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Re: GRUB and installer invisible on serial console
From: |
Brice Waegeneire |
Subject: |
Re: GRUB and installer invisible on serial console |
Date: |
Sat, 21 Dec 2019 20:30:43 +0100 |
User-agent: |
Roundcube Webmail/1.3.8 |
On 2019-12-21 18:31, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
Hi Guix,
I just wanted to install Guix System on a server where I currently only
have remote access via serial console — and which happens to have a
Guix
USB stick stuck in its USB port. I can see the system’s UEFI output
and
see that it boots from USB, but “Welcome to GRUB!” is the very last
thing I see. There is no further output.
Our GRUB is using fancy graphics, so I wonder if that means that it has
switched to a mode that I simply can’t see over my serial connection.
Is there a way to make it start GRUB in text mode — and stay in text
mode throughout the installation?
--
Ricardo
Hello Ricardo,
I got the same setup as you working some weeks ago with the following
config.
I also had to tweak my BIOS settings to have a reliable serial
connection.
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(kernel-arguments
'("quiet" "console=tty0" "console=ttyS0,115200"))
(bootloader
(bootloader-configuration
(bootloader grub-efi-bootloader)
(target "/boot/efi")
(keyboard-layout keyboard-layout)
(terminal-outputs '(gfxterm serial))
(terminal-inputs '(console serial))
(serial-unit 0)
(serial-speed 115200)))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
The order of the kernel argument "console=" is important because
« The last device will be used when you open /dev/console » [1].
And note that my baudrate is not 9600, the default value, because it's
too slow
when displaying files. If you have a low quality serial link use the
default.
I was wondering about writing a patch to make this kind of setup the
default for
the image installer to allow installing Guix through a serial connection
only.
Unfortunately such a setup will remove the current eye-candy GRUB theme.
#38580 may also interest you, it adds access to the BIOS settings from
GRUB when
using UEFI.
[1]:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/serial-console.html
[2]: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=38580