Re: installation problems with 10.1 then 9.4

[Steve Rikli <sr%genyosha.net@localhost>]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 03:32:30AM +0000, void wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 08:16:33PM +0100, Martin Husemann wrote:
> > Serial is simple if you have a mainboard with one.
> > 
> > Boot the USB installer and stop the countdown. Connect a serial (e.g. USB)
> > cable to another machine and open a terminal there. Use e.g. 115200 8n1 as
> > settings and enable logging.
> > 
> > Now on the console of the booting machine enter something like:
> > 
> >  consdev com0,115200
> ...
> Is there a modification I can make to the NetBSD install image that tells
> it to use only the serial for console from the outset? The context of what
> you wrote seems to suggest booting with a screen then stopping the
> countdown. In my case there would be no screen at all.

Yes, assuming you can modify install media, you could add a line like
Martin's example to the top of /boot.cfg and that moves the console to
com0; e.g. on my serial console system the /boot.cfg file looks like:

consdev=com0,115200
menu=Boot normally:rndseed /etc/entropy-file;boot
menu=Boot single user:rndseed /etc/entropy-file;boot -s
menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
default=1
timeout=5
clear=1

Other options are possible, see boot.cfg(5) for reference.

Note that the default entropy file path is /var/db/entropy-file but I
have a separate /var/ partition on this system.

Cheers,
sr.