On 5/11/07, Bob Beck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >Makes me think some sort of OS has to be present before using cu. I > have a > > >couple of sparc machines with no monitor/OS that I would love to throw > an > > >OS > > >on.. > > > > > >Zach > > > > sure you can, but the hardware boot ROM has to support it. I ran most > of > > my non-intel systems headless for years. If you're running i386/amd64 > > boxes a lot have a BIOS setting called console "redirection" or > something > > similar. While it works it's no where near as friendly as the non-intel > > workstation/server ROM monitors. However as more and more intel/amd > boxes > > showed up in lights out data centers the server manufactures started > > supporting real remote management solutions. > > > > Typically for OpenBSD, you need to set the PC bios on an i386 > machine to do console redirection at 9600 baud (8N1) until the OS boots > and *NOT* do it afterwards. This is because if it does it afterwards then > typically the bios eats com0 and you can't use it from OpenBSD for > a real serial tty. > > The trick is finding the right settings in the stupid bios. and > of course since PC bios's are based on 15 years of programming > by monkeys with typewriters it can be a bit of an effort sometimes, > assuming > your bios supports it, and it works. > > we run most of our i386 boxen here headless with serial consoles. > we either connect direct with tip/cu, or we run conserver from ports, > which is a wonderful thing. > > -Bob > > Fortunately this is a sparc machine, so I do not believe I will need to manually set the BIOS. At least I hope not. When you mentioned setting the BIOS on an i386 to do a redirection, this makes me think that this initial step is not a headless operation. My goal is to do the entire install etc. headless (since I am without a monitor, but have access to a bsd laptop + serial).
I will be playing around with this tonight so I should know more soon. Bob, Diana, and Stuart -- Thanks for the great responses, its exactly what I needed. Zach
