Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 18:58:16 -0600 (CST) From: Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> To: Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 4.0-20000307-CURRENT kern.flp keyboard probe questions Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003101843100.8418-100000@ren.sasknow.com> In-Reply-To: <200003110048.JAA10261@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp>
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Kazutaka YOKOTA wrote to Ryan Thompson: > >Maybe there is a valid reason for this, but when I attempt to boot the 4.0 > >kern.flp without a keyboard attached (I share one keyboard between four > >systems, here), it displays keyboard: no and the BTX loader message, and > >ceases to display ANY output on the attached monitor (though it does > >continue to access the disk, I'm assuming, until the MFS root floppy is > >needed)? > > > >I assume this is because, without a keyboard, the loader assumes a serial > >console is attached. > > Yes. And this has been the behavior since FreeBSD 2.X. I thought as much. > >This is not the case in my situation. > > > >Isn't there a better way to identify a serial console? > > I don't understand. What do you expect the boot loader to do? I'm not sure, that's why I asked the list :-) Really, what I was asking is if there is a better way to detect a serial console.. Rather than the current logic of "If there is no keyboard, there must be a serial console". I can think of N reasons why a box would have no keyboard attached, besides having a serial console. I know very little about serial consoles, but can they not be probed somehow to determine their existence? If that's not possible, at least, what I'm suggesting below still sounds reasonable. > >And, if not, could > >the loader at least not display a message on the local monitor like > >"Switching output to serial console...", or better yet, "Switching output > >to serial console in 10 seconds.. press any key to abort"? > > Which key do you mean? The system has found no keyboard, you know :-) > > Kazu Exactly... My suggestion resembles the common BIOS boot message from days of old: Keyboard not found. Press [F1] to continue. The novice reads, laughs out loud, and wonders if the joke is really on them. After all, how COULD they press F1 if a keyboard does not exist? The expert checks his/her keyboard connection, (or plugs a keyboard in) and, indeed, hits F1 to continue. BIOS programmers have been doing it for about two decades. Why not the FreeBSD boot loader? :-) My idea is a similar one. Have the boot loader (with a reasonably configured timeout--we don't want to wait indefinitely) display a similar message (perhaps with copious beeping), giving the busy sysadmin a chance to switch keyboards, or at least notice that a keyboard was not detected. If I install FreeBSD on multiple systems, I might throw boot disks in a dozen machines so I don't have to wait for each one. I come around with my $370 keyboard later to start the actual installs over NFS. I call it 'pipelining' :-) -- Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> Systems Administrator, Accounts Phone: +1 (306) 664-1161 SaskNow Technologies http://www.sasknow.com #106-380 3120 8th St E Saskatoon, SK S7H 0W2 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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