Re: Boot Repair
Martin McCormick wrote:
> This is actually a systemic problem these days when
> dealing with sick machines. Nobody is selling new desktops
> with RS-232 native serial ports and that is fine as long as
> there is an alternative way such as a bluetooth interface or ssh
> network connection. The dream solution would be a local network
> login covering all the lights-out conditions such as BIOS
> configuration and failure to boot as in this situation where grub
> is confused.
I find serial ports frequently on:
NUC-style machines (not always, but often)
servers (always)
Supermicro motherboards
> For folks who are blind, you treat all those things as if
> they were halfway round the Earth instead of sitting less than 1
> meter apart. They are all headless even if I can extend my arms
> and touch both machines.
You might consider getting someone to build you machines based
off of used server motherboards -- that way you will always have
full access to a text console covering BIOS function, booting,
and so forth.
Anything claiming to support IPMI (generic), iDRAC (Dell) or iLO (HP)
should work nicely for this. Everyone complains that servers are
loud, but it's entirely an artifact of being in a short case
with high-speed fans. Build a desktop-sized system with a server
motherboard and it can be as quiet (or better!) than the next PC
over.
-dsr-
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