On 13 Oct 1998, Robert V. Baron wrote:

> Frederick Bruckman <fb@enteract.com> writes:

> > Another thing. What's the difference between CONSDEV_COM0KBD and
> > CONSDEV_COM0? The boot_console man page talks about CONSDEV_COM0, the
> > Makefile in stand/biosboot suggests CONSDEV_COM0KBD. They both seem to
> > do something. Could anyone explain the difference?

> Since I did the change, I can explain.  CONSDEV_COM0 means use com0; If
> there is no com0, you lose.  CONSDEV_COM0KBD means try com0, print out
> a "challenge", if you get a response, use com0, otherwise use the 
> machine's keyboard (KBD).  (Imagine having a laptop that you may take home
> and not have a serial line to, iff its on the road.)  In spirit,
> CONSDEV_COM0KBD is much like CONSDEV_AUTO.  The problem with the
> latter is that it will try all serial lines and if it finds a serial
> mouse or something else bad, you never come up.

Thanks for the explanation. It's looks as if CONSDEV_COM0 is suitable
for what I want to do. One more question. What kind of response is it
looking for? Would it do any good to put something in the "Answerback
Message" field on the vt?