Re: headless server with console on USB port
Thanks Reco for sharing your thoughts.
Am Donnerstag, 18. August 2022, 17:11:52 CEST schrieb Reco:
> Hi.
>
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 04:48:34PM +0200, Rainer Dorsch wrote:
> > I am wondering if ready-made usb-to-usb solutions exist, which contain the
> > conversion to serial and back to usb internally....
>
> I cannot call it "ready-made", but there's something similar - [1] which
> may solve your problems.
> It does not deal with serial per se, but achieves much more.
> Some assembly is required though.
>
> > or if there are a serial
> > crossover cable and two usb-to-serial adapters in some boxes in our cellar
> > :-)
> That will work, I have similar setup back in the day.
> The main problems of such setup are:
>
> - overcomplicated setup of GRUB's USB stack.
>
> I.e. forget about seeing GRUB's menu.
>
> - unless you're using self-built Linux kernel - forget about seeing
> those boot messages.
>
> Because to convince the kernel to use that "console=ttyUSB0" argument
> you'll need to load an appropriate kernel module first.
> Such setup is good for saving you from the descent to the cellar in the
> case of occasional network misconfiguration, but that's about only
> problem it's good for.
I hope that it also helps to give some hint on what is going wrong and if it
is need to walk in the cellar or if a timeout is counting down and I can just
wait long enough.
Also if I need to boot a recovery system from a USB stick, I do not have to
walk down and connect a monitor.
>
> Hardware platforms with built-in UART are easier in this regard, but -
> it's very rare to have UART on a consumer-grade x86 motherboard.
>
> [1] https://github.com/Fmstrat/diy-ipmi
Ah, I see, getting USB up early might be a problem.
Would a native serial interface on a PCI card be a better solution?
Thanks
Rainer
--
Rainer Dorsch
http://bokomoko.de/
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