The installation boot floppy is an MS DOS floppy. You can read it and edit its text files in any DOS or Windows text editor. The file you want is syslinux.cfg I'm sorry, I don't recall the specific command syntax to force boot over the serial port, so I won't guess at it. I know this has come up here before. Somone will either post that shortly, or you can find it in the list's archives. On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, Brent Harding wrote: > Is it possible to force a boot disk to use serial console? Most systems > come with video already on, so it gets that, but most servers have vga of > some kind anyway, so whoever sets it up would have to some how disable the > integrated stuff on the board to get a headless install, unless you can > modify a boot disk to include the parameter. > At 09:33 PM 10/17/01 -0600, you wrote: > >On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Brent Harding wrote: > > > >> Wow, that'd be odd to not support this, but kickstart install > >> can work on servers too, but something must send the proper > >> command to the boot loader when the disk boots, > > > >Yes, I should think kickstart would be ideal for many experienced > >users, and even some sharp newbies. > > > >> or does the floppy autodetect serial if I decide to not hook a > >> keyboard to a machine I might run linux on? > > > >>From the kernel doc file (serial-console.txt): > > > > If no console device is specified, the first device found > > capable of acting as a system console will be used. At this > > time, the system first looks for a VGA card and then for a > > serial port. So if you don't have a VGA card in your system > > the first serial port will automatically become the console. > > > >No mention was made of the keyboard, but the idea makes me > >curious. > > > >> It makes no sense to hook extra stuff up, as then I need > >> another synthesizer too, unless there's a a switch for isa > >> devices from one machine to the other so when I want, I hit a > >> switch, and the keyboard and double talk go on the other > >> machine. > > > >Humm, this question is unclear, but one could maybe disable some > >jumper programmable video cards, by running a cable to an > >external switch instead of using a normal jumper, instead of > >pulling the card out of the machine. But note that it is > >possible to have multiple console devices by defining more than > >one console=ttyXX parameters, so you could have both serial and > >normal video card output. You can also define special extra run > >levels with extra (serial) gettys (logins) active only on them. > > > >Hope this helps, LCR > > > >-- > >L. C. Robinson > >reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid > > > >People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and > >instability instead. This is award winning "innovation". Find > >out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see > >"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > > > >Blinux-list@redhat.com > >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper, Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.asp Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp Learn how to make accessible software at http://www.afb.org/accessapp.asp