Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:59:07 +0100, Mark Cullen <mark.r.cullen@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Not really an option I am afraid. Said laptop is getting donated to my 
>> parents and won't be in my room for much longer, which is why I would 
>> really like it to boot properly without the cable plugged in.
>>
> Here's a hardware hack: get a connector, and hardware DTR to CD.  When the
> device is opened, DTR *should* be asserted; by wiring it to CD, the port
> will appear ready.  Alternatively, it may be waiting to see CTS; again,
> wire DTR to it.  Hmm -- some devices look for DSR instead of CD...  Best
> is to loop RTS to CTS, and DTR to CD and DSR.  
> 
> You may want to get hold of a breakout box and try it first.  Any decent
> breakout box will let you open any line, connect it to any other, etc.
> Have a look at http://www.lammertbies.nl/comm/cable/RS-232.html -- though
> I can't vouch for the site, I used to play with RS-232 cables a lot, and
> the data looks accurate.
> 
> 		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
> 

Is this really the only option I have then? Hardware mods? I was sort of 
hoping there would be a software solution, or just something that I 
missed out.

I've used this cable with FreeBSD 4, on the same machine, for a serial 
console and it worked just fine (but then I suppose that doesn't really 
matter much).

Might be time to get the test box up again I think :-)

-- 
Mark Cullen <mark.r.cullen@gmail.com>