How to ping from Python?

[HomeAutomationPlugins.com]

Hi,

I'm trying to develop a plugin to ping an IP address (constantly) and raise an event when the ping returns (when it didn't previously) and when it doesn't return (when it did previously).

The application is to constantly ping the IP address of some Samsung TV's in my house to determine whether they are turned on or not - i.e. when the TV's are turned off they don't respond to a ping, when they are on they do.

Could anyone give me a pointer in the right direction? What I'm really stuck on is how to do the constant ping in Python - all the examples I've found on the web seem overly complex for this very simple application...

Thanks in advance!

[jay (support)]

A quick Bing search finds ping.py.