diff --git a/NOTES b/NOTES
index 2e2b987..46187fc 100644
--- a/NOTES
+++ b/NOTES
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ it uses select(), I'm not sure how I would honor Thread.interrupt() or
 whatever.  It's not guaranteed to interrupt select(), and I'm not keen on
 adding an arbitrary timeout/polling feature to it.
 
+XXX - add locking on access to SimpleSSHD.curr
+XXX - test scrolling the log
 XXX - implement extra commandline for dropbear
 XXX - main screen should show dropbear.err contents
 XXX - implement start on boot
diff --git a/src/org/galexander/sshd/SimpleSSHD.java b/src/org/galexander/sshd/SimpleSSHD.java
index 6d8a8f4..1cf0e6b 100644
--- a/src/org/galexander/sshd/SimpleSSHD.java
+++ b/src/org/galexander/sshd/SimpleSSHD.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ public class SimpleSSHD extends Activity
 	private TextView log_view;
 	private Button startstop_view;
 	public static SimpleSSHD curr = null;
+	private UpdaterThread updater = null;
 
 	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
@@ -33,13 +34,15 @@ public class SimpleSSHD extends Activity
 
 	public void onResume() {
 		super.onResume();
-		update_startstop();
-		update_log();
 		curr = this;
+		update_startstop();
+		updater = new UpdaterThread();
+		updater.start();
 	}
 
 	public void onPause() {
 		curr = null;
+		updater.interrupt();
 		super.onPause();
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/org/galexander/sshd/UpdaterThread.java b/src/org/galexander/sshd/UpdaterThread.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ccf8a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/org/galexander/sshd/UpdaterThread.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package org.galexander.sshd;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+public class UpdaterThread extends Thread {
+	/* poll for changes to the dropbear.err file */
+	public void run() {
+		File f = new File(Prefs.get_path(), "dropbear.err");
+		long lastmod = 0;
+System.out.println("sshd: updater start");
+		while (true) {
+			if (isInterrupted()) {
+System.out.println("sshd: updater interrupted");
+				break;
+			}
+			if (SimpleSSHD.curr == null) {
+System.out.println("sshd: activity stopped");
+				break;
+			}
+			long l = f.lastModified();
+			if (l != lastmod) {
+System.out.println("sshd: updating");
+				SimpleSSHD.curr.runOnUiThread(new Thread() {
+					public void run() {
+						SimpleSSHD.curr.update_log();
+					}
+				});
+				lastmod = l;
+			}
+			try {
+				sleep(1000);
+			} catch (InterruptedException e) {
+System.out.println("sshd: sleep interrupted");
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+System.out.println("sshd: done");
+	}
+}