Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!sun-spots-request
From: uunet!charyb!dan@uunet.uu.net (Dan Mick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun
Subject: Alternate boot consoles
Keywords: Miscellaneous
Message-ID: <5819@brazos.Rice.edu>
Date: 15 Mar 90 19:42:16 GMT
Sender: news@rice.edu
Organization: Sun-Spots
Lines: 24
Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu
X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 88, message 1

I have a Sun-4/110 that I need to get talking to the serial port on bootup
(in the ROM monitor).  Okay; I see from eeprom(8) and
/usr/include/<something/eeprom.h that I can set the "boot console" (offset
0x1F, field name eed_console) to 'ttya' or '0x10' to make the boot console
device be serial port A.

They lie.

My 4/110 is set that way, and the terminal on ttya is fine when I boot up
multiuser and log in with it, but on bootup, the console is still the
console.

This wouldn't be so bad save for the absolutely horrible performance of
the console on a 4/110 (can you say about .75 sec for *every scroll*, and
about 10 sec response time to ^C?), so I really need to have another
usable terminal on this thing before any OS gets booted (I need to do some
kernel debugging).  

How the blazes do I get the eeprom to listen to me?  Is there some other
field somewhere I have to set?

Do I have an old PROM?  What am I doing wrong?  

Keep sending those letters!  <grin>