How do I make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

How do I make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

[myglc2]

I am remotely managing headless GuixSD servers using IPMI Serial over
LAN (SOL). The BIOS, linux messages, and REPL work great.

I also see ...

GRUB loading.
Welcome to GRUB!

... but I don't see the GuixSD boot menu ;-(

Is there a way to make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

TIA - George

Re: How do I make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

[Leo Famulari]

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On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 10:44:54AM -0500, myglc2 wrote:
> I am remotely managing headless GuixSD servers using IPMI Serial over
> LAN (SOL). The BIOS, linux messages, and REPL work great.
> 
> I also see ...
> 
> GRUB loading.
> Welcome to GRUB!
> 
> ... but I don't see the GuixSD boot menu ;-(
> 
> Is there a way to make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

One of my machines is unable to show the graphical menu, so I crudely
make it use the console menu with the attached diff.

We should make it smarter so it can be set properly in the OS
declaration, or even choose automatically.

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--- a/gnu/system/grub.scm
+++ b/gnu/system/grub.scm
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ system string---e.g., \"x86_64-linux\"."
     insmod efi_uga
   fi
 
-  terminal_output gfxterm
+  terminal_output console
 "
         ""))
 
-- 
2.11.0


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Re: How do I make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?

[myglc2]

On 01/28/2017 at 17:14 Leo Famulari writes:

> On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 10:44:54AM -0500, myglc2 wrote:
>> I am remotely managing headless GuixSD servers using IPMI Serial over
>> LAN (SOL). The BIOS, linux messages, and REPL work great.
>> 
>> I also see ...
>> 
>> GRUB loading.
>> Welcome to GRUB!
>> 
>> ... but I don't see the GuixSD boot menu ;-(
>> 
>> Is there a way to make GuixSD boot screens appear on TTY?
>
> One of my machines is unable to show the graphical menu, so I crudely
> make it use the console menu with the attached diff.

Thank you Leo, this was really helpful.

> We should make it smarter so it can be set properly in the OS
> declaration, or even choose automatically.

Agreed. To provide a basis for that, here are some example
configurations that I have verified on an ASROCK MT-C224 IPMI SOL +
FreeIPMI.

Note: code examples below are substitute for "terminal_output gfxterm"
      in (gnu system grub)


1) local GRUB console, no GRUB on SOL (the current default)

   terminal_output gfxterm


2) local GRUB console + VT100 GRUB on SOL

   serial --unit=0 --speed=115200
   terminal_input serial console; terminal_output serial gfxterm


3) local _character_ GRUB console  + VT100 GRUB on SOL

   serial --unit=0 --speed=115200
   terminal_input serial console; terminal_output console

   Note: On the ASROCK, the form that might seem more logical ...

   terminal_input serial console; terminal_output serial console

   ...  produces undesirable "double lines" on VT100 GRUB on SOL.


In terms of adding OS declarations, a simple approach might be to
specify the three GRUB configuration options shown above. 1) and 2)
probably cover 80% of users. I believe 3) covers your situation.

Other options to consider ...

A) provide a "GRUB" console argument into which a user can plug GRUB
   syntax

B) provide guile wrappers for the GRUB options

A) has in its favor the fact that the grub doc is beautifully written,
and it may be more helpful to a user, particularly if their needs are
unique, to let them read that and plug in GRUB syntax.

- George