...making Linux just a little more fun!
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
If you occasionally can't ping a host on your network, and suspect that a wonky connection is to blame, troubleshooting can be a pain: watching the output of "ping hostname" while crawling around in the dust under a desk is, to put it mildly, a challenge. Enter the "-a" option to 'ping', added by one of the people on the "iputils" team, Patrik Schilt: when there's no connection, "ping -a hostname" simply sits and waits, but as soon as one appears, it starts emitting audio beeps. That's a wonderful "wishlist" feature, and should significantly improve the life of any sysadmin who has ever groveled amongst the dropped corn chips and the roach poop.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Lew Pitcher [lew.pitcher at digitalfreehold.ca]
The late Mike Muus (the "inventor" of the ping program) has an amusing story on his webpage (http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html)
"The best ping story I've ever heard was told to me at a USENIX conference, where a network administrator with an intermittent Ethernet had linked the ping program to his vocoder program, in essence writing:
ping goodhost | sed -e 's/.*/ping/' | vocoder
He wired the vocoder's output into his office stereo and turned up the volume as loud as he could stand. The computer sat there shouting "Ping, ping, ping..." once a second, and he wandered through the building wiggling Ethernet connectors until the sound stopped. And that's how he found the intermittent failure. "
-- Lew Pitcher
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 09:58:22PM -0500, Lew Pitcher wrote:
> The late Mike Muus (the "inventor" of the ping program) has an amusing > story on his webpage (http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html) > > "The best ping story I've ever heard was told to me at a USENIX > conference, where a network administrator with an intermittent Ethernet > had linked the ping program to his vocoder program, in essence writing: > > ping goodhost | sed -e 's/.*/ping/' | vocoder > > He wired the vocoder's output into his office stereo and turned up the > volume as loud as he could stand. The computer sat there shouting "Ping, > ping, ping..." once a second, and he wandered through the building > wiggling Ethernet connectors until the sound stopped. And that's how he > found the intermittent failure. "
Yep; I'd heard that story a long time ago. Which is one of the reasons I
was so pleased with myself when I wrote that script. 
I think I'll search the Net for a recording of someone going "Ping!", or
maybe create one. After all, We Must Follow Precedent.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Jim Jackson [jj at franjam.org.uk]
On Sun, 30 Nov 2008, Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 09:58:22PM -0500, Lew Pitcher wrote: >> The late Mike Muus (the "inventor" of the ping program) has an amusing >> story on his webpage (http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html) >> >> "The best ping story I've ever heard was told to me at a USENIX >> conference, where a network administrator with an intermittent Ethernet >> had linked the ping program to his vocoder program, in essence writing: >> >> ping goodhost | sed -e 's/.*/ping/' | vocoder >> >> He wired the vocoder's output into his office stereo and turned up the >> volume as loud as he could stand. The computer sat there shouting "Ping, >> ping, ping..." once a second, and he wandered through the building >> wiggling Ethernet connectors until the sound stopped. And that's how he >> found the intermittent failure. " > > Yep; I'd heard that story a long time ago. Which is one of the reasons I > was so pleased with myself when I wrote that script.
Judicious use of festival, and the computer will speak to you
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 10:00:51PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote:
> On Sun, 30 Nov 2008, Ben Okopnik wrote: > > > On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 09:58:22PM -0500, Lew Pitcher wrote: > >> The late Mike Muus (the "inventor" of the ping program) has an amusing > >> story on his webpage (http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html) > >> > >> "The best ping story I've ever heard was told to me at a USENIX > >> conference, where a network administrator with an intermittent Ethernet > >> had linked the ping program to his vocoder program, in essence writing: > >> > >> ping goodhost | sed -e 's/.*/ping/' | vocoder > >> > >> He wired the vocoder's output into his office stereo and turned up the > >> volume as loud as he could stand. The computer sat there shouting "Ping, > >> ping, ping..." once a second, and he wandered through the building > >> wiggling Ethernet connectors until the sound stopped. And that's how he > >> found the intermittent failure. " > > > > Yep; I'd heard that story a long time ago. Which is one of the reasons I > > was so pleased with myself when I wrote that script.
IN-A-VERY-ODD-STILTED-VOICE, yes.
To be fair, the project page has other, rather better, voices you can download - but they're a pain to test. You actually have to know at least a little bit of Lisp to make it all go. I managed, but it's way too complex of a thing for a new user.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Chris Bannister [mockingbird at earthlight.co.nz]
On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:28:08PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote:
> I think I'll search the Net for a recording of someone going "Ping!", or > maybe create one. After all, We Must Follow Precedent.
Grab the asterisk-sounds-extra tarball (in your favorite format) from http://downloads.digium.com/pub/telephony/sounds/ and maybe it has "the machine that goes PING!", I've been informed it has at least "Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries."
