From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 29 10:20:34 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4DD6016A420 for ; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:20:34 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bsd@bathnetworks.com) Received: from lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk (mail.bathnetworks.com [84.92.24.252]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5132E43D66 for ; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:20:30 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bsd@bathnetworks.com) Received: (qmail 25217 invoked by uid 510); 29 Jan 2006 10:21:27 +0000 Received: from 84.92.24.252 by lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk (envelope-from , uid 508) with qmail-scanner-1.24-st-qms (clamdscan: 0.87/1146. spamassassin: 3.0.2. perlscan: 1.24-st-qms. Clear:RC:0(84.92.24.252):SA:0(-3.6/5.0):. Processed in 3.40068 secs); 29 Jan 2006 10:21:27 -0000 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.6 required=5.0 X-Antivirus-MYDOMAIN-Mail-From: bsd@bathnetworks.com via lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk X-Antivirus-MYDOMAIN: 1.24-st-qms (Clear:RC:0(84.92.24.252):SA:0(-3.6/5.0):. Processed in 3.40068 secs Process 25210) Received: from mail.bathnetworks.com (HELO ?84.92.24.252?) (bsd@bathnetworks.com@84.92.24.252) by lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk with SMTP; 29 Jan 2006 10:21:23 +0000 From: Robert Slade To: "Scott I. Remick" In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1138530083.23657.7.camel@lmail.bathnetworks.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 (1.4.6-2) Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:21:23 +0000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: serial console for dummies? 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: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:20:34 -0000 On Sun, 2006-01-29 at 08:39, Scott I. Remick wrote: > Hello... I'm trying to set up a serial console for watching console error > messages while in X, but am having a real hard time getting my head around > the concepts of what I need to do (and don't need to). > > I've seen http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/serialconsole-setup.html but > I'm not clear about how much of that applies to what I want to do, since > it talks about setting it up for a headless system (no keyboard or > monitor) and actually instructs you to remove the keyboard. I've also > searched the mailing list archives but I've read a lot of conflicting > info, much of which for different uses of the serial console than what I > want to use it for, and I've now read back so far that I can't even be > certain that the suggestions apply to FreeBSD 6.0. Ugh > > So is there someone who can give me a hand-held walk-through of just what > I need to do to make this work? I'm running FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE and live > in X (Gnome) all the time. My intention here is to be able to see console > messages (Errors) so when something dies (like X locking, which happens > sometimes) I have a chance to see what the heck happened. I have an old > 486 laptop I intend to use as the "dumb terminal", as well as the > necessary null modem cable. I just need to know what to configure on my > FreeBSD box so that console errors are mirrored to the serial port. Thanks! > Scott, I can't help you directly, but have you looked at the error logs? they should give you a clue, especially Xorg.log Another thought is to connect via a network connection and SSH into the machine that will give you a console. Rob