Subject: Re: Force serial console?
To: None <port-i386@netbsd.org>
From: Henry Nelson <henry@irm.nara.kindai.ac.jp>
List: port-i386
Date: 06/23/2001 12:07:05
> 	like this.  "rwd0" part may vary by your system configuration.
                     ^^^^
How do you verify this for a particular system?  Are there only two
choices, rwd0a and rsd0a?

> 	# /usr/mdec/installboot /usr/mdec/biosboot_com0.sym /dev/rwd0a
> 
> 	also don't forget to update /etc/ttys correctly (you will want a getty
> 	on "console").                        ^^^^^^^^^

What is "correct?"  Please give a concrete example if it is not too much
trouble.  For example, is the following satisfactory?
     "console "/usr/libexec/getty std.38400"   on secure"

I'm using "tty00" and have "console" turned off, and it works.  Is this
because I have compiled serial support into the kernel and am not using
the bootloader?  (Or am I wrong, and just lucky?)

For sparcs, 38400 seems to be the upper limit.  How about i386, can we go
ahead and put a baud rate of 115200?  If we put 115200, does it mean we have
to compile a custom bootloader, or does "biosboot_com0.sym" automagically
determine the baud rate and all that matters is "/etc/ttys"?

Do you need to turn off ttyE0 (ttyv0), all ttyE?'s (ttyv?'s), or leave them
on by default?  (My working system has all of them turned off, as follows.)
     "ttyE0   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         vt220   off secure"
or on the PC98,
     "ttyv0   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         vsc30   off secure"

> 	i'm not sure if it is covered by existing FAQs - if not, it should be

I found it so ambiguous and misleading (boot_console(8) and installboot(8))
that it was infinitely faster to simply compile a custom kernel with serial
console support and use tty00.  It just worked right off the bat.

Thank you _very_ much for the clarification on the bootloader method.

henry nelson