On 5/22/07 2:33 PM, "Thor Lancelot Simon" <tls@rek.tjls.com> wrote:

> On Tue, May 22, 2007 at 11:30:50AM -0500, Peter Eisch wrote:
>> 
>> Is there a way to select to the iso bootloader on an install build to select
>> the console for the install?
>> 
>> I have a system (Dell 2650) with the console redirection config:
>> 
>>   Console Redirection .............. Serial Port 1
>>   Remote Terminal Type ............. VT100/VT220
>>   Redirection After Boot ........... Disabled
>> 
>>> From the serial console I never get to see the bootloader prompt.  If I
>> change the Redirection After Boot Property to Enabled, I can see the
>> bootloader but I lose console once the kernel starts initializing.
>> 
>> If I use the DRAC/KVM on the console and catch the bootloader to issue:
>>   consdev com0 
>> I can continue with the serial console installation flawlessly.  It would be
>> nice to eliminate the requirement of the KVM though.
> 
> Why do you need DRAC or a video KVM?  You should simply be able to select
> "Redirection After Boot" in your BIOS, then interrupt the bootloader to get
> a prompt and type "consdev com0".
> 

>> NetBSD/i386 BIOS Boot, Revision 3.2
>> (peter@buster, Fri Apr 20 02:02:05 CDT 2007)
>> Memory: 638/1047424 k
Press return to boot now, any other key for boot menu
booting fd0a:netbsd - starting in 0
>yp   helpr "help" for help.
> help

commands are:
boot [xdNx:][filename] [-acdqsv]
     (ex. "hd0a:netbsd.old -s"
ls [path]
dev xd[N[x]]:
consdev {pc|com[0123]|com[0123]kbd|auto}
help|?
>uconsdev com0

......

That's all I get -- no commands or anything seem useful after that.  It's
only with the Redirection After Boot that it is useful.  At that point it's
quite nice.  (the seeming typos/junk in the excerpt above are what the
result looks like -- not pretty.  Yes, I only typed "consdev com0" and the
'u' is an aberration.)

Peter