How can you use Sockets with QB?

[[e-mail]]

TSIA.

I would like to write several programs that need to communicate interactively across a TCP/IP network and may have to work cross platform (QB program on one end but custom written clients on the other, could be Windows or Linux).

I think that using sockets would be the most effecient way to do this.  Can this be done with Qbasic?

[[e-mail]]

every programmer that I've talked to says that it is not possible to do in Quick Basic but, I still believe that there is a way, and I dont care what anyone says, hopefully you will have better luck then I have in this question, I am having to resort to asking a frind (C++ programmer) to write a LIB file that will allow me to do that.

[[e-mail]]

I can accept that this might have to be done through a library.  I'm surprised it hasn't been done already.

Another way I can do this is through proxy programs.  If I could spawn another process, I could launch a command line utility like "Curl" or "Blat" to accomplish *some* of the things I need to do.  Of course "chain" and "run" are not going to do it since they do not truly spawn.

Can we spawn from QB via an INT call?