Although, it does sound like too much effort when something like "siggen" could do the trick: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/jj/linux/siggen.html
--
Chris.
======
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
-- Stephen F Roberts
Jim Jackson [jj at franjam.org.uk]
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008, Chris Bannister wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:28:08PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote: >> I think I'll search the Net for a recording of someone going "Ping!", or >> maybe create one. After all, We Must Follow Precedent.
Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here Though not sure how you were
thinking of using it. It's packaged in Debian sid (unstable) and lenny
(testing): http://packages.debian.org/lenny/siggen
Jim
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 05:05:27PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote:
> > Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here
Well done, Jim! You should probably write an article extolling its
features and wonderments and like that.
> Though not sure how you were > thinking of using it. It's packaged in Debian sid (unstable) and lenny > (testing): http://packages.debian.org/lenny/siggen
Not in Ubuntu, though. :\
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Jim Jackson [jj at franjam.org.uk]
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008, Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 05:05:27PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote: >> >> Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here
Thought it was in intrepid? Not double checked though.
Chris Bannister [mockingbird at earthlight.co.nz]
On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 05:05:27PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Dec 2008, Chris Bannister wrote: > > Although, it does sound like too much effort when something like "siggen" > > could do the trick: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/jj/linux/siggen.html > > Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here
I was thinking of using it in the case where you need to *actually find* the cause of the non-response to a ping. I guess the days of a signal generator and a "headset"[1] to find faulty connections are a thing of the past(?)
[1] A telephone earpiece in a plastic headset with two prongs on wires which you connect/hold across the signal path.
--
Chris.
======
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
-- Stephen F Roberts
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 09:58:46PM +1300, Chris Bannister wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 05:05:27PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote: > > On Sat, 6 Dec 2008, Chris Bannister wrote: > > > Although, it does sound like too much effort when something like "siggen" > > > could do the trick: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/jj/linux/siggen.html > > > > Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here
Long, long past. I've been using a "fox-and-hound" (a signal generator and an amplifier with an inductive pickup) to find wire breaks for, oh, 20 years at least - I learned about them when I was an alarm technician. A headset won't let you find a break behind a cinder-block wall (true story; first time I ever had to use a jackhammer to repair an alarm system.)
http://www.tselectronic.com/greenlee_prog/77hp.html
http://www.tselectronic.com/greenlee_prog/200ep.html
That's the exact probe and toner that I was using back then, and they haven't changed at all. This is one of those bits of technology that I think has reached an acme; certain things just can't be improved any further without a major breakthrough in the underlying science.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Sat, Dec 06, 2008 at 02:00:04AM +1300, Chris Bannister wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:28:08PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote: > > I think I'll search the Net for a recording of someone going "Ping!", or > > maybe create one. After all, We Must Follow Precedent.
Sadly, it does not have either one. :\
> Although, it does sound like too much effort when something like "siggen" > could do the trick: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/jj/linux/siggen.html
[blink] "siggen" is a signal generator. A very useful thing (I've downloaded it and saved it, and will be playing with it in the future - thanks!), but it's not going to generate a human voice saying "ping".
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Neil Youngman [Neil.Youngman at youngman.org.uk]
On Monday 08 December 2008 01:05:24 Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 06, 2008 at 02:00:04AM +1300, Chris Bannister wrote: > > Grab the asterisk-sounds-extra tarball (in your favorite format) > > from http://downloads.digium.com/pub/telephony/sounds/ > > and maybe it has "the machine that goes PING!", I've been informed it > > has at least "Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of > > elderberries." > > Sadly, it does not have either one. :\
Try tt-monty-knights.wav
Neil
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 08:14:47AM +0000, Neil Youngman wrote:
> On Monday 08 December 2008 01:05:24 Ben Okopnik wrote: > > On Sat, Dec 06, 2008 at 02:00:04AM +1300, Chris Bannister wrote: > > > Grab the asterisk-sounds-extra tarball (in your favorite format) > > > from http://downloads.digium.com/pub/telephony/sounds/ > > > and maybe it has "the machine that goes PING!", I've been informed it > > > has at least "Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of > > > elderberries." > > > > Sadly, it does not have either one. :\ > > Try tt-monty-knights.wav
Shows how much attention I was paying: I'd missed the '-extra' part. Got it now, and some of the recordings are pretty funny.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Predrag Ivanovic [predivan at nadlanu.com]
On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:05:24 -0500 Ben Okopnik wrote:
> [blink] "siggen" is a signal generator. A very useful thing (I've > downloaded it and saved it, and will be playing with it in the future > - thanks!), but it's not going to generate a human voice saying "ping".Does it have to be human voice saying 'ping'? It would be cooler to use actual sonar ping, IMHO, but that's just me, I always have mental image of submarine sonar pinging when I use {f}ping. Too much playing 'Silent Service' on AtariXL as a kid, I guess
And "Das Boot" is one of my favourite movies...
