[PLUG] Sparc 20 Console

[Paul Heinlein]

On Sat, 7 Sep 2002, todd.sarratt wrote:

> Got me a Sparc 20 with no keyboard / monitor / etc.  It's got a
> CD-ROM.  I bought it out of the back of a van, or something.

...

> So the real meat here : I want to console into the beast.
> 
> How do I console into it?  I got a Windows box which I figure I'll
> run Hyperterm or something off COM1 and hook a 9 pin female
> connector into the port labelled |O|O| A/1.  The other end of the
> cable goes into... the A/B slot on the Sparc?  Straight serial or
> null modem?

If a SPARC's prom doesn't find a local console (i.e., there's no 
keyboard and/or framebuffer), it'll default to sending console output 
to the first serial port.

Get yourself a crossover serial cable (aka null modem) and connect a 
serial port on your PC to the back of the 20.

You can use minicom for the console sessions, but IMO conserver 
(http://www.conserver.com/) is a far better option: it'll log your 
sessions and it handles "breaks" quite well. It's simple to compile on 
any Linux host; if you've got an RPM-based system, I've written a 
.spec file you can use to build your own package:

  http://www.madboa.com/geek/specs/conserver.spec.txt

--Paul Heinlein <heinlein at attbi.com>