Unbuffered char reads from App from stdin (keyboard)

App and Linux kernel 2.2.13 running on mpc860T.

I would like to know the best way, from inside my GNU C App,
to sense if there's a keyboard key pressed.  Something
similar to kbhit() in Microsoft C.  I would like to have a particular
thread execute a loop continuously and only when a key
is present, do a getc() or getchar(), or gets(), and the like.

What is the best way to accomplish this?
Is there a way to make stdin unbuffered?

Thanks,

ShutEyeThinkin

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