I need to redirect print output from an NT box to a Perl script running on Unix, where the text will be parsed and inserted into a database. Up to now I have been using a Lantronix device that outputs text over a TCP/IP connection. However, it's unreliable, and I'd like to set up a software-only connection.

I created a listener on the Unix server, that looks like this:

use IO::Socket;
$sock = new IO::Socket::INET (LocalHost => 'UNIXhost',
    LocalPort => 3001,
    Proto => 'tcp',
    Listen => 5,
    Reuse => 1 );
die "Socket could not be created. Reason: $!\n" unless $sock;

while ($new_sock = $sock->accept()) {
    while (defined ($buf = <$new_sock>)) {
        chomp ($buf);
        print "$buf\n";
    }
    print "EOM\n\n";
}

close ($sock);
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(This is based on an example in "Advanced Perl Programming")

This works if I telnet to UNIXhost on port 3001 and type in some text.

I created a printer on the NT machine that uses a redirection to port 3001 on UNIXhost. The printer uses the Generic / Text Only driver supplied with Windows. When I submit a print job, the listener running on the Unix box prints "LPT1" and stops, and the print job hangs in NT. If I cancel the print job and submit a new one I see "LPT1" again on UNIXhost.

Is there something I should do to allow the socket to read the entire message? Is there a module that will allow a socket to emulate a print device? I looked through CPAN and the ActiveState docs and didn't find much help.

Thanks in advance,

Chumley