I'd be inclined to use split with the optional third parameter that tells it when to stop splitting:

use strict;
use warnings;

while (<DATA>) {
     print join ",", split /\s+/, $_, 7;
}

__DATA__
21 10216503  27f14 208   1  vxdmp (VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1): DMP Drive)
22 78016000 1c8c80 223   1  vxio (VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1) I/O driver)
24 781bf440    847 225   1  vxspec (VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1) control/st)
127 7837cb56    bb3 234   1  vxportal (VxFS 4.0_REV-MP1j portal driver
+)
128 7837e000 1636fd  16   1  vxfs (VxFS 4.0_REV-MP1j,PID=116688-01)

[download]

Prints:

21,10216503,27f14,208,1,vxdmp,(VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1): DMP Drive)
22,78016000,1c8c80,223,1,vxio,(VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1) I/O driver)
24,781bf440,847,225,1,vxspec,(VxVM 4.0R_p3.7 (MP1) control/st)
127,7837cb56,bb3,234,1,vxportal,(VxFS 4.0_REV-MP1j portal driver)
128,7837e000,1636fd,16,1,vxfs,(VxFS 4.0_REV-MP1j,PID=116688-01)

[download]

Update: removed chomp and print \n

DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel

In reply to Re: Regex refresher by GrandFather
in thread Regex refresher by blackadder

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