serial console problems

[Lev Lvovsky <lists1@sonous.com>]

I'd like to get a serial console working on my debian (unstable) box
working, so that I can test various network setups on it w/o fear of
breaking the connection.

in my lilo.conf:

boot=/dev/hda
root=/dev/hda1
install=/boot/boot.b
map=/boot/map
vga=normal
delay=20
serial=0,9600n8
image=/boot/2.2.20
        label=2.2.20-console
        read-only
append = "console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0"


in my inittab (among other things):
T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100

I have serial support built into the kernel...

When the system boots, I get all kernel messages just fine up until the
swap partition is mounted, then:

Adding Swap: 130748k swap-space (priority -1)
f~x

(pine doesn't let me print the other strange chars I get...).  I later get
the login prompt, but the input is slow, and often characters that I've
typed are missing.  I have 9600 8N1 setup on my terminal window (same
speed as set by getty), and I've also seleted the ioctl.save file as
recommended by the readme for serial console support.

I can never login, because either the login session times out, or the
password I enter is incorrect (which it isn't).

help?

thanks!
-lev


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