*BSD News Article 74944


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From: j@ida.interface-business.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc
Subject: Re: Booting with serial console
Date: 29 Jul 1996 13:05:24 GMT
Organization: interface business GmbH, Dresden
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Reply-To: joerg_wunsch@interface-business.de (Joerg Wunsch)
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bdb@GTS.Net (Bruce Becker) wrote:

> |>I need to be able to boot Netbsd i386 from a serial console, ie no monitor
> |>connected. 
> |
> |        Is this even possible with an Intel machine?

> 	FreeBSD has been able to do this for some time -
> 	it would be quite useful for NetBSD to be able to
> 	do this as well...

It has even been available in 386BSD 0.1, if my memory serves me well,
and has been calle "options COMCONSOLE" all the time (which is almost
obsolete now in FreeBSD).  The only thing we've been adding in FreeBSD
was the serial bootblocks, allowing you to even see the bootprompt on
the first serial line.

(Alas, the automagic selection between serial and graphics console
from within the bootblocks depending on the existance of a keyboard
doesn't work right yet.)

-- 
J"org Wunsch					       Unix support engineer
joerg_wunsch@interface-business.de       http://www.interface-business.de/~j