diff --git a/etc/agent.conf b/etc/agent.conf
index b6971f18a..acd31207a 100644
--- a/etc/agent.conf
+++ b/etc/agent.conf
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@ input {
     path => [ "/var/log/messages", "/var/log/*.log" ]
     type => "linux-syslog"
   }
+
+  tcp {
+    port => 1234
+    type => "linux-syslog"
+  }
 }
 
 filter {
diff --git a/lib/logstash/inputs/tcp.rb b/lib/logstash/inputs/tcp.rb
index 7802055de..7530d82eb 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/inputs/tcp.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/inputs/tcp.rb
@@ -1,60 +1,64 @@
-require "eventmachine-tail"
 require "logstash/inputs/base"
 require "logstash/namespace"
-require "socket" # for Socket.gethostname
+require "socket"
+require "timeout"
 
 class LogStash::Inputs::Tcp < LogStash::Inputs::Base
 
   config_name "tcp"
 
+  config :host => :string
+  config :port => :number
+  config :data_timeout => :number
+
   public
   def initialize(params)
     super
-    raise "issue/17: needs refactor to support configfile"
-  end # def initialize
+
+    @host ||= "0.0.0.0"
+    @data_timeout ||= 5
+  end
 
   public
   def register
-    if !@url.host or !@url.port
-      @logger.fatal("No host or port given in #{self.class}: #{@url}")
-      # TODO(sissel): Make this an actual exception class
-      raise "configuration error"
-    end
-
-    @logger.info("Starting tcp listener for #{@url}")
-    EventMachine::start_server(@url.host, @url.port, TCPInput, @url, self, @logger)
+    @logger.info("Starting tcp listener on #{@host}:#{@port}")
+    @server = TCPServer.new(@host, @port)
   end # def register
 
   public
-  def receive(host, port, event)
-    url = @url.clone
-    url.host = host
-    url.port = port
-    @logger.debug(["original url", { :originalurl => @url, :newurl => url }])
-    event = LogStash::Event.new({
-      "@message" => event,
-      "@type" => @type,
-      "@tags" => @tags.clone,
-    })
-    event.source = url
-    @logger.debug(["Got event", event])
-    @callback.call(event)
+  def run(output_queue)
+    loop do
+      Thread.start(@server.accept) do |s|
+        peer = "#{s.peeraddr[3]}:#{s.peeraddr[1]}"
+        @logger.debug("Accepted connection from #{peer} on #{@host}:#{@port}")
+        begin
+          loop do
+            buf = nil
+            # NOTE(petef): the timeout only hits after the line is read
+            # or socket dies
+            Timeout::timeout(@data_timeout) do
+              buf = s.readline
+            end
+            e = LogStash::Event.new({
+              "@message" => buf,
+              "@type" => @type,
+              "@tags" => [@type],
+            })
+            e.source = "tcp://#{@host}:#{@port}/client/#{peer}"
+            output_queue << e
+          end # loop do
+        rescue
+          @logger.debug("Closing connection with #{peer}")
+        rescue Timeout::Error
+          @logger.debug("Closing connection with #{peer} after read timeout")
+        end # begin
+
+        begin
+          s.close
+        rescue IOError
+          pass
+        end # begin
+      end # Thread.start
+    end # loop (outer)
   end # def receive
-
-  private
-  class TCPInput < EventMachine::Connection
-    def initialize(url, receiver, logger)
-      @logger = logger
-      @receiver = receiver
-      @url = url;
-      @buffer = BufferedTokenizer.new  # From eventmachine
-    end # def initialize
-
-    def receive_data(data)
-      @buffer.extract(data).each do |line|
-        port, host = Socket.unpack_sockaddr_in(self.get_peername)
-        @receiver.receive(host, port, line)
-      end
-    end # def receive_data
-  end # class TCPInput
 end # class LogStash::Inputs::Tcp