First what was wrong:
# Code begin
open(TUX,"tmadmin <<EOF\nv\npsr\nEOF\n|")  ||

close TUX;
# Code End

Someone said that since the above is a heredoc it actually creates a
temporary file... well, my /tmp directory is full right now and I am
seeing this problem.  Perhaps this is why???  I get no error messages
though.

So, I used this suggestion and everything works fine.

I suppose this is because of the full tmp directory.  tmadmin never
receives the input because there is no here-doc file.

Thanks to Benjamin who recommended the above.