I know it’s really geeky, but I don’t want to worry about setting my time on Ubuntu.

Tested on Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 (Server & Desktop)

On our home LAN, one pc (named Nibbler) is syncing with the internet and broadcasting proper time. Nibbler should be the only machine that needs to connect out to the time servers (see server section below), the rest of the machines should be configured as clients.

Installation (Both Clients and Server)

sudo apt-get install ntp
sudo pico /etc/ntp.conf

Client Configuration

Comment out the following line (line 16) to prevent your server from connecting out for time:

# server ntp.ubuntu.com

Un-Comment the following lines (Located at the end of the file) to tell your PC to listen on the LAN for the time-broadcasts:

disable auth
broadcastclient

Broadcast Server Configuration

Add servers at line 16:

Google NTP Servers to find public servers.  Below are the ones I just configured.

server ntp.ubuntu.com
server ntp3.stsn.net
server ntp.pbx.org
server sea.cs.jhu.edu
server tick.jrc.us
server tock.jrc.us
server ntp-2.vt.edu
server ntp-3.vt.edu
server ntp-4.vt.edu
server ntp-1.vt.edu
server ntp1.state.vt.us
server ntp2.state.vt.us

UnComment the following line (near the end) and correct the ip address as needed:

broadcast 192.168.0.255