Pinging a Server - Need Help

[evenmonkeys]

I am working with scratch here. I've been searching these forums all day and I can't seem to make any sense of what I'm finding. I'm going insane here.

I just want something very simple. I want to be able to display the status of my server on the forum somewhere, anywhere. I don't care. I can move things around rather easily. I'm just struggling creating it.

Anyways, what I want to do is ping my computer here and home to show whether or not it is connected to the internet. I run a private gaming server for my friends and I to play on, but it'd be nice if they knew whether or not it was up and running before they tried logging in. If the computer is turned on, the server is turned on.

Could someone either build me something or point me toward something SIMPLE. All I want to do is see if the thing's turned on. I am interested in placing the status in my header.

$ping = ping yarub's server;
$status = $ping;

Obviously that's not accurate, but you get my idea. Please help me. =(