public StatusPanel() {
        super();
        this.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(0, 20));
        textArea.setSize(this.getSize());
        textArea.setEditable(false);
        this.viewport.add(textArea);

        try {
            PipedOutputStream pout = new PipedOutputStream(this.pin);
            System.setOut(new PrintStream(pout));
        } catch (java.io.IOException e) {
            textArea.setText("[error initializing status display stream] : \n" + e.getMessage());
        }

        statusThread = new PollStatusThread(textArea);
        statusThread.start();
    }