Kubuntu Timezone Problem
 

Hello,

I've been trying to convince kubuntu that Los Angeles is my local timezone. If I set the computer to LA timezone, the clock gets the time right, but displays Los Angeles instead of the date below the time. If I switch to "local timezone" it displays the time and date the way I want it to, but it uses the UTC time, ignoring the fact that I don't live in Greenwich, England.

Can Anybody help me convince my computer that I live where I actually live?

I'm using kubuntu 5.10, in case that matters.

Regards,
SoCalNewbie

You need to reconfigure your timezone. You can do this by right clicking on the clock and then selecting to reconfigure time. If you make the right changes, your local time should always be set to LA.

I don't have a "reconfigure time". I've tried selecting "adjust date & Time" which (after raising my hopes by making me input the root password) doesn't work. I change the local timezone to PST (Pacific Standard Time) which is correct, and it changes the clock in that window, but the clock at the bottom corner never changes off UTC. When I close the window, the clock stays on UTC. When I re-open the window, it's back on UTC.

Can somebody please help me?

SoCalNewbie

Your system time seems to be set to UTC so you need to reconfigure the system time from the "adjust date & time". When you have set the system time to PST, right click on the clock -> Show timezone -> local. If thats ticked, then only the local timezone is shown on the clock.

What exactly does not work? Give precise details.

I select "adjust date & time", then I give the root password, then I select America/Los Angeles as the time zone and hit apply. The "Current Timezone: " changes to PDT, which is right. Then I hit Okay. I go to the clock, right click and select "choose timezone" and "local timezone". It changes to show UCT, not PDT.

When I open up the "adjust date & time" again, it shows UCT in the "Current Timezone: " box.

So I tell it to change the time zone, and it ignores me.

SoCalNewbie

The reason for this is because your hardware clock is set to UTC, so selecting 'local time zone" shows that. You can reconfigure that, but I don't know for sure which config file contains the time zone data in Ubuntu/Debian systems. If you can find the file, change "UTC" to "Localtime" and it should work for you the way you want.

Either use tzselect or setup a symbolic link that points from /etc/localtime to the time zone file in /usr/share/zoneinfo. Also add a TZ variable to the /etc/profile. Most setups use the symbolic link method which makes it easier to read what time zone the system is actually using. Also read the man pages on tzset and hwclock.

The above information is for every Linux distribution assuming these utilities are installed.

Thank You Electo, it worked like a charm.

I am now a happy little kubuntu-er once more.


SoCalNewbie