS devices will continue even if the receiver changes its status temporary from sync state to free running state.
• Support memory mapped access for devices which also support this, e.g. the GPS170PEX.
• Contains 64 bit versions of the DLLs to support user applications on Windows x64 systems.

• Additionally support the new USB devices TCR51USB and MSF51USB.
• Support service event handling, i.e. a batch file can be executed whenever the device synchronization status changes. This can be used e.g. to stop the NTP service if the clock device has been freewheeling for too long.
• Allow an initial timestep once after startup of the time adjustment service even if the time difference exceeds the "Max. Difference" parameter configured for the service.
• Display Windows time zone names containing umlauts, accents, etc. correctly in the monitor program.
• Fixed a bug in the mbg_get_hr_time_comp() API function where an overflow of the fractions was propagated with wrong sign. This affects only 3rd party applications which use this API function.

• Fixed a bug in PNP kernel driver which caused an error on some machines when starting USB devices.

• Support hotplugging of devices.
• Additionally support the new USB device USB5131.
• New distinct logging codes for event log entries and language dependent messages texts.
• New menu entry in mbgmon to display Windows event log entries.
• Dropped support for obsoleted ASCII logfile.

• Additionally support the new PCI Express cards PEX511, GPS170PEX, and TCR511PEX.
• All binaries include a certified digital signature, so this driver package runs without limitations under Windows Vista x64.
• Fixed unresponsiveness of the monitor program as long as the NTP tab is active.
• Fixed a bug where PC port COM10 and above could not be used.
• Fixed a bug where the "inverted output level" flag had not been updated when programmable pulse output configuration changes were saved.
• Fixed a problem to install ISA cards under Windows 2000 and newer.

• Updated the monitor program to support additional IRIG code formats.

• Additionally support the new PCI card GPS170PCI, and TCR511PCI.
• Revised the configuration tabs in the monitor program.

• Additionally support the new PCI card PCI511.
• Fixed a bug in the monitor program where negative time zone offsets could not be configured.
• Fixed a bug in the mbgsvctl DLL where admin rights could not be determined correctly on systems where many groups of users are defined.
• Revised the format of the event log messages generated by the time adjustment service.
• Revised checking for Windows system time inconsistencies.
• Revised detection of faulty clock devices.
• Continuously try to open the serial port if it could not be opened immediately.
• Updated help files.

• Bug fix: With a DCF77 card installed the monitor program generated an error message once per second in the Windows application event log.
• Bug fix: Output mode of the serial string of plug-in cards could not be changed.
• Bug fix: The monitor program trapped if started under Windows NT.

DKWIN214:

• Enhanced handling of leap seconds by the time adjustment service.
• Revised configuration tabs in the monitor program.

The resident driver reads the time from a radio clock in periodic intervals and sets the computer's system time. If the computer operates in DOS text mode the current radio clock time can be displayed in a box at a corner of the screen.

The monitoring program shows the radio clock's and the TSR's status information and can be used to setup configurable parameters of the plug-in cards. With a plug-in radio clock for DCF77 the monitoring tool can also be used to check the received signal and second marks.

Hint for PCI Cards:
Plug-and-play driver installation is not supported. If Windows starts up after a new PCI card has been installed it tries to locate a driver for the new card. Every upcoming dialog should be acknowledged by pressing OK, so Windows will install an "unknown device". After Windows startup has been completed, the DOS driver can be installed normally. Attention: If the installation of the "unknown device" is aborted, Windows will ask again for a driver when it starts up the next time.

Version Information:

DKDOS223:

• Additionally support the new PCI Express cards PEX511, GPS170PEX, and TCR511PEX.

• Fixed a bug where the TSR did not always recognize some older PCI cards
• Enhanced configuration dialog for the synthesizer settings.

• Additionally support the new PCI cards PCI511, GPS170PCI, and TCR511PCI.

The driver package for Windows 9x can be used with all external radio clocks which are attached to a serial port of the computer (COM port) and transmit the Meinberg standard time string.

The driver package reads the time from a radio clock in periodic intervals and sets the computer's system time. Time deviations will be ascertained and corrected by the driver program. The driver runs in the background and keeps the system time synchronized with the radio clock's time. The driver will be shown in the windows traybar. Additionally, the program is used to display status information from the clock and of the current time synchronization as well.

The driver allows access to a plug-in radio clock from a user program, and additionally implements a device which makes the radio clock available as a reference clock for NTP.

The driver is shipped as source code. The current version 3.x.x is only for Linux kernels 2.6.x and has been tested with kernels up to 2.6.30.

The previous release version 1.1.6 of the driver is still available for Linux kernels 2.4.x and 2.2.x.

Supported hardware architectures include Intel/AMD 32 bit (i386, standard PC) and 64 bit (x86_64) and SPARC.

For more detailed information and installation instructions please refer to the README file which is included in the archive.

Version Information:

Versions 3.x.x of the driver work with kernels 2.6.x only.
Driver release 1.1.6 must be used for kernels 2.4.x and 2.2.x.

