[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello all, > just a query regarding > > "connect serial console and boot into Open Firmware and tell machine to > boot off of the correct device node." > > that I read fo a previous email. Can someone tell me how this works? Is > it actusally a seperate machine conneted to the serial port? What can I > do from this serial console? > > Thanks > Greg G
Greg, Yes, it's a separate machine running a terminal emulator connected via serial cable to the target machine. If you speak Open Firmware (forth), you can check out the devices that the firmware sees and set various environment variable that the firmware uses to initialize the machine before the operating system takes over. From the previous post: setenv boot-device scsi-int/[EMAIL PROTECTED]:0 boot would load the OS from the device at id 3 partition 0 on the internal bus Not very useful from a Mac viewpoint, but it makes it nice for alternative OSs. You can also do the same thing without a second machine if your video card is OF compatible - but the s900 defaults to an input-device of ttya and an output-device of ttya, which are the serial port. You can change these settings with a macos utility and then hold down cmd-opt-o-f to boot into OF without using the Mac ROM and check out how the firmware sees the hardware. NOTE: cmd-opt-p-r during a cold boot will reset all these variables to the defaults - so if you go mucking around in the firmware and nothing seems to work right, there is still a failsafe. Cuda voodoo will also reset your machine to its default state. tom -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
