One Question: What is pinging?\

Which kind?

One kind is detonation in an internal combustion engine -- destructive to the engine over time.

Another kind is what is used in net troubleshooting. Unix systems (and perhaps Windows as well) have a command called "ping". It sends a variant of an ICMP packet to a system which is supposed to produce an "echo" response. As an example:

====================================================================== izalco:dnichols 1:17 > ping ftp.uu.net ftp.uu.net is alive

izalco:dnichols 1:17 > ping -s ftp.uu.net PING ftp.uu.net: 56 data bytes

64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=0. time=14. ms 64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=1. time=14. ms 64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=2. time=13. ms 64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=3. time=14. ms 64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=4. time=14. ms 64 bytes from ftp.UU.NET (192.48.96.9): icmp_seq=5. time=13. ms ^C

----ftp.uu.net PING Statistics----

6 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 13/13/14 ======================================================================

The first one just verifies that it is reachable.

The second one (with the "-s" option) accumulates statistics, for as long as you let it run. The "^C" is my interrupt to stop it when I had enough. It then prints out statistics of the returned information.

This usage probably derives from the SONAR used to detect submarines, where a sharp pulse of sound was sent out from an underwater transducer, and the distance to an object which reflected the sound was determined by the time -- somewhat akin to the operation of RADAR. There used to be movies about submarines in wartime, with lots of tense time with someone wearing headphones and hunched over a big CRT, and a "ping" sound repeating every so many seconds. I haven't been to a movie for years, so I don't know whether those are still out there. :-)

Now -- there is also a usenet jargon use, where you send out a request to see if someone is reading the newsgroup. That may be what you saw, something like a "Subject: " header of "Pinging gunner" (looking for a response from gunner), used when it is not certain that he received an e-mail -- perhaps because of aggressive spam filtering.

An e-mail message may be a ping as well, and useful when there is some doubt as to whether a larger e-mail got trapped by filters. Just put "ping" in the "Subject: " header line and in the body, and nothing else.

Which one were you asking about?

I hope that this helps. DoN.

On 10 Dec 2004 01:27:20 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

snip of lots of pingy bits

Hehe! Search no more, Searcher!

It's a mating call for lonely geeks.

A hackers dream, get your address, load spam emailer, I sheath my ping...

xman

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "Searcher" wrote back on Fri, 10 Dec 2004 03:42:17 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Many answers, I'll add my two cents.

From the Jargon File 4.2.0:

ping: [from the submariners' term for a sonar pulse] 1. n. Slang term for a small network message (ICMP ECHO) sent by a computer to check for the presence and alertness of another. The Unix command `ping(8)' can be used to do this manually (note that `ping(8)''s author denies the widespread folk etymology that the name was ever intended as acronym for `Packet INternet Groper'). Occasionally used as a phone greeting. See ACK, also ENQ. 2. vt. To verify the presence of. 3. vt. To get the attention of. 4. vt. To send a message to all members of a mailing list requesting an ACK (in order to verify that everybody's addresses are reachable). "We haven't heard much of anything from Geoff, but he did respond with an ACK both times I pinged jargon-friends." 5. n. A quantum packet of happiness. People who are very happy tend to exude pings; furthermore, one can intentionally create pings and aim them at a needy party (e.g., a depressed person). This sense of ping may appear as an exclamation; "Ping!" (I'm happy; I am emitting a quantum of happiness; I have been struck by a quantum of happiness). The form "pingfulness", which is used to describe people who exude pings, also occurs. (In the standard abuse of language, "pingfulness" can also be used as an exclamation, in which case it's a much stronger exclamation than just "ping"!). Oppose blargh.

The funniest use of `ping' to date was described in January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console after each cabling tweak to see if the ping packets were getting through. So he used the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then wrote a script that repeatedly invoked `ping(8)', listened for an echo, and played back the recording on each returned packet. Result? A program that caused the machine to repeat, over and over, "Ping ... ping ... ping ..." as long as the network was up. He turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time.

From this came all sorts of other uses, but that's the computer related use

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "Searcher" wrote back on Fri, 10 Dec 2004 03:42:17 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :

I forgot to mention, that one usage is to make in inquiry if some one is "there" - either email, via "talk" or in person. One writes (or says) "ping" and the canonical answer is "Pong!".

Sort of like fingering, but less invasive. ;-)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

That is a great functional use. I used ping and spray. Ping didn't require the far computer to always be there, some computers could do hardware reply - which wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to know if the O.S. was running. e.g. was it booted. I had a script that ping'd and then sprayed (packet size) and qualify network machines I could use running simulation scripts while the user worked at a lower priority or during off hours.

It worded so well the larger IT (I was a local IT) group to slurp up that and enhance it to monitor backbones, bridges and ... the up links and distant T line connects. We had so many T10 and T100 lines into and out of our facility I thought we were a network center. Later the IT groups world wide were grouped into a world wide multiple company IT group in > 100 countries. [ I think our building was a major cluster in the earlier days, then lost the edge to the comercial centers. ] Martin

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Spehro Pefhany wrote back on Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:28:10

-0500 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

Oh yeah, "Finger me for my .plan"

I heard of someone who named the computer "Elvis" in order to be able to say "Elvis is alive" or "Elvis is dead."

Some of the "early" hackers were, on a scale of e to Pi, about 3.5 for weirdness.

tschus pyotr