I set up a Debian serial console installation and am going to add another Linux kernel to the list in /boot/grub/menu.lst.
When looking at the boot paragraphs, I see an interesting thing that I don't quite understand. Both the possible boot methods have the savedefault line as their last line. Here they are. title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.27-2-386 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro console=ttyS1,9600n81 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386 savedefault boot title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.4.27-2-386 (recovery mode) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro console=ttyS1,9600n81 single initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386 savedefault boot The savedefault line is supposed to determine which boot method is 0 as far as I understand, so what do multiple savedefaults do? Now, the behavior I discovered. After installing a third paragraph to boot a test 2.6.5 kernel, I rebooted and accidentally hit a key on the remote system that was connected to the serial TTY on the headless box. What happened was that the headless system came up with the recovery mode boot instead of the first boot. I bet hitting any key to cause activity on the serial port will cause this behavior because there is no serial console alive at that point. I should have hit 0, 1, 2 or 3 on the headless system. This behavior could be useful if it is common. It could also be vexing if you had a serial line that had some activity on it while a headless system was booting. I remember how old Sun Sparc work stations using a serial console would reboot if sent a break signal. Turning off the power to the terminal sends a very long break. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]