Apparently "Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I want to login to my MIPS box through serial port.
> I execute 'make menuconfig' and select the 'serial console'.
> But I can't see the login prompt in my window(I use netterm).
> May I ask how serial console work?
> Or I forget something?
> P.S I skip /sbin/init program.
In order for you to have full serial console port you
must do more than simply enable the option in your kernel.
Your BIOS/firmware should have serial console support of
its own (most PCs don't, most other systems, even most
PowerPC based Macs and workstations do, in the form of
OpenFirmware --- formerly known as Sun's FCODE).
Your MIPS box might have a firmware with serial console
support, or it might not.
That should allow you to access any pre-boot configuration
options or diagnostics (including providing some mechanism
to reset the NVRAM and to set the boot device or sequence)
Your bootloader would have to support serial console
to allow you to select which kernel you want to load
and/or to pass kernel command line options and set
initial environment variable/value pairs (a feature
that seems unique to Linux).
Of course, the Linux kernel support must be enabled,
though that *only* applies to whether the kernel messages
are copied to that device. If you would see it from
dmesg, then it won't get copied to the console.
To enable logins on a serial device you must spawn
some form of getty process (normally done by init). That
will listen for connections (normallly by taking login names)
and exec() your login program (usually with the login name passed
on its argument list).
Since you specify that you're not running init, it's obvious
why you can't "login."
So, please tell me that you didn't actually think that
logins and shells were handled directly by UNIX and Linux
kernels!
--
Jim Dennis
Software Analyst
Axis Personal Trainers http://www.axispt.com
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