Rodent of Unusual Size <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked:
>>> Is there any way to get access to the console through the serial port? I have another system that does this for VMS and T64U systems (anyone remember VCS?) Well, when you're on an Alpha system, you always have console access available, one way or the other, as described in the hardware box's owners manual. This is independent of the operating system. As far as crashing goes on an Alpha, I don't know if ^P is supported by Linux or not, but I know on Tru64 and OVMS, that will usually halt the machine or give you a console prompt. Newer systems (i.e., most of the PCI-based ones, IIRC) will indeed 'crash' if you say 'crash', so you don't have to worry about OS-specific hacks the way we did in the past (e.g., stuffing the PC with -1 or some such nonsense). Under Tru64, it will yield a specific footprint in the crash dump that tells us that it was indeed manually/knowingly crashed at the console. You might want to do some research into the crash tools that were developed by (all rise) Mission Critical Linux (beseated). They adapted some of the concepts used on Tru64 and OVMS so that Linux users (of all, or certainly, many architectures) could get a crash dump. I don't know if they released any crash analysis tools akin to Tru64's 'crashdc' program, which was a script for the debugger to go into the crash and print the stack trace, scheduler queue, etc. I certainly empathise with your situation - hung systems are *never* fun, regardless of OS or CPU architecture. HTH, Bayard ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bayard R. Coolidge N1HO DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed are Compaq Computer Corp. solely those of the author, and not Nashua, New Hampshire, USA those of Compaq Computer Corporation [EMAIL PROTECTED] (DEC '77-'98) or any other entity. "Brake for Moose - It could save your life" - N.H. Fish & Game Dept. -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS/CC d+ s:+ a++ C+++$ UO++$L++>$ P L++>$ E-@ W+ N++ o- K? w--- O? M? V-- PS+ PE+ Y+ PGP- t++ 5? X? R* tv b++ DI+++ D? G e++ h-- r++ y? UF++ -----END GEEK CODE BLOCK----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
