[wellylug] Running a command in the background which expects keyboard entry

[David Harrison]

Hello,
I am trying to figure out if it is possible to run a command in the  
background if this command is expecting some form of keyboard entry.
The problem application is the iFolder testing server  
(www.ifolder.com) which is just a Mono application that listens on  
port 8086.
I want this app to run as a daemon in the background but when you  
launch the application it sits waiting for the Enter key to be pressed.

This is the output when running the app:
------------------------------------------------------
#:/home/david # cd /opt/simias/bin
#:/opt/simias/bin # ./simias

SIMIAS

SimiasApp
Listening on port: 8086
Listening on address: 0.0.0.0
Root directory: /opt/simias/bin
Hit Return to stop the server.
Pinging: http://localhost:8086/simias10/Simias.asmx
Simias Application Path: /opt/simias/web/bin
Simias Process Starting
Simias Process Running

.... and there it sits waiting for the user to press enter so it can  
shutdown.
I have tried the following commands with no success:
#:/ ./simias &
#:/ nohup /opt/simias/bin/simias &

Both commands load the app but it seems as there is no response from  
the keyboard the server promptly closes itself down.

Does anyone know a linux command that will load the app complete with  
a 'virtual' keyboard or a tool that allows processes expecting user  
input to be run in the background?
It's easy enough to run the app in an X-Window but ideally it would  
be nice to have it load as a daemon during the boot sequence.

Cheers,


David