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Thursday, 6 July 2006

IP Visualiser

Every computer on the internet has an IP address, which is a set of numbers that uniquely identify that computer. For example, google.com is 64.233.167.99. Each of the four number segments goes up to 255 (or 28-1).

The Acorn Electron let the user define characters, such as letters or sprites, using 8 numbers each up to 255, giving an 8x8 pixel square.

As an example, 56, 64, 128, 255, 255, 128, 64, 56 denotes an arrow. The most significant bit of the first number gives the bottom left pixel, the least significant bit gives the top left pixel, and the rest followed similarly. So, 56 = 0 * 128 + 0 * 64 + 1 * 32 + 1 * 16 + 1 * 8 + 0 * 4 + 0 * 2 + 0 * 1, which gives a first column of 00111000.

Combining these two facts I present the IP Visualiser, which displays a given IP address as a 4x8 pixel square. As you might suspect, this is quite limiting in artistic terms. However, there are probably some simple company logos that can be represented faithfully. I wonder if those companies would value "their" IP addresses.

An IPv6 version would give much more scope for creative pictures, as its greater range of numbers would allow for an 8x16 pixel area. I'll extend the IP Visualiser when IPv6 becomes more widespread.