Is there an equivalent SELECT() method in Java for passive-waiting?

Question

I have been using C code that will open a file descriptor, then use the "select" function to passively-wait for new events in the descriptor (versus something like an active while-loop strategy that will loop indefinitely, attempting to read from the descriptor each time through the loop).
Can someone describe the best way of migrating this C code to Java? I am particularly interested in finding out how to duplicate the "select" behavior in Java.
Thanks for your help.
-TJW
Here is part of the C code as it currently stands:
#define PS2_DEVICE "/dev/psaux"
/* the descriptor */
int fd_ps2;
if ((fd_ps2 = open(PS2_DEVICE, O_RDWR | O_SYNC | O_NDELAY)) == -1 )
perror("Error opening PS2 port.");
exit(-1);
int ret;
/* an array of file descriptors */
fd_set fds;
/* a structure to hold select time-out information */
struct timeval tv;
/* the acknowledgement byte */
unsigned char ack_byte = -2;
/* attempt to send the byte, i.e. write to the file descriptor */
if (write(fd, &snd_byte, 1) != SUCCESS) {
perror("Error sending the byte.");
return ERROR;
/* clear the file descriptor set */
FD_ZERO(&fds);
/* add the desired descriptor(s) to the set. In our case, we are only
* concerned with the psaux descriptor */
FD_SET(fd, &fds);
/* set the time structure's time values that will be used to enforce
* time-outs for the select */
tv.tv_sec = 0; // seconds
tv.tv_usec = 200; // milli-seconds
/* wait on the file descriptor for communication
* to the host */
ret = select(fd + 1, &fds, 0, 0, &tv);
/* ret should contain the number of descriptors contained in the
* descriptor set, which may be zero if the timeout expires before
* anything interesting happens */
if (ret == -1) {
puts("Select error.");
return ERROR;
else if (ret == 0) {
puts("Timed out.");
return ERROR;
else if (ret > 0) {
/* there is at least one descriptor still in the set */
else {
/* some other error occurred */
return ERROR;
if (read(fd, (void *)&ack_byte, 1) != SUCCESS) {
puts("Error reading from the descriptor.");
return ERROR;
.........

Answer 1

Hi TJW,
Assuming you haven't already read it, perhaps this article will help:
http://www.developer.com/net/net/article.php/626271
Hope it helps you.
Good Luck,
Avi.