System 7 - Extension that shows internet connection status

[tommijazz91]

I’ve been wondering for a while if such an extension for system 7 exists - one that allows you to see if there’s an active connection (through Ethernet cable, WiFi, etc) by displaying on the menu bar something like a blinking icon, or two different images depending on the status. Something similar in concept to the “Eyeballs” extension. I’ve done some research through the usual websites but I didn’t find anything that matches exactly what I’m looking for. In my case, I have an SE/30 with System 7.5.5 and a CNet PDS Ethernet card and a cable that goes straight to my router, so no WiFi cards or RPi in the middle.
I also wonder, in case nothing like it exists, how difficult would it be to create one from scratch?

 

[DW1992]

I remember years ago there was a hard drive activity extension that basically did the same thing.
It would show drive read / write activity through a little icon in the menu bar.
If no one chimes in with a ready-made option, I might take a stab at this... although it's probably over my head. lol

Would you want just to see an 'link' indicator for the status? I think a 'every packet blink' would be pretty intense and distracting.

Aaron/DW
Dark Systems BBS

 

[rieSha.]

I’ve been wondering for a while if such an extension for system 7 exists - one that allows you to see if there’s an active connection (through Ethernet cable, WiFi, etc) by displaying on the menu bar something like a blinking icon, or two different images depending on the status. Something similar in concept to the “Eyeballs” extension. I’ve done some research through the usual websites but I didn’t find anything that matches exactly what I’m looking for. In my case, I have an SE/30 with System 7.5.5 and a CNet PDS Ethernet card and a cable that goes straight to my router, so no WiFi cards or RPi in the middle.
I also wonder, in case nothing like it exists, how difficult would it be to create one from scratch?

There are plenty of PPP/(C)SLIP monitor control panels or extensions (you can find these on info-mac mirrors). For wired LAN connectivity there’s not really "online" or "offline", as with PPP. There’s "cable plugged in and link established", but I’ve never seen software for Mac OS for this.
When you want to know whether your computer "can do Internet" it’s quite complex - having a non-APIPA-IP-address, having a gateway, being able to reach the gateway and beyond, having a name resolver, reaching that one. And even if the computer can reach the gateway -- this can be different 5, 10, 60 seconds later -- so your Mac would need to monitor that.

I’m writing to much text to explain that this is not really something for a 8 or 16 MHz machine -- that’s quite a bit of stuff to monitor. And Mac OS and MacTCP are known to react non-cooperatively/nice to timeouts.

What exactly do you want to know from that extension? If you plug in your Mac via LAN cable to your gateway, and it’s configured correctly, your Mac should be online.

 

[tommijazz91]

Would you want just to see an 'link' indicator for the status? I think a 'every packet blink' would be pretty intense and distracting.

Yes exactly, although as you say it could be a bit distracting if it blinked too often.

What exactly do you want to know from that extension? If you plug in your Mac via LAN cable to your gateway, and it’s configured correctly, your Mac should be online.

You are absolutely right and I probably didn’t realize that - maybe because I spent so much time and effort to succeed in connecting it to internet that I wanted to make sure it was connected
But I still wondered if it’s doable and I realize now it’s not so easy.

 

[aladds]

AppleTalk already does this for network drive access, with the little double arrow near the apple menu, presumably you want that but for all network access?

 

[cheesestraws]

There are plenty of PPP/(C)SLIP monitor control panels or extensions (you can find these on info-mac mirrors). For wired LAN connectivity there’s not really "online" or "offline", as with PPP. There’s "cable plugged in and link established", but I’ve never seen software for Mac OS for this.
When you want to know whether your computer "can do Internet" it’s quite complex - having a non-APIPA-IP-address, having a gateway, being able to reach the gateway and beyond, having a name resolver, reaching that one. And even if the computer can reach the gateway -- this can be different 5, 10, 60 seconds later -- so your Mac would need to monitor that.

All of this is good sense.

"Am I connected to the Internet" is a far more complicated question than it sounds, and "the Internet" isn't really a thing that exists anyway (he said, annoyingly). And MacTCP's API design makes it worse, I'm afraid.

 

[robin-fo]

Don‘t forget MacTCP only gets loaded when somebody needs it IIRC..

 

[cheesestraws]

Don‘t forget MacTCP only gets loaded when somebody needs it IIRC..

Yes, it's when the driver is first opened.

 

[jmacz]

Depending on what the OP wants, you could avoid the complexity and do something basic like have the extension attempt to ping a well known “Internet” service (e.g. Google’s DNS at 8.8.8.8) and just infer general public Internet connectivity if you can reach it.

 

[mikes-macs]

I know it's not exactly what you asked for but sometimes you have to use what is available. So I have used Network Time Control Panel for this. In the settings you can have is get the time from time.apple.com and set it to check on boot and then every minute or so. If it cannot update the time it will give you an error. Simple and effective.

 

[tommijazz91]

All your answers are actually quite interesting, I didn’t realize it was so complicated. I find it fascinating!

Depending on what the OP wants, you could avoid the complexity and do something basic like have the extension attempt to ping a well known “Internet” service (e.g. Google’s DNS at 8.8.8.8) and just infer general public Internet connectivity if you can reach it.

If this is possible then it would be more than enough. How complicated would it be to build as extension?

I know it's not exactly what you asked for but sometimes you have to use what is available. So I have used Network Time Control Panel for this. In the settings you can have is get the time from time.apple.com and set it to check on boot and then every minute or so. If it cannot update the time it will give you an error. Simple and effective.

Good idea! I like it! I can try this too.

 

[cheesestraws]

If this is possible then it would be more than enough. How complicated would it be to build as extension?

Given MacTCP's foibles, you would probably be better off doing it as a background application ('appe') if you don't mind being restricted to system 7. Then it wouldn't be too hard, although I'm not sure how reliable the MacTCP ICMP API is