On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Jennifer E Jobst wrote:
> * The kernel included on the latest versions of the Red Hat
> and Debian boot and install disks *do not* support serial
> console.
I believe this is probably in error. In a post yesterday I
quoted a RedHat installation manual section that specifically
says that it is supported, and I have also proved from the kernel
config files that it is compiled into the 2.2.19 _installation_
kernels, as well as the others. One has only to run the
following command to find out if it is also suppported in the
2.4 kernels:
grep -i 'console.*y' /usr/src/linux-2.4.2/configs/kernel-2.4.2-i386-BOOT.config
(this assumes you have the kernel-source package installed. I'd
do it, but it uses 90 meg, so I don't have it installed right now).
I checked /usr/doc/kernel-doc-2.2.19/serial-console.txt, and you
may have gotten the syntax wrong. The example in the file reads:
console=ttyS1,9600 console=tty0
Note that that there is no "/dev/" before the ttySx parameter.
You could also check that /etc/ioctl.save does NOT exist on the
install image or floppy. I suppose there could also be baud rate
problems.
If you cannot get this to work (unlikely), it should be reported
to RedHat as a bug, and a corrected install floppy image could be
posted by them: they have to support people who run headless
rackmount servers, and who have to install and maintain large
networks remotely, so such a mistake could be an expensive one.
Otherwise, you would want to instruct your HOWTO readers in the
finer points of the proper syntax so that they don't run into the
same problems.
> Thus, unless the user chooses to recompile the installation
> kernel to include serial console support, installing over a
Again, if there is an error, recompilation is probably not the
solution. They might need only to remove /etc/ioctl.save, or
something similar, as instructed in the serial-console.txt file
(but this would still be a problem for new users, so a
replacement floppy image should be provided instead, preferably
by RedHat, in their updates directories).
> null modem cable is not an option if you are using an i386
> architecture machine and RH or Debian. If you're using some
> other distro... good luck, and let me know if it works!
LCR
--
L. C. Robinson
reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid
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