It's pure TCP, as it currently stands. In essence, I'm trying to suck telnet-type output into a web page front end on-demand. I've tried Net::Telnet, but I can't see a single method in the module for holding a connection open - it's great for sending a series of instructions (a-la SMTP services or even connecting to a TCP music server), but not so great for holding a connection open.

Then again, I admit that I'm fairly new to the idea of multithreading, and holding connections open and in-state, thus my existing code certainly isn't very elegant.

The fun part of being a newbie is learning that sort of thing, anyway. :)

Grimm