USB-VGA suggestions?

Fri Jul 21 00:28:20 UTC 2017

At Thu, 20 Jul 2017 18:51:04 -0400 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> On 2017-07-20 18:34, Karl Auer wrote:
> > Not me - but I have had experience with using USB-to-serial adapters.
> 
> While I appreciate the thought, Karl, I promise you, I know serial: I 
> still have the RS-232 pinouts (both nine- and 25-pin) memorized, as well 
> as the Procomm keystrokes, which translate nicely to Minicom.  Heck: 
> just today, I ordered three USB-to-RJ-45 serial cables for switch and 
> router console work.  But that's not gonna cut it for what I want, 
> because I'd need to set up the serial in the BIOS, first.
> 
> Alas, it *also* occurred to me that my desire was really a fantasy: the 
> BIOS, likewise, will almost certainly ignore any USB-VGA adapter I tried 
> to use.  Which means, like it or not, in order to get the pesky blades 
> to boot, I'll have to plug in to the VGA headers on the motherboards of 
> the blades.  Which leaves me still boggling that they didn't have VGA on 
> the blades to start with.

Do the blades have a *serial console* (as in /dev/ttyS0 aka "COM0:").  

Also: some of these servers have some kind of "management firmware" or 
something like that.  It *should* be possible to do a boot and install that 
way.  The management firmware might gain you access to a real or "virtual" 
serial console.  Like maybe you ssh into the console/management "appliance", 
which exposes the serial consoles for the blades or some such fun and games.

It *might* be possible to create a fully *non-interactive* boot-install using 
a kickstart file, on a USB thumb drive.  At least enough to get you to a 
basic system with a working sshd.

> 
> Thanks anyway, all...
> 
> -Ken
> 
> 
> > On Thu, 2017-07-20 at 17:25 -0400, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
> >> Hey, all.  I've got the weirdest server I've seen in some time: it's
> >> got four (independent) blades, but no video. You can pop the slot
> >> off, buy a VGA connector with a cable running to the VGA header, and
> >> plug that in... but it's a PITA.  What it *does* have for every
> >> blade, though, is USB -- two of 'em.  So if I had a VGA-to-USB
> >> adapter, and a keyboard, I'd be golden.  But last time I looked,
> >> Linux support for those adapters was kinda questionable.  Has anyone
> >> had any good experiences?
> > 
> > Not me - but I have had experience with using USB-to-serial adapters.
> > Linux supports those very well indeed, and Unix has had a serial
> > console since God's dog was a puppy. A serial console will give you a
> > fully-fledged command line interface. If you really, really want to you
> > could run ppp over it and have an X terminal :-)
> > 
> > Plus a serial console gives you the ability to copy files to and from
> > the server, which a VGA screen can't do.
> > 
> > Google something like "linux boot serial console" and go wild.
> > 
> > Regards, K.
> > 
> > PS: No, you don't need to go to eBay looking for 80x25 green screen
> > serial terminals :-) Any laptop can do it, though few of them have
> > serial ports these days, so you will need another USB-to-serial
> > adapter. You will also need a terminal program to run on said laptop.
> > If your laptop is running Linux you have minicom or one of a bunch of
> > others including kermit. Since Microsoft canned HyperTerminal you will
> > need to find another one - RealTerm, TeraTerm and of course puTTY will
> > do the job.
> > 
> > --
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
> > http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
> > http://twitter.com/kauer389
> > 
> > GPG fingerprint: A52E F6B9 708B 51C4 85E6 1634 0571 ADF9 3C1C 6A3A
> > Old fingerprint: E00D 64ED 9C6A 8605 21E0 0ED0 EE64 2BEE CBCB C38B
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services