So I got a blinkie* this morning and had it blinking away in my room while I slept. It was cute but mostly useless and for the small amount of agrivation the blinking caused, the total lack of utility was unsatisfactory.

So today I gutted the blinkie, figured out how it worked, and re-wired it to take a TTL input signal from the parallel port of my linux box. This combined with liberal use of the ioctl() function now allows the light to blink when there is network traffic on the apartment net. It's sort of a visual gague of how clogged the network is. And even better - when we're all asleep, the light is mostly off and doesn't bother me!

* Blinkie - A large orange blinking lamp that is often used near road construction to warn motorists of impending danger.