#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Term::ReadKey;
use threads;

$|++;

# I commented out some possible ReadMode settings
#ReadMode('cbreak');

# works non-blocking if read stdin is in a thread
my $thr = threads->new(\&read_in)->detach;

# loop to keep main thread alive
while(1){
print "test\n";
sleep 1;
}

#ReadMode('normal'); # restore normal tty settings


sub read_in{
        while(1){
         my $char;
         if (defined ($char = ReadKey(0)) ) {
            print "\t\t$char->", ord($char),"\n";    
            #process key presses here
            if($char eq 'q'){exit}
            #if(length $char){exit}  # panic button on any key :-)
            }
          }
}

__END__