diff --git a/src/net.cc b/src/net.cc
index 53c914bd85..58abffa162 100644
--- a/src/net.cc
+++ b/src/net.cc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ using namespace node;
 
 #define UTF8_SYMBOL           String::NewSymbol("utf8")
 #define RAW_SYMBOL            String::NewSymbol("raw")
+#define RAWS_SYMBOL           String::NewSymbol("raws")
 #define ASCII_SYMBOL          String::NewSymbol("ascii")
 
 #define SERVER_SYMBOL         String::NewSymbol("server")
@@ -288,9 +289,12 @@ Connection::SetEncoding (const Arguments& args)
       return scope.Close(UTF8_SYMBOL);
 
     case RAW:
-    default:
       connection->encoding_ = RAW;
       return scope.Close(RAW_SYMBOL);
+
+    case RAWS:
+      connection->encoding_ = RAWS;
+      return scope.Close(RAWS_SYMBOL);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index 0cd82a1e8e..55aee83176 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -47,6 +47,17 @@ node::Encode (const void *buf, size_t len, enum encoding encoding)
     return scope.Close(array);
   } 
 
+  if (encoding == RAWS) {
+    const unsigned char *cbuf = static_cast<const unsigned char*>(buf);
+    uint16_t twobytebuf[len];
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+      // XXX is the following line platform independent? 
+      twobytebuf[i] = cbuf[i];
+    }
+    Local<String> chunk = String::New(twobytebuf, len);
+    return scope.Close(chunk);
+  }
+
   // utf8 or ascii encoding
   Local<String> chunk = String::New((const char*)buf, len);
   return scope.Close(chunk);
@@ -109,7 +120,23 @@ node::DecodeWrite (char *buf, size_t buflen, v8::Handle<v8::Value> val, enum enc
     return buflen;
   }
 
-  string->WriteAscii(buf, 0, buflen);
+  if (encoding == ASCII) {
+    string->WriteAscii(buf, 0, buflen);
+    return buflen;
+  }
+
+  // THIS IS AWFUL!!! FIXME
+
+  uint16_t twobytebuf[buflen];
+
+  string->Write(twobytebuf, 0, buflen);
+
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < buflen; i++) {
+    unsigned char *b = reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(&twobytebuf[i]);
+    assert(b[1] == 0);
+    buf[i] = b[0];
+  }
+
   return buflen;
 }
 
@@ -300,7 +327,7 @@ eio_want_poll (void)
 }
 
 enum encoding
-node::ParseEncoding (Handle<Value> encoding_v)
+node::ParseEncoding (Handle<Value> encoding_v, enum encoding _default)
 {
   HandleScope scope;
 
@@ -313,8 +340,12 @@ node::ParseEncoding (Handle<Value> encoding_v)
     return UTF8;
   } else if (strcasecmp(*encoding, "ascii") == 0) {
     return ASCII;
-  } else {
+  } else if (strcasecmp(*encoding, "raw") == 0) {
     return RAW;
+  } else if (strcasecmp(*encoding, "raws") == 0) {
+    return RAWS;
+  } else {
+    return _default;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/node.h b/src/node.h
index a5a153cf28..a2d5258cf9 100644
--- a/src/node.h
+++ b/src/node.h
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ do {                                                                      \
                                   __callback##_TEM);                      \
 } while(0)
 
-enum encoding {ASCII, UTF8, RAW};
-enum encoding ParseEncoding (v8::Handle<v8::Value> encoding_v);
+enum encoding {ASCII, UTF8, RAW, RAWS};
+enum encoding ParseEncoding (v8::Handle<v8::Value> encoding_v, enum encoding _default = RAW);
 void FatalException (v8::TryCatch &try_catch);
 
 v8::Local<v8::Value>
diff --git a/src/node_stdio.cc b/src/node_stdio.cc
index cff050714d..ff703c5e33 100644
--- a/src/node_stdio.cc
+++ b/src/node_stdio.cc
@@ -67,7 +67,13 @@ Write (const Arguments& args)
 {
   HandleScope scope;
 
-  enum encoding enc = ParseEncoding(args[1]);
+  if (args.Length() == 0) {
+    return ThrowException(Exception::Error(String::New("Bad argument")));
+  }
+
+  enum encoding enc = UTF8;
+  if (args.Length() > 1) enc = ParseEncoding(args[1], UTF8);
+
   ssize_t len = DecodeBytes(args[0], enc);
 
   if (len < 0) {
diff --git a/test/mjsunit/test-tcp-raws.js b/test/mjsunit/test-tcp-raws.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d86a1b3a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/mjsunit/test-tcp-raws.js
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+include("mjsunit.js");
+PORT = 23123;
+
+binaryString = "";
+for (var i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
+  var j = 255 - i;
+  var s = "'\\" + j.toString(8) + "'";
+  S = eval(s);
+  puts(s + " " + JSON.stringify(S) + " " + S.charCodeAt(0));
+  node.assert(S.charCodeAt(0) == j);
+  binaryString += S;
+}
+
+var echoServer = node.tcp.createServer(function (connection) {
+  connection.setEncoding("raws");
+  connection.addListener("receive", function (chunk) {
+    puts("recved: " + JSON.stringify(chunk));
+    connection.send(chunk, "raws");
+  });
+  connection.addListener("eof", function () {
+    connection.close();
+  });
+});
+echoServer.listen(PORT);
+
+var recv = "";
+var j = 0;
+
+var c = node.tcp.createConnection(PORT);
+
+c.setEncoding("raws");
+c.addListener("receive", function (chunk) {
+  if (j++ < 256) {
+    c.send([j]);
+  } else {
+    c.close();
+  }
+  recv += chunk;
+});
+
+c.addListener("connect", function () {
+  c.send(binaryString, "raws");
+});
+
+c.addListener("close", function () {
+  p(recv);
+  echoServer.close();
+});
+
+process.addListener("exit", function () {
+  assertEquals(2*256, recv.length);
+  for (var i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
+    assertEquals(i, recv.charCodeAt(255+i));
+    assertEquals(i, recv.charCodeAt(255-i));
+  }
+});