Bug 37120

Chapter 15 of the handbook is generally excellent, but I spent some time unable to connect because my cable didn't support hardware handshaking. A mention that std.38400 assumes modem control signals on the serial port and that changing the entry in /etc/ttys from std.38400 to 3wire.38400 will allow a 3-wire connection to work would have solved the problem more quickly.

Fix: 

I suggest adding the info above to the end of section 15.3.3.1. Something like:

"If the getty process is running but the terminal still displays no logon prompt, or if it dosplays a prompt but will not allow you to type, your terminal or cable may not support hardware handshaking. Try changing the entry in /etc/ttys from std.38400 to 3wire.38400 remember to kill -HUP 1 after modifying /etc/ttys). The 3wire entry is similar to std, but ignores hardware handshaking. You may need to reduce the baud rate or enable software flow control when using 3wire to prevent buffer overflows."

The example in 15-1 explains that std.38400 ignored parity, so perhaps a note there about using 3wire if you don't have hardware flow control might help.

Otherwise, section 15 is really easy to follow, and got me up and running very quickly. Thanks for the excellent dox.