Overview

The board PEX511 has been designed for the reception of the DCF77 signal, the transfer of the time information to a computer with PCI Express interface and the translation of the received codes into a serial telegram.
The module is designed as a x1-board (single lane) in “low profile” format. It is equipped with a standard height bracket with integrated D-Sub connector making the serial interface, the pulses per second and the pulse per minute available. For installation in a “low profile” computer, an adequate bracket can be mounted that is included in delivery. The D-Sub connector is only available when using an additional bracket in this case.

The drivers package for Windows contains a time adjustment service which runs in the background and adjusts the Windows system time continously and smoothly. A monitor program is also included which lets the user check the status of the device and the time adjustment service, and can be used to modify configurable parameters.

The driver package for Linux contains a kernel driver which allows the board to be used as a reference time source for the NTP daemon which is shipped with most Linux distributions. This also turns the computer into a NTP time server which can also provide accurate time to other NTP clients on the network. Some command line tools can be used to setup configurable parameters and monitor the status of the board.

Additional drivers packages are available for DOS, Novell NetWare, and OS/2. At the bottom of this page there´s a link to the download area.

The device´s serial port can be used to update the card´s firmware. Additionally it can be connected to the serial port of a computer to use the card as reference time source under operating systems where a serial time string is supported, e.g. by NTP, but no kernel device driver is available.