Re: serial console
On Thu, Jul 31, 2025 at 12:59:02AM +0100, mick.crane wrote:
> I've never really known what a serial console is.
The name is a bit of history. When I connected to a large computer in the 1970s
I did so using an AR 33 teletype, this was a largely mechanical device with a
keyboard and printer (what you typed ended up on paper):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33
It connected to the computer via a *serial* connection and ran at a blistering 10
characters per second - it was noisy as well!
I think that it was called a serial connection because the bits that made up
the ASCII characters (7 bits + 1 parity bit) were transmitted one after the
other down a twisted pair of wires.
Later we got VDUs (Visual Display Units) which used the same serial connection
but at a higher speed (look up 'baud') and these were a keyboard and aka TV
that displayed characters, typically 23 or 24 lines of 80 characters.
The Linux console (press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to see it) provides an emulation of a
VDU - thus serial console.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33
> Say in relation to a Raspberry Pi or Arduino
> I assumed a serial console was a device with a screen and keyboard.
> When people talk about a serial console they are talking about connecting a
> Debian PC to a device with a parallel, wired cable to a parallel port or an
> adaptor on a PC and emulating this console thing with software?
> Like a telnet connection?
> mick
>
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Alain Williams
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