Funny characters with serial console

[lgrant]

When I run the FreeBSD installer from a serial console, I get a lot of question marks displayed, and the menus are not very good about refreshing.

Right now I am talking to a DECISO DEC677, which I believe uses Coreboot, but I have seen it before on other devices. It makes me wonder if my terminal emulation is wrong. Should I be emulating a VT100, or something like that?

Thanks!

 

[covacat]

maybe it depends of the terminal you are using to connect
for me it looks ok with vt100/vt220/xterm
with xterm i have colors too and utf-8 characters

 

[ralphbsz]

This. Make sure your actual terminal type (which for modern emulators is usually xterm or vt100 or some variant) matches the TERM variable of the shell. Now the big question is: What does the FreeBSD installer use for TERM?

 

[T-Daemon]

What does the FreeBSD installer use for TERM?

The FreeBSD installer is executing upon system boot /etc/rc.local, this script executes /usr/libexec/bsdinstall/startbsdinstall, there the TERM export is happening:

kbdcontrol -d >/dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    # Syscons: use xterm, start interesting things on other VTYs
    TERM=xterm

    # Don't send ESC on function-key 62/63 (left/right command key)
    kbdcontrol -f 62 '' > /dev/null 2>&1
    kbdcontrol -f 63 '' > /dev/null 2>&1

    if [ -z "$EXTERNAL_VTY_STARTED" ]; then
        # Init will clean these processes up if/when the system
        # goes multiuser
        touch /tmp/bsdinstall_log
        tail -f /tmp/bsdinstall_log > /dev/ttyv2 &
        /usr/libexec/getty autologin ttyv3 &
        EXTERNAL_VTY_STARTED=1
    fi
else
    # Serial or other console
    echo
    echo "Welcome to ${OSNAME}!"
    echo
    echo "Please choose the appropriate terminal type for your system."
    echo "Common console types are:"
    echo "   ansi     Standard ANSI terminal"
    echo "   vt100    VT100 or compatible terminal"
    echo "   xterm    xterm terminal emulator (or compatible)"
    echo
    echo -n "Console type [vt100]: "
    read TERM
    TERM=${TERM:-vt100}
fi
export TERM

lgrant, after the FreeBSD installer media has finished booting and presenting the "Welcome" installation menu, exit to "Live System", log in as root, export TERM, resume menu guided installation:

Option 1: bsdinstall
Option 2: sh /usr/libexec/bsdinstall/startbsdinstall