Perl / Java / Python Serial Library Project

This project will require knowledge of Perl, Java, Python and low-level serial communication. If you are not at an intermediate (or higher) level with all those, this project will most likely be beyond your capabilities. If you feel like you can comfortably work with those languages and have knowledge of low-level serial communication, please keep reading. I have a device that can be controlled by a serial (RS-232) connection using a special cable. One end of the cable is a stereo 3.5MM plug that gets inserted into the device's serial port. The other end is a 9-pin serial connector that gets connected to the computer's serial port. The vendor software that controls the device is an old Java application. I believe it was written with JDK 1.4 or 1.5. The Java application was designed to run on Windows 98 and XP. The Java application will run on Windows Vista and Windows 7, but it does not work properly on Windows 8 or 8.1. An open source developer wrote a perl library that controls the device, but it seems to use perl serial modules that were designed for Windows 98. It does not appear to be compatible with Windows XP or higher. However, it is possible I just did not configure the perl environment correctly. The developer also documented the serial protocol and the obfuscation used to obscure communicating with the device. The notes are very detailed. The company that made the device is not interested in updating their Java software (fixing bugs and OS compatibility issues). They said they don't sell enough of it to warrant maintaining it. They wouldn't help me, but they suggested I search for the perl library and see if that would do what I wanted. That was the last I heard from them. I realize the easy solution would be to keep a Windows XP machine around, but that is inconvenient for several reasons. I want an easy way to interface with this device that wasn't dependent upon an ancient version of the JRE or required a complicated perl environment. I decided what I want is a Python library that will allow programmatic control of the device. My initial thought is to use Python 2.7 and PySerial because of their maturity. My preference would be to have the solution written in Python 3.4 but only if there was a stable serial implementation. You are free to use any open source libraries to aide in your development. I will leave all of these decisions to the developer. To accomplish this project, you'll have to go through a perl application and translate the code to Python. You'll also have to go through a large decompiled Java application and translate the code to Python. Most of the library's functionality will be able to be derived from the perl code. However, some of the functionality I want in the library will have to be derived from the decompiled Java code. You shouldn't have to take serial captures to complete this project because of all the available source code and protocol documentation. I will provide a remote development environment (Windows 7 laptop with the device connected to a serial port) for you to use. You are free to install any software you want to use for development on it. If you end up needing local access to the device, we can make shipping arrangements, but I would like to avoid this if possible.