sub gets {
  my $timeout;
  my($str, $c, $rin, $rout, $found, $timeleft);

  #be really pessimistic about how long it will take for the fist char
  $timeout = 120; #time in seconds

  $rin = '';
  vec($rin, fileno(COM), 1) = 1;

  while (1) {
    ($found, $timeleft) = select($rout=$rin, undef, undef, $timeout);  #look for input for up to $timeout seconds
    last unless $found;  #give up if nothing was found
    $timeout = $timeout - $timeleft;
    $timeout ||= 15;  #the $timeout must be >= 15 seconds
    sysread(COM, $c, 1);  #read the next char
    if (($c ne "\0")&&($c =~ /[\w\*\-\t\:\/ ]/)) { #sanitize the data
      $str .= $c;  #put the char at the end of the string
    } elsif ($c =~ /\r/) { #Note: must only match \n OR \r.  Matching both does odd stuff
      last;
    }
  }
  return $str;
}