I can't answer your first question, buuuttt ...

>game, but pcs are a different kettle of fish.  Also, can the boot blocks
>tell the kernel which console to use or do I need to recompile the kernel
>for serial console support as well?  That is, if I take a generic kernel

>From what I looked at in the 1.3 sources, the boot blocks should do the
right thing and pass the right boot information to the kernel.

--Ken