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led_stat: A gateway monitor using keyboard leds.

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README, NEWS, Changelog, AUTHORS and NEWS for led_stat

Why led_stat?

The firewall/gateway in the corner won't boot without a keyboard. (No, there's nothing in the BIOS to change it.) So...how about using an old keyboard controller...and using the leds to show some status indicators?

Good idea? Well, that's what I thought.

So this marvellous software was written. The scroll lock led shows if the modem has carrier. The numlock/capslock leds flash once for every 500 bytes going over the ethernet/ppp interfaces.

See a funky demo. (Needs NN4/M18/NN6 sort of javascript (better on NN4) - or IE4/5 for Solaris *shrug*.)

Configuring and installing led_stat

1. Get the tarball. (10k)
2. Open led_stat.c in a text editor.
   • Set PPP_DEV to your ppp device (Normally ppp0)
   • Set ETH_DEV to your ethernet device (Normally eth0)
   • Set MODEM_DEV to the modem (/dev/modem, /dev/ttySX, for some X)
   • Set OUT_DEV to a particular tty if you're actually using the keyboard. (and use alt-FYY to change to that vc to see the flashing), or use /dev/console to show on all virtual consoles. (If running headless, for example.)
   • Set NET_FILE to the file in proc containing the device statistics. (/proc/net/dev on Linux2.2)
   • Set LOOP_USEC to the number of microseconds interval required between checking the device stats/carrier status.
   • Set BTYE_COUNT to the number of bytes that have to cross the interfaces before the led flashes.
3. Open the Makefile and adjust the INS_PATH to the path required for the installation, and adjust the CFLAGS to taste.
4. Type 'make && make install'
5. Start led_stat. The program will background itself and start flashing the keyboard lights. (If you have any network traffic, of course.)
6. That's it. :)

Changelog for led_stat

0.9.0: First release.

News for led_stat

0.9.0: First release.

Notes for led_stat

'statserial' (on which the carrier detect code is based) seems to get confused by pppd opening and closing the modem device. I've got round this by cunningly re-opening the device every time, which is probably a performance hit. *sigh*

Parsing /proc/net/dev is probably the least portably way of getting the network device stats. Suggestions welcome.

Autoconf/Automake? - Not for something this small and unportable. Maybe next time.

'ppp0' and 'eth0' are only suggestions. 'eth1', 'tun2', 'lo': They'll all work if you have a different network configuration.

Warrenty/Copying/Author

Written by Afghan Hound. Mail led-stat@afghanhound.org.uk if you want.

Copyright (C) 2000 Afghan Hound Software

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

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