Re: serial console device, and installboot vs. /boot.cfg

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>> What constitutes a "fail" for the COM port?

Fair question, indeed.

> Well if there is a (UART) device, and if the device functions to
> output a character, then it works, even if the char goes blind into
> the ether!  :-)

Very true.

> I've always assumed myself that if the port was well-wired to a DCE
> device that was _not_ asserting DCD (and/or DSR, and CTS) then the
> output would fail and the code would move on to try the next device.

Maybe.  My own experience is that serial consoles always Just Work when
using cables that connect GND, RXD, TXD, and nothing else.

Of course, having DCD/DSR/CTS disconnected is, in principle, not the
same as having it/them driven inactive.  I can't recall seeing an
example of a serial-port sender that works with modem control lines
disconnected but fails with them driven inactive, but I have hardly
seen every serial-port setup out there.

/~\ The ASCII				  Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML		mouse%rodents-montreal.org@localhost
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B