OK, it appears that you haven't quite divined the issue here. I am a trained IT person (this means help desk work, system administration, repair and other things including installations). So far, I am able to install OS X without assistance. I do same for Linux (various flavors) and can use a small utility called "Winstaller" to install a full windows image to a machine.
Now, some of the places that might hire me would expect me to be able to do all this on any OS. The only OS'es that I can't install with are the various flavors of BSD. So, this effectively limits my ability to perform the tasks that I may need to do. That, in turn, limits my ability to even become employed. My point here is this: I am not just an end user but also one who will have to deal with this in the workplace. Now, I know that the code has been around a long time and some of it may need to be tweaked to get it to conform with the BSD way of doing things. I am not a coder, so I can't just pick up a project and run with it. This is my delema. I need to work but if I end up in a place where the only OS they want installed is the one OS I can't do without assistance, I would be fired and someone who can see the screen would get the job. Now, some of the other things you mentioned make good sense and I will take that message as its meant. All I ask is that you consider larger issues here. -eric On Jul 7, 2013, at 4:40 AM, ropers wrote: > You could try buying a USB-to-serial adapter or two. Simpler ones > aren't that expensive. These generally have limitations for > technical/electrical reasons: E.g. some serial devices may expect to > be able to draw more juice than USB ports have. The gold standard > would be an optically isolated adapter with transient voltage > suppressors and an independent power supply – but using even a simple > one just for console redirection ought to work. Ought to. I haven't > actually tried this and I do not currently own a USB-to-serial > adapter. > > Anyway, you would stick one of these into your laptop and then connect > a null modem cable from that to another computer that has a serial > port. If your desktop computer doesn't have a serial port (WTF? I've > never heard of that.), then you could do the same thing in reverse > with another USB-to-serial adapter. Once you have the console > redirected to serial, you could use a terminal emulator in connection > with a screen reader to actually read that console output to you on > the other computer at the other end of the cable. > > To be really good for you, this might however require a change in the > installer: Maybe the "Change the default console to com0?" question > could be moved "up" or duplicated, i.e. it would be asked very early > on, pretty much as the first installer question, and there would take > effect immediately, and maybe beep as well when asked. This would be a > change to the installer (that I can't submit), but it oughtn't really > take up that much additional space on the boot floppy. > > I admit this is idle speculation from an almost good-for-nothing > hanger-on, but I thought I'd share these ideas; maybe they'll end up > actually helping you. > > I know this would be relying on you retrofitting legacy tech (RS232), > and I admit that the inclusion of full-on native screen reader and > Braille terminal support in some installer USB stick might be easier > for you, but in terms of the least effort overall to get something > that works, the console redirection might be easier overall, since > building and maintaining an all-singing, all-dancing USB stick > installer with all that good stuff included (and vetted for > vulnerabilities) would be a lot more additional work. > > Good luck! > ropers > > On 7 July 2013 04:43, eric oyen <eric.o...@gmail.com> wrote: >> what hardware? my laptop machine. also, its new enough that the only serial >> it >> has is USB (which, as far as I know, doesn't support sserial redirection). I >> also have a desktop machine and its new enough not to have any classic serial >> ports either. so, no redirection there either. >> and since there is no way for me to actually tell when it boots, getting to a >> login prompt and then redirecting the screen output is not entirely possible >> without someone sitting right there to tell me whats going on. >> >> This isn't anything like the old sparc pizza boxes where you could do this at >> the outset and actually have it work the first time. >> >> anyway, thats the rub for me. I like the OS, but this is the show stopper for >> me. >> >> -eric >> >> On Jul 6, 2013, at 5:49 PM, Alexander Hall wrote: >> >>>> >>> >>> Letting the installer redirect the console to com0 does not cut it? What >> hardware are we talking about? >>> >>> /Alexander
