I know a lot of this thread is related to Python, but some of my lessons learned in Java certainly apply.
Here is a Java class to connect to the Power PMAC (uses JSch for SSH2) that starts the text interpreter and allows you to get/set parameters.
The pain points in building it were figuring out the response formats and waiting for correct bytes received after different commands are sent. The src code has lots of comments that may help you Python programmers get your Python scripts working.
I also had to create a shell as mentioned above.
https://github.com/cnanders/java-deltatau-power-pmac-comm
