Monitoring....

[john152 at libero.it]

Hi all,
i'm using a Linux OS and i connect to internet by a LAN.
I' ve seen that my ethernet card use a led to show if i am connected or not.
Is there a way to monitor ( via kernel, via software, ecc....) when the led of this card is on/off?
Who can i ask for to?
I'd like to do a code that monitors the link status (link active and connected to net or not...) and gives me an error if this status changes. Is there any software today that does so?
Please help me 

Thanks in advance for your kind answer.

Giovanni di Giacomo