Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[Jennifer E Jobst]

Greetings all,

I've been reworking James Van Zandt's Emacspeak HOWTO, and I'm trying to
test the section on installing Linux from a speech-enabled Windows machine
using a null-modem cable.  Of course, many things have changed since James
wrote the HOWTO back in 1996, especially many of the instructions in this
particular section of the HOWTO, so I'm having a lot of trouble getting
things working.  I was hoping that someone out there might be able to share
some insight on this problem!

My Windows system is running Windows 2000.  I'm using HyperTerminal as my
terminal emulator.  I've set up a terminal session, 9600 baud, 8 bits, 1
stop, no parity, hardware flow control.  I'm using the VT100 terminal
emulation mode. My null modem cable is connected to COM1 on my Win machine,
and also to COM1 on my soon-to-be Linux box.

On the Linux end, I'm trying to install Red Hat 7.1 from a boot floppy and
two CDs that I downloaded and burned.    When I get to the boot: prompt, I
type in the following:

text console=/dev/ttyS0,9600

Before pressing Return, I start up my HyperTerminal session on my Windows
machine, and make sure it is running.  Then I press Return on the Linux
machine, and on the Linux box's monitor, I can see the following messages:

Loading initrd.img....
Loading vmlinux.....ready.
Uncompressing Linux... OK, booting the kernel.

Then the Linux machine hangs.  None of the above message actually appear in
the HyperTerminal window on my Windows box.  Oh, and I've also tried
unplugging the keyboard and mouse on the Linux-to-be box, since according
to some archived messages this action redirects output to COM1 on some of
the Free BSD systems.  Still nothing in the Hyperterminal window - in fact,
Linux just complains about there not being a keyboard or mouse and hangs. :
(

Now, I've actually already got Red Hat 7.1 installed on another partition
of this same machine.  If I boot into that partition and type the following
command at the lilo prompt:

linux console=/dev/ttyS0,9600

Nothing happens there either.  I still don't see anything in the
HyperTerminal window.  However, if I wait for the machine to finish
booting, then log in and at the command prompt type:

echo "test" > /dev/ttyS0

... the word "test" shows up in my Hyperterminal window.  So not only does
my null modem cable definitely work, but apparently output directed to the
COM1 port does in fact make it out of the COM1 port.

My suspicion is that there's some setting that's turned off in the Red Hat
distro that would otherwise allow console output to go to the com port, but
not being an expert, I'm only guessing.  I've done a lot of research on the
'net, but all the sites I've found that discuss connecting two machines
together via a null modem assume that Linux is already installed and thus
require altering a number of files on the Linux machine. Given that I want
console output *during installation*, editing these files before they're
installed is obviously not an option.  Should anyone have any suggestions
or ideas on other things to try, they would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

-jen

Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[cstrobel]

As I recall, you have to have a Kernel compiled with serial console
support enabled.  

Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[L. C. Robinson]

Well, it looks like you covered most of the bases, except that
you missed the RedHat Installation manual.  I checked the one on
their website, in the textmode installation section, at:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.1-Manual/install-guide/s1-start-install.html

entitled "Starting the Installation Program", and it says:

   Note that the command to start a serial installation has changed.
   If you must perform the installation in serial mode, use the
   following command:

    boot: linux text console=<device>

   In this command, <device> should be the device you are using
   (such as ttyS0 or ttyS1).

So apparently you were very close, needing just the "linux"
kernel keyword at the beginning.  I don't know if you can add
the baud rate.  Hope this is what you need.  You could subscribe
to one of the RedHat mailing lists if this doesn't work, and get
good help there, no doubt (and any linux user should at least
subscribe to their distribution's announce list -- default
installs are the number one security hazard on the internet,
regardless of the OS, so you MUST install the security patches).

LCR

On Mon, 15 Oct 2001, Jennifer E Jobst wrote, in part:

> On the Linux end, I'm trying to install Red Hat 7.1 from a boot
> floppy and two CDs that I downloaded and burned.    When I get
> to the boot: prompt, I type in the following:
>
> text console=/dev/ttyS0,9600

-- 
L. C. Robinson
reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid

People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and
instability instead.  This is award winning "innovation".  Find
out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see
"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html

Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[Janina Sajka]

This is correct. The kernel must be compiled with support for console over 
serial.

