Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:09:18 +0200 From: Jonathan McKeown <jonathan+freebsd-hackers@hst.org.za> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Cc: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@freebsd.org>, Jonathan McKeown <jonathan+freebsd-hackers@hst.org.za> Subject: Re: Enhancing cdboot [patch for review] Message-ID: <200812111509.19099.jonathan%2Bfreebsd-hackers@hst.org.za> In-Reply-To: <87r64eopbt.fsf@kobe.laptop> References: <493DA269.2070805@FreeBSD.org> <200812111052.50082.jonathan@hst.org.za> <87r64eopbt.fsf@kobe.laptop>
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On Thursday 11 December 2008 14:42:46 Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:52:49 +0200, Jonathan McKeown <jonathan@hst.org.za> wrote: > >> cdboot runs long after the prompt for BIOS setup. I don't think we > >> can modify cdboot to add serial console support to systems whose BIOS > >> setup doesn't support it. > > > > Sorry, of course you're right: I'm talking nonsense. > > > > It's the stage immediately after that that isn't available. I wish I > > could remember why I thought that had caused me a problem once. > > > > Certainly there's a big chunk of the boot process that is accessible > > through a serial console on a disk-based boot that's not available on > > a serial-console boot. > > I'm still not sure what sort of `serial console boot' we are talking > about here. What's the difference between a `serial console on a > disk-based boot' and a `serial console boot'? Sorry, there's been an element of ``ready - fire - aim'' about my messages today - I'm trying to do several other things at once. Let me get a serial-boot CD out and play with it - it's a while since I did a headless install so I'm working from a vague memory. I think what I'm saying is that there are several stages in the boot process; when booting from a hard drive and using a serial console, all the stages are accessible: but when booting from a CD, only the last stage is. I seem to remember that causing me a problem with a headless machine once upon a time (perhaps there was an error at an early stage, with the first hard drive failing, and I couldn't see loader(8) to tell it to boot off the second drive which was a mirror of the first?). Certainly I've taken part in a couple of discussions in -questions over the last year or two in which people want to know how to make a serial-capable install CD - which is not as straightforward as it might be if there were a serial-capable cdboot (along the same lines as putting boot0sio instead of boot0 on a hard drive). Jonathan
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