colterphoto1 Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Where did this 'ping' term originate? Was it Hunt for Red October, where 'ping' means to send out a sonar signal in search of another sub? I've just seen it a lot lately and wondered from whence it came. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
updawg Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 It's a submariners' term for a sonar pulse(pretty sure it originated with sonar technology), but is used now for computers (acronym Packet INternet Groper) as a protocol that sends a message to another computer and waits for a response back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 command line verb to test presence of another PC on a netwok, at command prompt, type "ping 192.62.58.10" to see if 192.62.58.10 is there: story of ping by inventor: http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyjoe72 Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 funny songer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Amy Posted June 23, 2005 Moderators Share Posted June 23, 2005 Are you sure it doesn't come from the game Ping Pong? I ping you, you pong me back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 I am quite certain it has something to do with panda bears given to the U.S. by China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted June 23, 2005 Author Share Posted June 23, 2005 no Amy, that would be a holla back, see other thread. Michael Nice one Allan, can always count on your wit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Updawg pretty much got it. It's what's called an "echo request" and it's a way for one TCP/IP device to determine if another TCP/IP device is active on the network. The acronym is correct too, though you can see it's pretty weak as acronyms go and was clearly constructed to wrap around a term that was already in use. You know, like "LAME" being short for "Lame Ain't an MP3 Encoder." Network geeks tend to blur the distinctions between organisms and machines -- simple organisms behave mechanistically and complex machines behave organismically, after all -- so it was only natural for network users to begin to describe an "are you there" in mechanistic terms. That, and it's easier to type "Ping Michael" than it is to type "Michael, next time you're on, if you should happen to see this please click the link and read the message and think about it and write something back to me." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 "Packet Internet Gopher", not Groper. Yes, the term does originate from sonar, the idea being "I will send this and wait for the bounce back", which is why the term was adopted into the lexicon of the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 I need to amend my statement. It's not an acronym at all, but for those who do believe it is an acronym, Packet INternet Groper is the accepted expansion. Gopher is something else entirely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 "Packet Internet Gopher" Wouldn't that be P.I.G.? Naaaah, wouldn't work - PIG Michael. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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