[TriLUG] Re: console access through serial port?

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

"Derek D. Martin" wrote:
> 
> At some point hitherto, Rodent of Unusual Size hath spake thusly:
> >
> > How about for Grub?
> 
> Not sure about making grub work on the serial console, but the
> arguments to the append keyword above should simply be appended to the
> end of the kernel line in /etc/grub.conf (or /boot/grub/grub.conf, to
> which /etc/grub.conf is a symlink).

'info grub' says it supports this just dandy.  However, my experience
over the past two hours suggests that it isn't all there yet.

Here are the lines from my grub.conf:

  default=0
  timeout=10
  splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
  title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda1
        initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
        serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
        terminal --timeout=5 serial console

What happens is that the graphical menu shows up on the VGA monitor
for ten seconds (from 'timeout' above), and then both the serial and
VGA say 'Press any key' five times (from '--timeout').  After that the
serial line goes dead until mgetty is run on it, and all the kernel
output goes to the VGA screen.  After boot completes, both have login
prompts.

The grub serial docco says that the grub terminal should become
either the one in which a key is pressed, or the first one on
the 'terminal' line.  But no matter on which screen I press a
key, the behaviour is the same as above -- even though grub
recognises a keypress as short-circuiting the timeout on both
screens.

Magic SysRq is working on the VGA, but <Break>{key} isn't doing
likewise on the serial line.

It seems quite obvious that grub isn't making the serial line the
console as documented.

Any ideas?  TIA, btw, and for the good info so far..
-- 
#ken	P-)}

Ken Coar, Sanagendamgagwedweinini  http://Golux.Com/coar/
Author, developer, opinionist      http://Apache-Server.Com/

"Millennium hand and shrimp!"