Re: Booting a (network) machine that has no kbd and no monitor attached.
On Sat, Jan 05, 2002, Shaul Karl wrote:
> I am setting up a machine that will be connected to the local network
> and will not have a monitor nor a keyboard attached to it.
> What changes, if any, should be made to the Debian software in order
> for such machine to be able to boot without complaining about the
> missing keyboard or monitor? In particular, what modifications are
> required for the initialization scripts and to the kernel? Are there
> any boot parameters that should be passed to the kernel about the lack
> of kbd/monitor?
> I am aware to the fact that the BIOS setting should probably be changed
> too. Yet I hope it would be the easier part. Is that so?
Some BIOS's are (IMHO, foolishly) written so that the machine will not
POST (power on self test) without a video card present. Generally,
unlike the keyboard BIOS configuration, usually there's not option on
the ones that won't work to make them work, short of getting
motherboard manufacturer to change the BIOS or installing a video card
and not using it.
My preference is to avoid such boards. I'm assuming you've
investigated to make sure your board will actually POST headless.
HTH,
Daniel
> Note that this machine has enough RAM. It also has its own hard drive.
> At least initially that machine will not run X at all. Later on it
> might be used to run the X clients.
>
> Short replies with pointers to documentation will be appreciated too.
> --
--
Daniel A. Freedman
Laboratory for Atomic and Solid State Physics
Department of Physics
Cornell University
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