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Date:      Thu, 3 Jan 2008 09:04:39 -0800
From:      Nathan Whitehorn <nathanw@uchicago.edu>
To:        freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Half-dead G4
Message-ID:  <43527D69-8990-47FA-84A3-E416AF9C5D39@uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <6B401446-ADAB-4D1E-BB21-39D51A9F6DFC@mac.com>
References:  <200712301041.36623.jrh29@alumni.cwru.edu> <20080101173551.cc92a546.torfinn.ingolfsen@broadpark.no> <200801011239.55665.jrh29@alumni.cwru.edu> <477BB7A8.6030200@gwi.net> <20080102173956.GA22669@volatile.engineering.cwru.edu> <6B401446-ADAB-4D1E-BB21-39D51A9F6DFC@mac.com>

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On Jan 2, 2008, at 10:15 PM, Marcel Moolenaar wrote:

>
> On Jan 2, 2008, at 9:39 AM, jrh29@alumni.cwru.edu wrote:
>
>> Related, I tried some boot experiments, and it does appear to  
>> boot, or
>> at least attempt to boot, an OS, since with no drive installed when I
>> hit the power button it powers off immediately, but with a  
>> bootable disk
>> hooked up (CD or hard drive) it gets to the point where I need to  
>> hold
>> it in for 5+ seconds before it powers off.  This leads me to believe
>> that perhaps it's switched into some sort of "Apple-only" mode, or  
>> OFW
>> thinks the console exists somewhere else (serial?) in which case I'm
>> probably boned unless I can find information on setting up a serial
>> console for a G4, which so far I haven't.
>
> Serial consoles work out if the box. That is, when you set the console
> to be serial in OFW, FreeBSD uses that. This is known to work on a
> Xserve G4. However, you do need a machine with an actual serial port,
> not a built-in modem.

There used to be cards that replaced the modem with an exposed serial  
ports (essentially pass-through cables from the header on the  
motherboard). One was called the GeeThree Stealth Serial Port. You  
may still be able to find them on eBay.
-Nathan




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