Bug#528560: debian (lenny) installer via serial console does not support hardware flow control (for serial over lan)
Package: debian-installer
Version: 20090123lenny1_amd64
This is a not so "special" setup, even though it's not the typical desktop configuration.
- the board does not have a video device
- the serial console is not physically accessible
- the board supports an IPMI service processor with "Serial Over Lan"
As with many SOL implementations, the service processor needs to use H/W flow control to avoid the display of scrambled character on the console. Especially on "dialog/ncurses" applications that use a lot of escape characters to display the interface (such as the debian installer).
When booting from the netinst CD, the splash screen is showing garbage due to BIOS based serial console redirection (this would not happen with a text only splash). Then I can type "help" and get a clean "boot:" prompt.
After that I issue:
boot: install console=ttyS0,115200n8r
or
boot: expert console=ttyS0,115200n8r
and I expect the hardware flow control to be working. It is not.
Thank you
François Isabelle | Software Designer | Kontron Canada | T 450 437 5682 |F 450 437 8053 | E francois.isabelle@ca.kontron.com
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