The

User's Manual

Release 0.8.0, (C) 1999

13. kisdn's display

You will agree that kISDN is more than an account configuration utility; if you don't, have a look at the variety of displays available:

 

Docking display in the panel

Especially on small screens, the presence of a large monitor window is greatly disturbing; this is why kisdn can be docked, the main window does not need to be open to see transfer ratios or line states. You can achieve this by pressing the 'Hide' button in kisdn's main window. To have kisdn be docked each time it starts up you will have to check the option 'Always dock in panel' in the 'General' tab(press 'Customize').
When you press 'Hide', the main window is closed and the following window shows up in the panel (magnified 2x):

Gedocktes kisdn

  • Yellow (left): kisdn is dialing out

  • Green (center left): a phone connection was made

  • Red (center right): Data is being received

  • Red (right): Data is being sent


Below the LEDs, the throughput is displayed graphically.
But what can I do to undo these settings?
Simple, right click on the docking display. A menu will open; choose 'Open Configuration' (left mouse click) and the main window will reappear. If you wish to keep this window on the desktop, disable 'Always dock in the panel'.

Status LEDs

If you prefer the main window, you should have a look at the status LEDs:

Status LEDs

Since your ISDN connection provides two phone lines (the so called B channels), there are two rows of LEDs of which usually only the upper one (channel A) is used. The introduction of telephony, however, makes it somewhat likely that you will use both at some point (just imagine being called while you are browsing the web).
The LEDs function similarly to those in the docking display:

  • Yellow ('Dial'): kisdn is dialing out
  • Green ('Con'): The connection is established (costing money) which does not mean that the login with your ISP was successful; this can only be verified with the two red LEDs. If they flicker shortly after the connection is made and the green LED stays lit, you are logged in (or else your ISP would have hung up and the green LED would have gone black. Anyway, if the IP address display shows a value different from 0.0.0.0, you successfully connected to the internet.
  • Red ('Tx'): Data is being sent
  • Red ('Rx'): Data is being received

 

IP Display

This display tells you which IP address you can be reached at (the upper line) and your ISPs IP address (lower line). The buttons 'a' and 'b' allow you to switch between the IP display for the first B channel and the second; if 'a' is pressed, the IP addresses for the first channel are shown, likewise 'b' indicates that information about the second channel is shown.
IP Display
With this information you can (e.g.) play internet games - all you have to do is to tell your partner your IP address. In case of dynamic IP assignment, this display can also be used to verify you are connected to the internet.
 

The graphical throughput monitor

The graphical display gives you an overview over your ISDN lines data throughput - typically over the last 12 minutes.
Graphic Display
The line above the actual display ('Online time') informs you about the duration of the connection (separated by channels). The uppormost line in the display, the 'Timeline', allows you to find out at what time a specific event took place (there is a certain tolerance to this). In addition you can see separators with blue stamps on them which make it easier to connect any point on the graph to its corresponding throughput. These separators adapt (the default setting) to the highest visible transfer ratio (this sounds more complicated than it really is - go ahead and try). The current throughput is monitored in the lower right of the main window, just below the graphical throughput monitor. You can not always trust this display: sometimes it displays values that are way out of range.
Also below the monitor you will find six buttons that customize the monitor's appearance:

Display for channel A

Display for channel B

Show the stamps for the separation lines

Display the total receiving ratio of both channels

Display the total transmission ratio of both channels

Display othe total data ratio

The button state is indicated by the little triangular LED in the lower right corner - dark means 'inactive', lit means 'active'.
Back to the overview

T. Westheider, Ch. Demmer, Ch. Zander / January 8 1998 - kISDN Release 0.8.0