diff -r 5dccd1d8d817 -r 012576d7386d www-thermferm/utilities.php
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/www-thermferm/utilities.php	Fri Jul 11 22:53:33 2014 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+<?php
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (C) 2014
+ *   
+ * Michiel Broek <mbroek at mbse dot eu>
+ *
+ * This file is part of ThermFerm
+ *
+ * This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+ * Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any
+ * later version.
+ *
+ * ThermFerm is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+ * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * General Public License for more details.
+ * 
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with ThermFerm; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
+ * Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.
+ *****************************************************************************/
+
+
+function open_socket()
+{
+    $sock = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, SOL_TCP);
+
+    if (!($sock === false)) {
+	if (socket_connect($sock, "localhost", 6554)) {
+	    socket_set_option($sock, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, array('sec' => 15, 'usec' => 0));
+	} else {
+	    socket_close($sock);
+    	}
+    }
+    return $sock;
+}
+
+
+
+function startsWith($haystack, $needle)
+{
+    return !strncmp($haystack, $needle, strlen($needle));
+}
+
+