Hi! Shane Wegner (shane@cm.nu): > 2) When I installed slackware, I did it over a null-modem serial > connection to an ms-dos machine running a program called telix. I do this > because I use screen reading software to read the screen and as of yet, > there is nothing available under Linux. Therefore, in slackware I log in > as root and go. > /sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0 vt100 > and do the whole setup remotely by running setup from the remote machine. > Is this possible to do while using Debian? I understand that it goes into > the setup program as soon as you boot the bootdisk or cdrom so you'd have > to break out somehow and spawn the agetty and run it from the remote > machine. Anyone have any hints on how to do it? Hmm, I have thought about this, too. I run several boxes with a serial console, but actually I never tested to install one over serial line. It's not as easy as you describe with slackware - there is no getty on the rescue disc. dinstall (the setup program on the rescue disc) doesn't need one. Maybe It's still doable with a modified rescue disk: patch the kernel with sercons support (to see boot messages on your serial line and to hopefully fake your real tty) or use a recent 2.1 kernel make /dev/tty0 what usually becomes /dev/console for sercons kernel (dinstall seems to open /dev/tty0 instead of /dev/console). Alternatively one may patch dinstall to open the required /dev/console. replace syslinux with lilo (to get your bootprompt on serial line). Alternatively you may hardcode the boot parameters in syslinux.cfg. hope dinstall doesn't fail eg. when loading the keymap... I'll try this if you're interested. Rainer -- KeyID=58341901 fingerprint=A5 57 04 B3 69 88 A1 FB 78 1D B5 64 E0 BF 72 EB
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