From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 5 07:42:10 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DEB61065672 for ; Fri, 5 Jun 2009 07:42:10 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from j.mckeown@ru.ac.za) Received: from c.mail.ru.ac.za (c.mail.ru.ac.za [IPv6:2001:4200:1010::25:3]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A600D8FC0C for ; Fri, 5 Jun 2009 07:42:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from j.mckeown@ru.ac.za) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=ru-msa; d=ru.ac.za; h=Received:From:Organization:To:Subject:Date:User-Agent:References:In-Reply-To:X-Face:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-Disposition:Message-Id:X-Virus-Scanned:X-Authenticated-User; b=FcOCmKSABXoF0Mg0uLzFTmJWifg7Srq/cmq12LCUzn8JxGHIRL2TuIHSoZaswhL29x7Ibn4RX+/akERaKrWK7pgGaLmHZnIsmifllDY9/I/hqZINFgvP+unpK0e+a9Uw; Received: from vorkosigan.ru.ac.za ([2001:4200:1010:1058:219:d1ff:fe9f:a932]:51066) by c.mail.ru.ac.za with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.69 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1MCU3y-0005r9-1b for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:42:06 +0200 From: Jonathan McKeown Organization: Rhodes University To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:42:05 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.10 References: In-Reply-To: X-Face: $@VrUx^RHy/}yu]jKf/<4T%/d|F+$j-Ol2"2J$q+%OK1]&/G_S9(=?utf-8?q?HkaQ*=60!=3FYOK=3FY!=27M=60C=0A=09aP=5C9nVPF8Q=7DCilHH8l=3B=7E!4?= =?utf-8?q?2HK6=273lg4J=7Daz?=@1Dqqh:J]M^"YPn*2IWrZON$1+G?oX3@ =?utf-8?q?k=230=0A=0954XDRg=3DYn=5FF-etwot4U=24b?=dTS{i X-Virus-Scanned: c.mail.ru.ac.za (2001:4200:1010::25:3) X-Authenticated-User: s0900137 from vorkosigan.ru.ac.za (2001:4200:1010:1058:219:d1ff:fe9f:a932) using auth_plaintext Subject: Re: n00b question regarding installation via serial console 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: Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:42:10 -0000 On Thursday 04 June 2009 17:28:56 Tim Judd wrote: > On 6/4/09, Wojciech Puchar wrote: > >> Hello list, > >> > >> Is it possible to boot into the serial console from the installation > >> CD, or must boot.flp be used as per > > > > make your own CD > > > > add file boot.config containing just one line: > > > > -P > > > > to existing, make sure you it's bootable (mkisofs -b boot/cdboot > > -no-emul-boot) and record > > > > refer to > > > > man boot.config Unless things have changed since I last did this, this isn't going to work. First of all, the CD boot process doesn't pick up the boot.config. Secondly, many motherboards use a BIOS which causes the -P test to fail. What you can do is create boot/loader.conf on the CD image containing console="comconsole" > > Sure that's enough? ttys is still going to mark the ttyd0 line as > "off" and won't present a tty/login then. Yes, it is. You don't need a login for an installation. You do need to make sure you enable the correct serial port (usually ttyd0, as you point out) in /etc/ttys before you reboot at the end of the installation. > I think it's more complicated than that. And what if the boot process > hangs for some reason? no console output either by your solution. It's not an ideal process (particularly since the serial console only cuts in at a very late stage). One day I will make time to sit down and work out how to do it properly on a CD. Jonathan