NetCrunch Tools is an application for Windows Networking professionals that can help them troubleshoot and manage their network. It combines 11 troubleshooting tools, including DNS Audit, Ping Scanner ...
You can use any port scanner for that, not sure about linux but there's tons for windows. If all you need to know is if the computer exists then you can get away with a super low timeout like 30ms and ...
Are you trying to ping at the IP level, or the Ethernet level? Some devices (for various reasons) aren't going to respond to a ICMP ping.