Minicom has scripting capabilities (as do most terminal emulators). One
can develop a minicom script that does the changes on the target device.
Now the procedure to modify Redboot becomes:
- connect the target to the host with a serial cable
- start minicom
- start the minicom script
- power on the target
Steps 2 and 3 are not ideal, but a lot better than typing the arcane
commands directly into Redboot. Also there is much less chance of
bricking the target as the communication with the target is completely
automated.
I can send you an example of such a script, used to modify Redboot on an
Arcom (now Eurotech) Viper.
Regards,
Jim Ham
jimham at porcine.com
Joseph Bouchard wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Long time lurker here, finally posting... I apologize if this is RTFM,
> I can't find it.
>
> We have a big pile of the original TS7200's. For those who don't know,
> that has a minimalist busybox setup via on board flash, and then it can
> take a CF card with a full debian distribution. In order to tell the
> 7200 to use the O/S on the flash card I:
> - plug in the power, with a terminal on the console
> - when it starts to boot, hit ^C to halt redboot, which gives me an
> interactive redboot session.
> - run "fconfig" and copy/paste a few cryptic lines from a file, hit
> <enter> a few times, then answer a few yes/no questions.
> - reset
>
> It's not exactly rocket science, but you do have to be careful, else you
> brick the box. Thus far we have "IT professionals" doing this, but I
> would like to be able to simplify the procedure to running a script, at
> which point it's feasible to let less savvy people do it.
>
> On a Sun Solaris server, I can issue commands on a running O/S to make
> changes to the "Open Boot" system. On my HP linux servers, I can issue
> "hponcfg" commands which make changes to the ILO. These are somewhat
> analogous to issuing a command in busybox which pushes changes to
> redboot. I'm wondering if I can ftp a script to a 7200 running busybox,
> run the script, and that makes the changes I need as shown above?
>
> We also bought the TS9420 "Production Tool for SBC Flash Image
> Replication", and that may be the answer to all my problems. To be
> honest I never did figure out how to use it. When we first bought those
> I had hoped it was kind of like a "bios blaster". Plug it in, boot the
> box, and it auto flashes. When I read some of the documentation I
> decided it was not much better than issuing commands to fconfig. Maybe
> I'm mistaken.
>
> Again, my objective is to reduce this configuration step to something
> say "plug this in, and run this script"...something I can delegate to
> non-technical people. Opinions welcome.
>
> Thank you!
> Joe Bouchard
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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