From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Brice Waegeneire Subject: Re: GRUB and installer invisible on serial console Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2019 20:30:43 +0100 Message-ID: <8b6854b67a2ba76a68c867bc10762a49@waegenei.re> References: <87lfr5pou4.fsf@elephly.net> <634287529887714596f1f4ecdcbf8224@waegenei.re> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:46114) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1iikSj-0007Zr-7j for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Dec 2019 14:30:54 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1iikSh-00062L-L1 for guix-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 21 Dec 2019 14:30:52 -0500 In-Reply-To: <634287529887714596f1f4ecdcbf8224@waegenei.re> List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: guix-devel@gnu.org, Guix-devel 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