Versions 3.x.x of the driver package also work around a potential problem with the first series of our PCI Express cards, when IRQs for these cards are enabled, e.g. if used with NTP.

The mbgstatus program detects if that problem exists and displays an appropriate warning. If that warning is displayed then a firmware upgrade should be applied to the card in order to fix that problem.

mbgtools-lx-3.4.0:

• This driver package has been tested with kernels up to 2.6.31.
• Fixed build problem with kernels 2.6.26 due to changed kernel API.
• Fixed build problem with kernels 2.6.9 due to CONFIG_COMPAT stuff.
• Support configuration of PTP card's LAN interface.
• Support configuration of GPS card's antenna cable length.

• Fixed build errors and warnings under kernel 2.6.30.
• The mbgstatus program now displays LAN status and PTP status of PTP cards.
• Fixed a bug where an IOCTL error occurred when a GPS data structure with more than 256 bytes size should have been read but the size parameter had been truncated to 8 bits. This has been observed with the mbg_get_gps_all_str_type_info() API call.
• make commands requiring root permissions are now executed using sudo or su.
• New make command make kernel_config simplifies configuration of the kernel sources, if required. See the README file for details.

• Updated SELinux support, see SELinux directory.
• The mbgstatus program displays raw IRIG time and IRIG decode status, if supported by the card.

• Bug fix: programmable synthesizer on TCR170PEX cards was not detected.
• Enhanced error handling of USB devices.
• Support Linux on SPARC platform.
• Support configurable time scales (TAI, GPS) with cards which support this.
• Support reading GPS UTC parameters with cards which support this.
• Support reading IRIG control bits with cards which support this.
• Support reading raw MM timstamps without cycles count with cards which support MM timestamps.

• Made the kernel driver compile under kernels up to 2.6.27.
• Additionally support the new PCI Express card TCR170PEX.
• Additionally support USB devices USB5131, TCR51USB, and MSF51USB
• Support multiple USB, PCI, and/or ISA devices in parallel.
• A single device node per hardware device is now used both with the utility programs and for NTP.
• Support memory mapped access for devices which also support this, e.g. the GPS170PEX.

mbgtools-lx-1.1.6:

• Additionally support the new PCI Express cards PEX511, GPS170PEX, and TCR511PEX.
• Made the kernel driver compile under kernels up to 2.6.22.
• Fixed build problem under Red Hat Linux.

• Made the kernel driver compile under kernels up to 2.6.20.
• Made the mbgctrl utility capable of setting a card's on-board date and time.

• Kernel driver does not return "?????" instead of time string if device has "invalid time" status.
• Support new IRIG code formats available with some devices.

• Enhanced build process under 2.4.x kernels with modversions enabled.

• Additionally support new PCI devices PCI511, GPS170PCI, and TCR511PCI.
• Support new ucap API in mbggpscap.
• Fixed printing of sign in GPS receiver position in mbgstatus.
• Changed misc device minor numbers from 220, 221 to 240, 244.
• Removed restriction that device /dev/mbgclk can't be opened by several applications at the same time.
• Export kernel module symbols which may be required for inter-module calls.
• Fixed compiler warnings if DEBUG is not defined.
• Some modifications which let the kernel module compile under kernels 2.6.16 and newer.
• Account for IRQ return types also being supported in 2.4.25 kernels and newer.

A time server NLM (NetWare Loadable Module) can be loaded on a file server which has a radio clock installed. The time server software keeps the file server time synchronized with the radio clock's time and displays the radio clock and time synchronization status. With a plug-in radio clock for DCF77 the NLM can also be used to check the received signal and second marks. Additionally, the time server NLM makes the disciplined file server time available on the IPX network.

A time client NLM can be loaded on additional file servers without own radio clock. The time client queries the reference time from a time server NLM running on another file server on the network.

The time server NLM can also send IPX broadcast time packets to the network which can be received by DOS/Windows workstations to keep workstation time synchronized to the file server time. A memory resident IPX broadcast receiver for DOS/Windows 3.x/Windows 9x is part of this driver package.

Version Information:

DKNW240:

• Additionally support the new PCI Express cards PEX511, GPS170PEX, and TCR511PEX.

• Additionally support new PCI devices PCI511, GPS170PCI, and TCR511PCI.

The package includes a device driver and an utility running under the OS/2 Presentation Manager. The utility shows the radio clock's status and synchronizes the computer's system time to the radio clock's time. With a plug-in radio clock for DCF77 the utility can also be used to check the received signal and second marks.

The program has initially been written to be used with our GPS receivers which do not have an own display. However, it can be used with any Meinberg GPS receiver with serial interface.

Detailed information on the program can be found in the online help.

Additionally, a firmware image file will be required which is uploaded to the clock. Be sure to use an image file which is appropriate for the type of clock.

The files were created and have been tested with MS Visio 2003, another version is available for Visio 2000 and Visio 2002 users.

More details about Microsoft Visio 2003 can be found on Microsoft's Visio Homepage.