The installation document describes a procedure to install on i386 over a serial console. It recommends to either unplug the keyboard or to interrupt the boot and boot with boot -h. Boot -h turns out not to work. While all the kernel messages from the probing appear on both the normal console and the serial one, after mounting the root file system the system switches entirely to the normal console. Instead the following procedure will do it (but require at least a keyboard on the machine in question): - interrupt the boot in the boot menu by pressing 6 - enter the following lines: set boot_multicons="YES" set boot_serial="YES" set console="comconsole" boot (I got this from Dmitriy Kirhlarov <dimma at higis.ru>) Fix: Fix the documentation (see above). How-To-Repeat: Burn a install CD and try a serial install according to the current documentation
On Thursday 06 April 2006 08:29, Harti Brandt wrote: > > >Number: 95408 > >Category: docs > >Synopsis: install over serial console does not work as documented > >Confidential: no > >Severity: serious > >Priority: low > >Responsible: freebsd-doc > >State: open > >Quarter: > >Keywords: > >Date-Required: > >Class: doc-bug > >Submitter-Id: current-users > >Arrival-Date: Thu Apr 06 12:30:20 GMT 2006 > >Closed-Date: > >Last-Modified: > >Originator: Harti Brandt > >Release: 6.1-beta4 > >Organization: > DLR > >Environment: > >Description: > The installation document describes a procedure to install on i386 over a > serial console. It recommends to either unplug the keyboard or to interrupt the boot and boot with boot -h. > > Boot -h turns out not to work. While all the kernel messages from the probing > appear on both the normal console and the serial one, after mounting the root > file system the system switches entirely to the normal console. > > Instead the following procedure will do it (but require at least a keyboard on the machine in question): > > - interrupt the boot in the boot menu by pressing 6 > - enter the following lines: > > set boot_multicons="YES" > set boot_serial="YES" > set console="comconsole" > boot Are you doing 'boot -h' at the loader prompt? I think all you need to do is break into the loader and do: set console="comconsole vidconsole" instead. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve" = http://www.FreeBSD.org
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006, John Baldwin wrote: JB>On Thursday 06 April 2006 08:29, Harti Brandt wrote: JB>> JB>> >Number: 95408 JB>> >Category: docs JB>> >Synopsis: install over serial console does not work as documented JB>> >Confidential: no JB>> >Severity: serious JB>> >Priority: low JB>> >Responsible: freebsd-doc JB>> >State: open JB>> >Quarter: JB>> >Keywords: JB>> >Date-Required: JB>> >Class: doc-bug JB>> >Submitter-Id: current-users JB>> >Arrival-Date: Thu Apr 06 12:30:20 GMT 2006 JB>> >Closed-Date: JB>> >Last-Modified: JB>> >Originator: Harti Brandt JB>> >Release: 6.1-beta4 JB>> >Organization: JB>> DLR JB>> >Environment: JB>> >Description: JB>> The installation document describes a procedure to install on i386 over a JB>> serial console. It recommends to either unplug the keyboard or to interrupt the boot and boot with boot -h. JB>> JB>> Boot -h turns out not to work. While all the kernel messages from the probing JB>> appear on both the normal console and the serial one, after mounting the root JB>> file system the system switches entirely to the normal console. JB>> JB>> Instead the following procedure will do it (but require at least a keyboard on the machine in question): JB>> JB>> - interrupt the boot in the boot menu by pressing 6 JB>> - enter the following lines: JB>> JB>> set boot_multicons="YES" JB>> set boot_serial="YES" JB>> set console="comconsole" JB>> boot JB> JB>Are you doing 'boot -h' at the loader prompt? I think all you need to do is JB>break into the loader and do: JB> JB>set console="comconsole vidconsole" As I said I did what the documentation says: press 6 when the menu appears and then say boot -h. This should be the load prompt, I think? If one is supposed to use the 'set console' instead of boot -h we should just fix the documentation. harti JB>instead.
Responsible Changed From-To: freebsd-doc->remko I will work on this (got valueable feedback from harti which i can use to update the docs).
On Thursday 06 April 2006 12:11, Harti Brandt wrote: > On Thu, 6 Apr 2006, John Baldwin wrote: > > JB>On Thursday 06 April 2006 08:29, Harti Brandt wrote: > JB>> > JB>> >Number: 95408 > JB>> >Category: docs > JB>> >Synopsis: install over serial console does not work as documented > JB>> >Confidential: no > JB>> >Severity: serious > JB>> >Priority: low > JB>> >Responsible: freebsd-doc > JB>> >State: open > JB>> >Quarter: > JB>> >Keywords: > JB>> >Date-Required: > JB>> >Class: doc-bug > JB>> >Submitter-Id: current-users > JB>> >Arrival-Date: Thu Apr 06 12:30:20 GMT 2006 > JB>> >Closed-Date: > JB>> >Last-Modified: > JB>> >Originator: Harti Brandt > JB>> >Release: 6.1-beta4 > JB>> >Organization: > JB>> DLR > JB>> >Environment: > JB>> >Description: > JB>> The installation document describes a procedure to install on i386 over a > JB>> serial console. It recommends to either unplug the keyboard or to interrupt the boot and boot with boot -h. > JB>> > JB>> Boot -h turns out not to work. While all the kernel messages from the probing > JB>> appear on both the normal console and the serial one, after mounting the root > JB>> file system the system switches entirely to the normal console. > JB>> > JB>> Instead the following procedure will do it (but require at least a keyboard on the machine in question): > JB>> > JB>> - interrupt the boot in the boot menu by pressing 6 > JB>> - enter the following lines: > JB>> > JB>> set boot_multicons="YES" > JB>> set boot_serial="YES" > JB>> set console="comconsole" > JB>> boot > JB> > JB>Are you doing 'boot -h' at the loader prompt? I think all you need to do is > JB>break into the loader and do: > JB> > JB>set console="comconsole vidconsole" > > As I said I did what the documentation says: press 6 when the menu appears > and then say boot -h. This should be the load prompt, I think? > > If one is supposed to use the 'set console' instead of boot -h we should > just fix the documentation. Ah. boot -Dh from the boot2 prompt should work fine. At the loader it would probably be best to just do 'set console="comconsole vidconsole"' if you still want the dual consoles up until single user mode. Otherwise, if you just want the serial console, 'set console="comconsole"' is probably best. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve" = http://www.FreeBSD.org
Responsible Changed From-To: remko->freebsd-doc I have held this locked for too long, reassign to the pool
For bugs matching the following criteria: Status: In Progress Changed: (is less than) 2014-06-01 Reset to default assignee and clear in-progress tags. Mail being skipped
(In reply to Hartmut Brandt from comment #0) > The installation document … Is <https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/serialcomms/#serialconsole-howto> now the relevant URL?