[MeshOS] relative timestamps are inconsistent: Sometimes based on running time, sometimes based on (advertised) wall clocks.

[dreirund]

Ahoj,

(although I am not sure if this here is the issue tracker for MeshOS, since there even is a tag MeshOS I now report my issue here to have it documented at least, in the hope that it finds it's way to Andy Kirby)

I have a Lilygo T-Deck Plus and use MeshOS version 1.1.1.

There are inconsistencies regarding the display of relative timestamps:

In the "Heard" screen, timestamps are displayed in time since last hearing of the node, calculated based on real running time of the own device regardless of clock settings of the own or the other node.

Contrary, the same information in the "Contacts" and "Repeaters" screen is calculated based on the time difference of the advertised wall clock time of the other device and the currently set wall clock time of the own device.
If the wall clocks of the two devices are not identically, this yields to wrong relative timestamps in that case.
And there are two ways I often observe the wall clocks are not set correctly: (1) time zone (although the wall clock is expected to be set in UTC, some people tend to set it to local timezone), (2) after a device reset, it is set back to the "standard" starting time in May 2024, and some nodes just keep to be set that way.

So, at first, I think this inconsistency to have different calculations of relative time in different areas of the firmware should be made consistent.
Second, I recommend to make calculation of relative time only based on real running time of the calculating device, not taking into account any wall clock setting since that often is wrong.

Here is a video demonstrating this (the video was recorded still with MeshOS version 1.0.10, but the issue is still present in version 1.1.1):

---

MeshOS_v1.0.10_-_T-Deck_-_timestamp-inconsistencies.mp4

---

Regards!

[weebl2000]

See also #1349