Hello Donn, Thursday, February 09, 2006, 8:58:27 PM, you wrote: DC> "Slow" devices like pipes, sockets etc. get along fine with Handles DC> or whatever buffered I/O - as long as you have only one going at a time. DC> Multiple input sources - like, say you want to read a process' output DC> (unit 1) and diagnostic output (unit 2) separately, and either one has DC> the potential to fill up the pipe and block while you're waiting for DC> input on the other pipe - buffers at least complicate the dispatching DC> mechanics you need for this, if not make it impossible. are you tried LineBuffering and NoBuffering? seem that it is developed exactly for this case (plus for terminals) -- Best regards, Bulat mailto:bulatz@HotPOP.com