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Re: console for Linux
On Sun, 7 Dec 1997, Gaal Yahas wrote:
> Ariel Biener wrote:
>
> > 1). a "boot" console, I mean, something that transfers tty i/o to a serial
> > console at boot time, i.e., the minute the kernel started loading. This
> [...]
> > 2). If the computer gets stuck, for any reason whatsoever, you can send it
> > via a serial cable an escape sequence or signal that will generate a
> > system cold boot (it is a bios option, I heard it exists, I haven't seen
> > any yet).
>
> AFAIK, PCs lack this latter functionality. There is simply nothing you
> can
> say to a serial port that'll make the machine reboot (unless, of course,
> you have some software listening).
This is not true. There are some BIOSes that do support remote reboot, via
using the break signal (like on Sun) on the serial console. The BIOS is
programmed for it. One of them was in PC magazine, but I lost that issue,
and thus I can't remember what was it's name. This is why I e-mailed in
the first place.
>
> Your first note is misaimed as well: the "boot console" other PC unices
> may have will always be of limited functionality compared to Sun's, for
> instance, since those are hardware (and can be induced through serial)
> and support useful stuff - such as a kernel debugger and device probing
> - and do (almost) always work. The best you'll ever achieve on a PC is
> something that emulates this feature, like Solaris x86 does, but it's
> still at the mercy of your basic stability.
I am not talking about a PROM monitor here. I am simply talking about boot
console, which loads when the kernel loads. This has nothing to do with
stability. I am not looking for a hardware prom monitor like Sun machines
have, which can give you a device prober, debugger, and option to change
boot devices etc etc etc. I was merely talking about a boot console, which
loads immediately after the kernel was loaded. You didn't answer if such
an option exists in Linux.
>
> > I am interested in both features, in order to have reliable production
> > network servers running Linux.
>
> Buy a hardware watchdog.
These kind of answer is obvious, and I am not looking for the obvious, as
it might be clear now. I don't need something that will decide when to
boot my network server.
--Ariel
>
>
> Gaal
>
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| Ariel Biener |
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