Linux Ping Plotter
- Linux is an operating system very similar to Unix. It is often used for servers and is also available for PCs, although it does not have as many implementations as Windows. Linux is not a copy of Unix and was developed from scratch by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The Linux operating system is free, but it is not as user-friendly as Windows and does not have the same range of applications written for it. This explains why Windows is more common for the home PC's operating system.
- Although Ping Plotter is only written for Windows, the Wine emulator enables Windows programs to run on Linux machines. Like Linux, Wine is an open source project with development contributions from anyone who wishes to become a member of the development group. Nessoft does not have an official sales page detailing the use of Ping Plotter on Linux by using Wine, however, Pete Ness, the company's owner declared that the program runs under these conditions in answer to support queries.
- Ping Plotter is a more elaborate version of ping. Ping is a standard network utility and is available under Linux. Ping works on the error reporting functions of the Internet Control Message Protocol. The Internet Protocol, which deals with addressing and routing across networks does not have any error reporting functions. However, ICMP provides these. Ping only reports on end to end connection performance. It does not give the details of each link in a connection, which is Ping Plotter's main function.
- Ping Plotter's methods for getting details of each link in a route come from traceroute. Traceroute is available for Linux and so this is the closest a Linux user can come to getting Ping Plotter functionality directly at the Linux prompt (without using the Wine emulator). Traceroute is a command line utility like ping, and so it does not give the graphical representation of the route that Ping Plotter provides.
