[SOLVED] Access to Slackware and/or to the Slackware installer through a serial line, anyone?

Didier Spaier · 02-07-2016, 04:30 PM

Does anyone access one's Slackware system through a serial line (from a "real" terminal if that still exists, a Braille display, another type of device or another computer)?

Is it enough to uncomment the lines beginning with ttyS{0,1} in /etc/inittab and (re)boot?
Same question for starting the Slackware installer (in this case unpack the initramfs, make the change and repack it, I assume).
Other question: as I do not have such hardware, how should I set one or two VMs to test and try?

Thanks in advance for reporting from your experience and for any clue or advice.

stoa · 02-07-2016, 04:52 PM

Have you looked at this[1]?

[1] http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:gen...serial_console

Didier Spaier · 02-07-2016, 05:07 PM

Err, no, thanks. Still eager to receive responses to questions 2 & 3, as well as advices and caveats.

Richard Cranium · 02-07-2016, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Does anyone access one's Slackware system through a serial line (from a "real" terminal if that still exists, a Braille display, another type of device or another computer)?

Is it enough to uncomment the lines beginning with ttyS{0,1} in /etc/inittab and (re)boot?
Same question for starting the Slackware installer (in this case unpack the initramfs, make the change and repack it, I assume).
Other question: as I do not have such hardware, how should I set one or two VMs to test and try?

Thanks in advance for reporting from your experience and for any clue or advice.

I'll see what I can do for #3. I haven't had to deal with serial ports for communication is a while.

Gerardo Zamudio · 02-07-2016, 08:21 PM

For #3: I use a combination of virt-manager , libvirt and qemu+KVM for virtual machines. Create a new virtual machine, add a virtual console to your domain's XML file either through command line or using the virt-manager UI, and follow the guide posted by stoa to enable it in Slackware as well. You can then do:

Code:

root@omega:~ # virsh list
 Id    Name                           State
----------------------------------------------------
 1     mumble.localdomain             running
 2     kanboard.localdomain           running

root@omega:~ # virsh console kanboard.localdomain
Connected to domain kanboard.localdomain
Escape character is ^]


Welcome to Linux 3.10.17 (ttyS0)

kanboard login:

drmozes · 02-09-2016, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Does anyone access one's Slackware system through a serial line (from a "real" terminal if that still exists, a Braille display, another type of device or another computer)?

Is it enough to uncomment the lines beginning with ttyS{0,1} in /etc/inittab and (re)boot?
Same question for starting the Slackware installer (in this case unpack the initramfs, make the change and repack it, I assume).
Other question: as I do not have such hardware, how should I set one or two VMs to test and try?

Thanks in advance for reporting from your experience and for any clue or advice.

Yes the Slackware installer on ARM runs via the serial console. All of the installation documents explain how it's done. I think all of the changes I made were sent back to the x86 branch, so the x86 one should also work as-is.

/etc/inittab from the 'a/etc/' package also needs to have ttyS0 uncommenting so that you can login once the OS boots:

Code:

sed -i 's?^#ttyS0?ttyS0?' etc/securetty.new

Didier Spaier · 02-29-2016, 05:47 PM

Eventually I used a VirtualBox VM, set up as in the attached pic.

I built and installed 'socat' from http://slackbuilds.org, then started the Slackware installer in the VM appending "console=ttyS0" to the command line as suggested... by our BDFL as the first item of the installation FAQ (do I feel ashamed not to have looked there at first? Yes I do!).

Then I issued this command from an xterm:

Code:

 socat UNIX-CONNECT:/tmp/myvbox STDIO,rawer

and ... Bingo! I saw the messages from the installer in the xterm.

I need to make some tuning (e.g. the dialog boxes are black and white and I do not know yet how to switch to tty{2,3,4}), but I mark this thread as [SOLVED]