Serial console - Revision history

Calculus: Added category

2011-10-28T02:19:38Z

Added category

Prpplague at 19:46, 20 September 2007

2007-09-20T19:46:18Z

Prpplague at 19:45, 20 September 2007

2007-09-20T19:45:22Z

Tim Bird: more text

2007-09-18T22:49:27Z

more text

Tim Bird: add basic information

2007-09-18T22:47:48Z

add basic information

New page

Often, embedded development boards and products do not have normal displays that are available
for kernel console messages. This is especially true during the early stages of getting a new
kernel running on a board. Therefore, it is very common to boot a kernel using a "serial console".
That is, the console messages, and the ability to log in to the newly running kernel are provided
via a serial connection to the development board.

To use a serial console, you must have a kernel with the necessary serial port driver configured
in, and you must boot the kernel and specify to use a serial console on boot.

The kernel configuration options to support this are (usually):
* CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=y
** other serial ports are also supported, but this is the most common serial UART hardware
* CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_CONSOLE=y

An example kernel command line option to specify the serial console (and it's settings) are:
* console=ttyS0,115200n8
This option tells the kernel to use ttyS0 (the first serial port), with settings of speed=115200 cps, no stop bits
and 8 data bits. The serial ports of the host and the target should be configured to match in terms
of the speed, stop bits and data bits. [[Minicom]] is a common serial communications program used on
host machines for accessing the console from the host.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:19, 28 October 2011
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	* [[Hammer_How_to_Console\|Hammer Board Serial Console]]		* [[Hammer_How_to_Console\|Hammer Board Serial Console]]
	* [[Zipit_Serial_Mod\|ZipIt Serial Console]]		* [[Zipit_Serial_Mod\|ZipIt Serial Console]]
		+
		+	[[Category:Hardware]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:46, 20 September 2007
Line 26:		Line 26:
	* [[JuiceBox_Serial_Console\|JuiceBox Serial Console]]		* [[JuiceBox_Serial_Console\|JuiceBox Serial Console]]
	* [[Hammer_How_to_Console\|Hammer Board Serial Console]]		* [[Hammer_How_to_Console\|Hammer Board Serial Console]]
		+	* [[Zipit_Serial_Mod\|ZipIt Serial Console]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:45, 20 September 2007
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	of the speed, stop bits and data bits. [[Minicom]] is a common serial communications program used on		of the speed, stop bits and data bits. [[Minicom]] is a common serial communications program used on
	host machines for accessing the console from the host.		host machines for accessing the console from the host.
		+
		+
		+	some example serial console configurations:
		+
		+	* [[JuiceBox_Serial_Console\|JuiceBox Serial Console]]
		+	* [[Hammer_How_to_Console\|Hammer Board Serial Console]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 kernel running on a board.  Therefore, it is very common to boot a kernel using a "serial console".
 That is, the console messages, and the ability to log in to the newly running kernel are provided
-via a serial connection to the development board.
+via a serial connection to the development board (rather than via a VGA screen and keyboard combination,
 To use a serial console, you must have a kernel with the necessary serial port driver configured