Hi,
I'm looking to build a headless system, mainly for messing around with Linux which I'd like to access remotely and via a serial console without the need for a keyboard and monitor. Unfortunately I don't really have the budget to buy a server motherboard and the kind of processor that goes with it (I already have a core 2 duo, so just plan to get a suitable motherboard for that), and so wont be able to run it headless and get a serial console from boot. I do realise that Linux can provide a serial console from grub, but I'd like to be able to reinstall and do everything without a monitor in the house.
My question is; If I got a supported motherboard and installed coreboot upon it, would I be able to configure it so that all output from power-on was redirected to a serial port on the motherboard, and all configuration could be completed using this method so that I could boot and install operating systems from CD, etc using just the serial console? Would it be completely supported by Linux or would there be any noticeable difference to, say using a standard motherboard with a standard BIOS?
Thanks for your help, Rich
-----Original Message----- From: coreboot-bounces@coreboot.org [mailto:coreboot-bounces@coreboot.org] On Behalf Of Richard Green Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 1:42 PM To: coreboot@coreboot.org Subject: [coreboot] Newbie questions
Hi,
I'm looking to build a headless system, mainly for messing around with Linux which I'd like to access remotely and via a serial console without the need for a keyboard and monitor. Unfortunately I don't really have the budget to buy a server motherboard and the kind of processor that goes with it (I already have a core 2 duo, so just plan to get a suitable motherboard for that), and so wont be able to run it headless and get a serial console from boot. I do realise that Linux can provide a serial console from grub, but I'd like to be able to reinstall and do everything without a monitor in the house.
My question is; If I got a supported motherboard and installed coreboot upon it, would I be able to configure it so that all output from power-on was redirected to a serial port on the motherboard, and all configuration could be completed using this method so that I could boot and install operating systems from CD, etc using just the serial console? Would it be completely supported by Linux or would there be any noticeable difference to, say using a standard motherboard with a standard BIOS?
Rich,
You can configure Coreboot to send all of its output to the serial port. The rest of the functionality that you want depends on other software. For example, if you're using an installation CD for Fedora, it would have to send all of its output to the serial port for this to work. The Coreboot part is easy, though.
Thanks, Myles
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Myles Watson -
Richard Green