Serial console for fitlets when using Linux

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Arwen
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:43 pm

Serial console for fitlets when using Linux

Post by Arwen »

Here are the rough steps for using a serial console in Linux. This has been working fine with
my original fitlet-iA10, and now with my fitlet-H.

For me, I am using a network accessible serial terminal server. But, this method can also
be used with cheaper USB to serial adapters from MS-Windows or Linux as needed.

Add something like the following to your "/etc/inittab" to activate the serial console
after boot. Change bit rate as needed. Some Linux distros use something different, so
if your "/etc/inittab" does not have any real entries, you may have to look around a bit.
This first part is a great test if your Linux and kernel support the serial console at all.

Code: Select all

s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty --noclear --8bits --flow-control -L 115200 ttyS0 vt100
The following is for Grub 2, though it's easier in Grub 0.9x. Make sure you disable all
themes, graphics and other video console garbage. Serial consoles are plain, fast and
simple. Note the Linux line is an example only showing how to add a serial console, (at
specific port, bit rate, etc...) I've left out the rest, since it's not needed for this example.

Code: Select all

/etc/grub.d/05_custom:
#
# Add serial console support
#
serial --port=0x3f8 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal_input --append  serial
terminal_output --append serial
...
     linux /linux-4.1.12-gentoo.1 rootfstype=zfs root=ZFS=rpool/root/20151126 ro rd.md=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.dm=0 rd.luks=0 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8r
...
Many datacenters, (where I work), that use Linux, tend to use serial consoles. Or virtual
serial console supplied by light's out managers, LOM for short. Fixing something trivial,
like a typo in your network configuration is fast and easy with a serial console. Longer if
you have to log in via GUI.
Arwen Evenstar
Rivendale, Middle Earth

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