Wow! This is one of the best kept secrets around. Actually, it isn't the least bit secret, but the ability to get a serial console to start up when using the boot disk can be overlooked. That is also kind of like FreeBSD in that one can get good serial access to the installation process, but you have to type in the boot -h command at the right point to start the Freebsd installation. In Linux, you put in the CDROM and listen for it to spin up at boot time. When it stops, type linux console=ttyS0,9600n8 and presto! the rest of the process switches to the first or Com1 serial port. Of course, your mileage may vary, but it worked on a 600-MHZ Dell system. When you build the system in this way, the system you build appears to retain the serial port as console. At one point, one can reboot the system so I did with some misgivings. When it came back up, my serial port was still alive. The Linux CD I used installs a base system and fixes things so you can configure your network interface and finish the installation via the network. Anyway, the serial port method of access does work as advertised and I am pleased as punch. The automatic switch to serial upon removal of the video card did not work on this particular system. The system simply booted the same way as before only it had no display output at all. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group "L. C. Robinson" writes: >This is not Debian specific. It's a kernel feature. At the boot >prompt you add: >console=<device> >to your normal boot line; <device> should be the device you are using >(such as ttyS0 or ttyS1).