Anyway, I found several sounds I might use at http://www.freesound.org (licenced under
Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License), and at http://dasboot.com/sounds/ping.wav.
Pedja
-- microelectronic Riemannian curved-space fault in write-only file system
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 04:56:32PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote:
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:05:24 -0500 > Ben Okopnik wrote: > > > [blink] "siggen" is a signal generator. A very useful thing (I've > > downloaded it and saved it, and will be playing with it in the future > > - thanks!), but it's not going to generate a human voice saying "ping". > > Does it have to be human voice saying 'ping'?
Well, no - this isn't about "have to". But it certainly would be nice.
> It would be cooler to use actual sonar ping, IMHO, but that's just me, I always
> have mental image of submarine sonar pinging when I use {f}ping.
> Too much playing 'Silent Service' on AtariXL as a kid, I guess
Heh. I've had pretty much the same history, which is why I've been using a file called 'multi-sonar.wav'... at least until I have what I want.
Kat wants a snip of Stitch (from that movie about Linux bootloaders and
embroidery [1]) saying "Aloooone..." or "Lost..." or whatever he says
when he meets the swans. Appropriate for a disconnected host, I suppose.
[1] "Lilo and Stitch"
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Predrag Ivanovic [predivan at nadlanu.com]
On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:51:59 -0500 Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 04:56:32PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: > > On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:05:24 -0500 > > Ben Okopnik wrote: > > > > > [blink] "siggen" is a signal generator. A very useful thing (I've > > > downloaded it and saved it, and will be playing with it in the future > > > - thanks!), but it's not going to generate a human voice saying "ping". > > > > Does it have to be human voice saying 'ping'? > > Well, no - this isn't about "have to". But it certainly would be nice.
Your best bet is to use some TextToSpeech engine, several have demo
pages on teh Net[1][2][3]. 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any
video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from
there. Maybe some hax0r presentation from any of the *cons? HAL never
said it, right ?
> Kat wants a snip of Stitch (from that movie about Linux bootloaders and > embroidery [1]) saying "Aloooone..." or "Lost..." or whatever he says > when he meets the swans. Appropriate for a disconnected host, I suppose. >
Stitch freaks me out for some reason, I watched one episode of the
series on TV, and didn't like it very much(being semi-drunk at the time
didn't help). "Happy Tree Friends" or "Robot Chicken", otoh, are
awesome
[1]http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php [2]http://www.research.ibm.com/tts/coredemo.shtml [3]http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/morevoices.html
Pedja
-- Program too small to fit into memory.
Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]
2008/12/10 Predrag Ivanovic <predivan@nadlanu.com>:
> On Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:51:59 -0500 > Ben Okopnik wrote: > >> On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 04:56:32PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: >> > On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:05:24 -0500 >> > Ben Okopnik wrote: >> > >> > > [blink] "siggen" is a signal generator. A very useful thing (I've >> > > downloaded it and saved it, and will be playing with it in the future >> > > - thanks!), but it's not going to generate a human voice saying "ping". >> > >> > Does it have to be human voice saying 'ping'? >> >> Well, no - this isn't about "have to". But it certainly would be nice. > > Your best bet is to use some TextToSpeech engine, several have demo pages on teh Net[1][2][3]. > 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from > there.Maybe some hax0r presentation from any of the *cons? > HAL never said it, right
There's also eSpeak: http://espeak.sourceforge.net/ which has the
benefits of being ultra lightweight, multilingual, and (as of the last
two patch level releases) having patches from yours truly
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote:
> > Your best bet is to use some TextToSpeech engine, several have demo pages on teh Net[1][2][3]. > 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from > there.Maybe some hax0r presentation from any of the *cons? > HAL never said it, right
Hmm. Since it's an actual word in English, here's always Merriam-Webster's pronunciation link:
http://media.merriam-webster.com/soundc11/p/ping0001.wav
It's a pretty unsatisfying one, though. Maybe I'll ask Kat to do that
hyper-excited Japanese school-girl-on-speed voice: "pinG!!!"
(If you've never heard an example of this, I can only point - http://www.hostropolis.com/april/mp3/Yerrow_Subamarine.mp3 - and recommend lots of alcohol. Before and after.)
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Francis Daly [francis at daoine.org]
On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:45:56PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote:
> > 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from > > there.
