We have a problem at work where our DSL line goes down randomly and is fixed
by a simple reset of the modem.  There's a request into the phone company to
have the line checked, but who knows how long that will take...

Anyway, this gave me an idea: write a small app that pings the internet side
of the modem and if it ever loses communication, send a signal to a PIC on
the serial port to cut power to the modem for a few seconds.

After searching for about an hour, I came up with 2 circuits that show how
to get 5mA @ 5VDC from a serial port.  According to the datasheet for the SX
chip (I have several that I have no use for) it draws 150ua at 32khz.  Also,
there are some very small soild-state relays that pull only 2-3ma.  I
haven't looked into the current draw of a slowly clocked PIC yet...

Here's what I would like to know: am I re-inventing the wheel?  Has this
already been done?  Also, maybe it doesn't require a PIC.  I was thinking
that a 555 may be used, but I wouldn't know how to go about that...


Any ideas?

Barry

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