From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 7 11:48:17 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B772D16A4CE for ; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 11:48:17 +0000 (GMT) Received: from crivens.unixoid.de (crivens.unixoid.de [81.169.171.191]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1FE4243D45 for ; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 11:48:17 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from MH@kernel32.de) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by crivens.unixoid.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B14441A4; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:48:16 +0200 (CEST) Received: from crivens.unixoid.de ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (crivens.unixoid.de [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 95611-01; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:48:03 +0200 (CEST) Received: by crivens.unixoid.de (Postfix, from userid 1006) id 1C8FE41A3; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:48:03 +0200 (CEST) Received: from 212.12.51.89 (SquirrelMail authenticated user mh); by mail.reisegruppe-mollengrab.de with HTTP; Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:48:03 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <4142.212.12.51.89.1112874483.squirrel@212.12.51.89> In-Reply-To: <4255182E.1020002@centtech.com> References: <787bbe1c0504070307670f5e5d@mail.gmail.com> <4255182E.1020002@centtech.com> Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:48:03 +0200 (CEST) From: "Marian Hettwer" To: "Eric Anderson" User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a X-Mailer: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at unixoid.de cc: =?iso-8859-1?Q?S=C5=82awek_=C5=BBak?= cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Serial console install X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 11:48:17 -0000 On Do, 7.04.2005, 13:23, Eric Anderson sagte: > Sławek Żak wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I'd like to ask what's the reason behind requiring a keyboard during >> FreeBSD install. Headless configuration is the most common in >> datacenters and toying with KVM and VGA cable is often a no-no >> (distance in the issue my case). >> >> Therefore why don't we introduce a prompt in the CD loader saying: >> >> "Press any key to install from video console..." >> >> Now wait 30s. If no key is pressed boot with console=comconsole. >> >> It would make my life sooo much easier and won't confuse noobs too much. > > Maybe so, but then people who do have video consoles plugged in would have > to hit a key to keep going. > True. But people with a Monitor and a Keyboard connected could hit Enter. People with a headless Server just don't have a possiblity to hit any key to initalize the installation the way they want. Isn't it possible to send out the output of FreeBSD's bootloader to VGA and serial console ? This would be perfect. We could have a point in our bootmenu to hit a specific key for serial console install, or for VGA based install. But I believe for the time being it's not possible to have the same output on console and vga. On the other hand, would it be possible to create a PXE Image with serial console enabled ? Usually if you have servers which are headless they are additionally pretty far away... Network Boot is the way to go :) > Why not just read this: > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-advanced.html > well, this is an option, but however, you have to change the floppies all the time. Floppies suck ;) Just some thoughts... Best Regards and good luck, Marian