Re: Preserving early console output (pre-Copyright stuff)

[Giles Lean <giles.lean%pobox.com@localhost>]

Matthew Mondor <mm_lists%pulsar-zone.net@localhost> wrote:

> Sometimes I've been thinking about this as more and more hardware don't
> ship with RS232 anymore.  Is there a relatively common BIOS interface
> which would allow, even if non-efficiently, to use a USB port as a
> serial device without too much code?

I doubt it.  All uses of serial-via-USB that I've seen have
required electronics (often buggy electronics) to do the
conversion, and the one or two USB video interfaces I've also
seen have also required electronics _and_ custom kernel
drivers, and (you guessed it) there were bugs galore there too
in the one I tried (hardware, software, or both I don't know).

On the "big iron" I used to work with that had consoles with
network support, the network connection was a pretty dumb
piece of hardware which spoke ssh or telnet on the network
side ... and RS-232 on the console side. :-(  (OK, it also
offered remote access to the reset and power switches, but the
console was still -- in the 21st century -- based off RS-232.
Maybe that changed in later models, but I wouldn't bet much
on the possibility.)

A USB console is a nice idea, but the industry doesn't seem to
have picked it up(*).  Which with all the EFI, IPMI, and other
overly complex industry "standards" necessary to build a
modern machine plus the prevalence of notebook PCs all with
USB ports this is amusing, if you have a warped enough sense
of humour ...

(*) Or if there _is_ a USB console standard I've missed the
memo and would welcome someone setting me straight, please.

Regards,

Giles