From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 26 20:24:25 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1BD116A400 for ; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:24:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: from mail5.sea5.speakeasy.net (mail5.sea5.speakeasy.net [69.17.117.7]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A3BD913C4AE for ; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:24:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: (qmail 29557 invoked from network); 26 Apr 2007 20:24:24 -0000 Received: from dsl092-078-145.bos1.dsl.speakeasy.net (HELO be-well.ilk.org) ([66.92.78.145]) (envelope-sender ) by mail5.sea5.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 26 Apr 2007 20:24:24 -0000 Received: by be-well.ilk.org (Postfix, from userid 1147) id 8AAC32842D; Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:24:23 -0400 (EDT) To: Doug Lee References: <20070425141804.GC911@kirk.dlee.org> <44ps5rmalp.fsf@Lowell-Desk.lan> <20070426154156.GD10261@kirk.dlee.org> From: Lowell Gilbert Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:24:23 -0400 In-Reply-To: <20070426154156.GD10261@kirk.dlee.org> (Doug Lee's message of "Thu\, 26 Apr 2007 11\:41\:56 -0400") Message-ID: <44r6q6khoo.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.97 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: USB console or other alternatives X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:24:25 -0000 Doug Lee writes: > On Thu, Apr 26, 2007 at 11:14:26AM -0400, Lowell Gilbert wrote: >> Doug Lee writes: >> >> > Can modern hardware and a modern FreeBSD version provide console >> > access before the kernel loads via USB or via anything other than an >> > actual on-board or PCI serial port? > >> I am not sure, but I would expect that you would need BIOS support for >> something like that. Personally, I would stick with serial ports as >> long as possible, because they are much more simple than any >> alternatives. > > More simple once found at least. :-) More simple electrically, I was thinking. >> What do you hook up to that serial port, anyway? > > A desktop Windows machine with a serial port, until said machine > suddenly ceased to function entirely. Now it would be a laptop > with a USB-to-serial adapter except the one I bought also seems > unwilling to function. I tend to run short of PCMCIA slots for > such things on my laptop, my one-and-only PCMCIA slot being occupied > pretty permanently by an EVDO card. So the problem is a lack of serial ports on your laptop "terminal", not on the FreeBSD machine? That sounds easier to work around than the other way around. There are some other possibilities, but I don't think they will work as early in the boot process. I *think* you can use a USB serial port as a console, but the loader doesn't seem to understand it. There's also dcons(4), but that needs firewire, and I don't know if that knows how to talk to anything on a Windows machine. Good luck; sorry I can't be more help.