Soekris without sio

OH · Feb 11, 2010

Maybe, I'm just missing something really obvious here, but since I installed 8.0 on my desktop I can't connect to my Soekris 4801 via the serial port.

I already found that sio has been dropped from 8.0 and therefore cuad is now cuau. So I setup the connection like this:
# cu -l /dev/cuau0 -s 19200 (19200 is the standard soekris speed)
which gives me 10 seconds to connect a device before it considers the link is down.

When I power on the Soekris well within that time, or give the command with the device already powered on, I get this error:

Code:

/dev/cuau0: Device busy
link down

Connecting the soekris to a machine with 7.2 installed I can connect via cuad0 without any problems, so the cable and the soekris do not seem to be at fault.

What can I do to make my 8.0 RELEASE-p2 connect to the soekris?

# dmesg | grep uart

Code:

uart0: <16550 or compatible> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
uart0: [FILTER]

# grep uart /boot/device.hints

Code:

hint.uart.0.at="isa"
hint.uart.0.port="0x3F8"
hint.uart.0.flags="0x10"
hint.uart.0.irq="4"
hint.uart.1.at="isa"
hint.uart.1.port="0x2F8"
hint.uart.1.irq="3"

# ls -la /dev/cuau*

Code:

crw-rw----  1 uucp  dialer    0,  42 11 feb 12:50 /dev/cuau0
crw-rw----  1 uucp  dialer    0,  43 11 feb 12:50 /dev/cuau0.init
crw-rw----  1 uucp  dialer    0,  44 11 feb 12:50 /dev/cuau0.lock

aragon · Feb 11, 2010

Have you tried using /dev/ttyu0?

BrainDamage · Feb 11, 2010

I have got the same hardware and the same serial port settings. And it works. Maybe it is a cable problem?

OH · Feb 13, 2010

aragon said:
Have you tried using /dev/ttyu0?

ttyu0 is the call-in port, so I would be calling myself.

I took the soekris (and the same cable) with me to another 8.0 installation and as it turns it works without problems there. So I either screwed-up the 8.0-installation on my desktop[1] or it's hardware has (developed) a problem. Either way since it isn't reproducible i'll mark this thread as solved.

[1]: Probably during experimentation with Virtualbox' serial communication options

aragon · Feb 13, 2010

OH said:
ttyu0 is the call-in port, so I would be calling myself.

Not at all. The callin devices are generic and not limited to incoming connections only. Try it one day when you're bored.

OH · Feb 15, 2010

aragon said:
Not at all. The callin devices are generic and not limited to incoming connections only. Try it one day when you're bored.

I'm not that much bored as I'm curious, so here goes
# cu -l /dev/ttyu0 -s 19200
All the normal lines that you expect in a soekris POST get displayed, but they're scattered across multiple lines as if all of the line-endings are missing. (i added some for readability below) It ends at the pxe-environment:

Code:

                                              Pre-boot eXecution
Environment  PXE-2.0 (build 082)

       Copyright (C) 1997-2000  Intel Corporation





                                                CLIENT MAC ADDR:
00 00 24 C8 BE 68 


                                                                 
                                                                 
                      
                                            XE-E53: No boot
filename received




                                                                 
            PXE-M0F: Exiting MacPhyter PXE ROM
.

No more output is given. The FreeBSD-system doesn't appear to start, since I'm not able to loging to the box via ssh. After some time when I press enter the following error-message appears:
[cmd=]write: Device not configured[/cmd]

I reconnect at speed 9600, press enter once and see this:

Code:

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bboooott::

The garbage is all on one line, I added a couple of breaks here for readability

I press enter again, but it only comes back with an ominous
[cmd=]Noo !![/cmd] and more garbage.

In a working situation this would happen:
Between PXE and the "FreeBSD booting in 10 seconds"-message (beastie_disable="YES") there is some garbage, I assume because FreeBSD initializes the com-port at speed 9600, but quickly restores to 19200 per the instruction in /boot/loader.conf

Connecting after the soekris boots
I have a working CF installation (not nanobsd) on this soekris and if I don't connect a serial cable it will boot succesfully, so I can login via ssh over ethernet.

After booting I connect the serial connector and...
# cu -l /dev/ttyu0 -s19200

Code:

Connected
JCï¿½Cï¿½ï¿½oin: Lg

If I dare type anything it will tell me that there were two login failures before it starts spewing empty lines without end (or until I press ~.).

More attempts to connect show either nothing or start spewing empty lines again.

soekris' auth.log:

Code:

Feb 15 16:04:11 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0
Feb 15 16:04:11 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0, ^GPassword:
Feb 15 16:04:26 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0
Feb 15 16:04:26 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0, Login incorrect
Feb 15 16:04:53 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0
Feb 15 16:04:53 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0, d:
Feb 15 16:06:47 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0
Feb 15 16:06:47 soekris login: 2 LOGIN FAILURES ON ttyu0, assword:

Soekris without sio

OH

aragon

BrainDamage

OH

aragon

OH