Hi, why dont you use perl:TK - follow the link http://www.perlmonks.com/index.pl?node_id=297848 The question there was how to create a tail fkt with Tk. Solution is very straight forward. If you like the 2nd dos box because of the copy/past capability some widgets like Text will do the same job. Dont start to hassle with socket programming - if you do that properly you will end with a log-server .... Cheers Hartwig PS. Can you explain in more detail why there is a need for a 2nd dos-box?