On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 cstrobel@crosslink.net wrote:

> As I recall, you have to have a Kernel compiled with serial console
> support enabled.  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> 

-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
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				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina@afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175

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Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[L. C. Robinson]

More to the point, Red Hat has to support lots of different
machines, including headless servers, so they compile just about
everything imaginable into the kernel and modules package,
including, of course, console redirection, and they document that
in their manuals.  If you look at their kernel config files,
which get installed as
/usr/src/linux-2.*/configs/kernel-2*86.config, you will find a
line that says:

CONFIG_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y

Or in other words, unless you compile your own kernel, this
should be a non-issue -- console redirection should always work,
and new users should never have to worry about this, and should
not be confused this way.

Just as an interesting aside, since another thread discussed the
fact that console redirection is routine for all sorts of Unixen;
if you look at /usr/doc/kernel-doc-2.2.19/serial-console.txt, you
will find that there are all sorts of ways to redirect your
console output.  You can, for instance, just pull your video card
out of the machine, and it will automatically go to the first
serial port; no boot line redirection is necessary in this case.
There are also instructions there as to how to get lilo to work
through the serial port.

LCR

On Mon, 15 Oct 2001, Janina Sajka wrote:

> This is correct. The kernel must be compiled with support for console over
> serial.
>
> On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 cstrobel@crosslink.net wrote:
>
> > As I recall, you have to have a Kernel compiled with serial console
> > support enabled.

-- 
L. C. Robinson
reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid

People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and
instability instead.  This is award winning "innovation".  Find
out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see
"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html

Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[Brent Harding]

Any way as of yet to edit the bios settings this way, if I recompile, I'll
probably have to add apm in the kernel to get linux to actually power the
machine off like windows does.
At 11:59 PM 10/15/01 -0600, you wrote:
>More to the point, Red Hat has to support lots of different
>machines, including headless servers, so they compile just about
>everything imaginable into the kernel and modules package,
>including, of course, console redirection, and they document that
>in their manuals.  If you look at their kernel config files,
>which get installed as
>/usr/src/linux-2.*/configs/kernel-2*86.config, you will find a
>line that says:
>
>CONFIG_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y
>
>Or in other words, unless you compile your own kernel, this
>should be a non-issue -- console redirection should always work,
>and new users should never have to worry about this, and should
>not be confused this way.
>
>Just as an interesting aside, since another thread discussed the
>fact that console redirection is routine for all sorts of Unixen;
>if you look at /usr/doc/kernel-doc-2.2.19/serial-console.txt, you
>will find that there are all sorts of ways to redirect your
>console output.  You can, for instance, just pull your video card
>out of the machine, and it will automatically go to the first
>serial port; no boot line redirection is necessary in this case.
>There are also instructions there as to how to get lilo to work
>through the serial port.
>
>LCR
>
>On Mon, 15 Oct 2001, Janina Sajka wrote:
>
>> This is correct. The kernel must be compiled with support for console over
>> serial.
>>
>> On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 cstrobel@crosslink.net wrote:
>>
>> > As I recall, you have to have a Kernel compiled with serial console
>> > support enabled.
>
>-- 
>L. C. Robinson
>reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid
>
>People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and
>instability instead.  This is award winning "innovation".  Find
>out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see
>"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Blinux-list mailing list
>Blinux-list@redhat.com
>https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>
>

Re: Installing RH from Windows over a null modem

[L. C. Robinson]

On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Brent Harding wrote:

> Any way as of yet to edit the bios settings this way, if I recompile, I'll
> probably have to add apm in the kernel to get linux to actually power the
> machine off like windows does.

No, you just have to properly shut down into halt mode.  Details are in
the Red Hat Getting Started Guide, in the section on shutting down, which
is reachable from the default lynx page.

LCR

-- 
L. C. Robinson
reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid

People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and
instability instead.  This is award winning "innovation".  Find
out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see
"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html