To time out, I would use  sleep and  SIG{ALRM} like so: 
$SIG{ALRM} = \&timeout_code;
alarm = $N;
while (<COM>) {
   $out .= <COM>;
}
$SIG{ALRM} = "";

[download]

-Mark

In reply to Re: Serial I/O and time question by kvale
in thread Serial I/O and time question by shepner

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