Debian Install Over Serial Console
- Jan 22, 2011 H ow do I set up a serial console on Debian Linux HP server for troubleshooting and login purpose. To setup a serial console you need to edit the вЂ.
- Abstract. This document contains installation instructions for the Debian GNU/Linux 8 system codename “ jessie ”, for the 32-bit PC “ i386 ” architecture.
- Upon starting the system, you are presented with the character based login screen if you did not install X Window System with the display manager such as gdm3.
- Almost 9 months after I took ownership of the Neovim RFP, I finally tagged uploaded Neovim to Debian. It still has to go through the NEW queue, but it will soon be.
Explains and list top five utilities that can be used for serial communication under Linux / Unix / BSD and Mac OS X.
This is a step-by-step guide to install Debian 6.0.6 32-bit on a headless appliance. This is slightly different by previous guide published for CentOs and Ubuntu.
So let s start, we will prepare an ISO image with Serial Console output using 9600 as speed and 8,N,1 as config.
1 Download Debian 6.0.6 ISO image on your hard drive I prefer torrent download but you can choose the method you prefer
2 Â Now create a temporary workspace. In this guide I will use /tmp. If you are an Ubuntu user please pay attention: tmp folder will be cleaned after reboot.
 mkdir /tmp/debiancd this will be used to mount ISO image
mkdir /tmp/serialdebian this will be used to modifiy ISO files
3 Mount Debian ISO image on previous created directory:
 sudo mount -o loop -t iso9660 /tmp/debiancd
cd /tmp/debiancd
4 Copy all files and dirs from mounted ISO to a new dir, in order to have a mirror copy. We will use this copy to modify isolinux config files.
 sudo cp -Rv /tmp/debiancd/ /tmp/serialdebian/
 sudo cp -Rv /tmp/debiancd/.disk/ /tmp/serialdebian/
5 In order to check that the mirror is the same than ISO image run the diff command
 sudo diff /tmp/serialdebian/ /tmp/debiancd/Â
6 Change file permissions on the mirror dir in order to have write access on configuration files
 sudo chmod -R 777 /tmp/serialdebian/
7 Now we need to modify two configuration files under isolinux dir: txt.cfg and isolinux.cfg in order to send all data to serial console
 cd. /serialdebian/isolinux
 vi isolinux.cfg
We have to add serial 0 9600 0Ã 003 as first line and change timeout from 0 to 5. Your new file will look like this:
D-I config version 2.0
CONSOLE 0
SERIAL 0 9600 0
include menu.cfg
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 5
Save the file and exit.
Now we need to change parameters in isolinux.cfg file. To do this run the following command:
 sed s/vga 788/console ttyS0,9600n8/ txt.cfg tmp
Followed by:
 mv tmp txt.cfg
Your new isolinux files will be like this:
default install
label install
menu label Install
menu default
kernel /install.386/vmlinuz
append vga 788 initrd /install.386/initrd.gz -- console ttyS0,9600n8
8 Fix the MD5sum for the new files using:
 cd /tmp/serialdebian
 md5sum find -follow -type f md5sum.txt
9 We have completed changes and we need to rebuild an ISO image to be installed:
 cd /tmp
 mkisofs -o. /serialdebian605.iso -r -J -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b  isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat. /serialdebian
10 When finished you can use your burning software to create Setup CD or, if you prefer, continue using cdrecord tool.
 sudo cdrecord -v dev 1,0,0 /tmp/serialdebian605.iso
Please pay attention to use your device 1,0,0 is related to my hardware configuration. If you don t know which device to use please run the followin command:
 cdrecord -scanbus
Enjoy your installation using serial console.
First thing you ll want is serial console access to the device. i soldered my Nokia cable onto the board almost directly after opening the device, but then i had to.
Howto setup IPMI under Linux Debian / Sarge on the Intel SR2300 Server Chassis Intel Server Board SE7501WV2 Revision: 1.11 Author: tim.
How to install Debian 6.0.6 using serial console