Sean Connery speaking Russian (or maybe Lithuanian)?
http://media1.entertonement.com/clips/entertonement/audio/39534/39534.mp3.pl
(15 kB mp3 url mentioned on http://www.entertonement.com/clips/42478/One-ping-only)
f
-- Francis Daly francis@daoine.org
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 01:17:06AM +0000, Francis Daly wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:45:56PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote: > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: > > > > 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from > > > there. > > Sean Connery speaking Russian (or maybe Lithuanian)? > > http://media1.entertonement.com/clips/entertonement/audio/39534/39534.mp3.pl
[laugh] That's English, actually - from "The Hunt for Red October". I was the fire crew chief on that boat, although by the time that scene happens, all the crew is off ("rescued".)
There's only about 4 seconds of my face showing in that movie - not that I mind; they certainly paid well and on time. There was supposed to be more - Sean Connery did an impromptu scene where he grabs me by my lapels (as we're all running around in a "nuclear reactor is leaking" panic) and says, in a fine Scottish accent, "Calm down, man!" They didn't use that one, though. There was a lot of good stuff they didn't use, and it still came out to something like 4 hours long!
I also had my moment in the sun - not shown in the movie, but saved somewhere in the vaults at Paramount with the rest of that footage. We were filming the scene where the boat is entering Red Route One, a complicated underwater massif in which we can get away from the pursuing aircraft which is dropping torpedoes and trying to kill us. Mostly, the scene consists of the captain delaying the turn as we're heading for a rock wall so the torpedo can lock on that wall rather than us, then making a sharp turn (i.e., the whole set tilts, and we all have to hold on.) After a good dozen tries where something always went wrong, everyone finally had everything ironed out and we're all ready for the damn thing to be done.
So - yet AGAIN - the sonar officer says "Torrrrpedo in the waterrrr!", the navigator says "she's out of the box[1], captain!", there's a tension-filled silence, the captain says "Full right rudder!" (or something like that), and...
At this point, we get hit by a minor earthquake (we're in L.A.; nothing really unusual in that). Shakes the set and ruins the shot... and before anyone can react, the fire crew chief looks over at Captain Marko Ramius and says:
"I think we've been hit, Cap'n."
Connery laughed like hell. He knew the shot was trashed, so he didn't have to stay in character.
[1] Sub navigation officers have to plot a three-dimensional course; that course, plus allowable errors, forms a plotted "box" - a square-sided tube that extends from one position fix to another. Basically, he was saying "you've gone past my margin of error, so I don't know if you're going to hit something!"
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Martin J Hooper [martinjh at blueyonder.co.uk]
Ben Okopnik wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 01:17:06AM +0000, Francis Daly wrote: >> On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:45:56PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote: >>> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: >>>> 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from >>>> there. >> Sean Connery speaking Russian (or maybe Lithuanian)? >> >> http://media1.entertonement.com/clips/entertonement/audio/39534/39534.mp3.pl > > [laugh] That's English, actually - from "The Hunt for Red October". I > was the fire crew chief on that boat, although by the time that scene > happens, all the crew is off ("rescued".)
Thats a cool story Ben! One of my favourite books too...
Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]
2008/12/19 Martin J Hooper <martinjh@blueyonder.co.uk>:
> Ben Okopnik wrote: >> On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 01:17:06AM +0000, Francis Daly wrote: >>> On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:45:56PM -0500, Ben Okopnik wrote: >>>> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: >>>>> 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from >>>>> there. >>> Sean Connery speaking Russian (or maybe Lithuanian)? >>> >>> http://media1.entertonement.com/clips/entertonement/audio/39534/39534.mp3.pl >> >> [laugh] That's English, actually - from "The Hunt for Red October". I >> was the fire crew chief on that boat, although by the time that scene >> happens, all the crew is off ("rescued".) > > Thats a cool story Ben!
Yeah; and, wow! Ben's got a Bacon number (3 --
http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/movieli[...];g11=on&g15=on&g23=on&g27=on )
Kat Tanaka Okopnik [kat at linuxgazette.net]
On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 06:45:56PM -0500, Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 05:59:55PM +0100, Predrag Ivanovic wrote: > > > > Your best bet is to use some TextToSpeech engine, several have demo pages on teh Net[1][2][3]. > > 'Ping' isn't that common to hear in any video or movie, afaict, and it would be trivial to grab it from > > there.Maybe some hax0r presentation from any of the *cons? > > HAL never said it, right
o_O Huh wha? I'd hardly call her voice "Japanese school-girl-on-speed". That's a mature Japanese soprano, there.
For real squealies, you need to go to anime sources.
-- Kat Tanaka Okopnik Linux Gazette Mailbag Editor kat@linuxgazette.net
Samuel Bisbee-vonKaufmann [sbisbee at computervip.com]
>-----Original Message-----From: Jim Jackson [mailto:jj@franjam.org.uk]
> >On Sun, 7 Dec 2008, Ben Okopnik wrote: > >> On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 05:05:27PM +0000, Jim Jackson wrote: >>> >>> Can I, as siggen author, take a bow here
Yup: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=siggen
-- Sam Bisbee