I've built a patch that uses the zexy "date" object, running headless on a Raspberry Pi. It works great, I'm very pleased with it.

Currently the raspi automatically connects to a WiFi network on boot. My question is: if this WiFi network is not available, will the "date" object still work? How does it work? Is it accessing the system date on the Raspi, or is it contacting a server? How is the system date set on the Raspi? Is this reset every time the power is unplugged?

For various reasons I'm unable to test this for myself, so I just figured I'd post this here to see if anyone knows the answer offhand!

@amazingrolo Just guessing...... although I am 99.9% sure [date] gets its data from the system date, and not from the internet.
The Rpi updates from the internet, which I know because I have never set the date on mine.
To test you could disconnect Wi-Fi.......... set a different date in the Pi...... and see what [date] then pumps out.
A little more info from Google....... https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/8231/how-to-force-ntpd-to-update-date-time-after-boot
David.

I'm going through old threads of mine and realising I never came back with an update to this.

In a nutshell, the answer to my question is that in order for the zexy "date" object to get the date the Raspberry Pi either needs to be connected to a network or needs to have a Real Time Clock (RTC). These are very cheap:
https://thepihut.com/products/mini-rtc-module-for-raspberry-pi

You need to follow the instructions for getting the Pi to get the RTC calibrated and working, but I had success the first time around with these: https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/17209332-adding-a-real-time-clock-to-your-raspberry-pi

With that up and running the zexy "date" object appears to work great even when the Pi isn't connected to a network.