On 12/22/2019 5:41 PM, Rob wrote:
I'm working on building a storage server, where I'm going to cram in
as many drives as I can. I currently have 10.
As such, I need to get rid of the video card to make room.
I'll be administering the server over ssh.
Can I build a linux version that requires no video support? And how?
You are referring to a "headless" system. In addition to the suggestion
to use a USB VGA dongle, you have the option of a serial console as well
(and I would suggest adding this option as a secondary even if you do go
the USB->VGA route). I have needed this a few times over the past few
years for firewall projects. It's been a bit since I've set one up, but
this should be close enough to get you there:
Add the following to grub.cfg (assuming COM1 change unit=1 and ttyS1
below for COM2):
serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=8 console serial
While still editing grub.cfg, add the following parameters to the kernel
line:
console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 (this puts kernel boot messages on
both tty0 and ttyS0 (your serial port)
These changes start grub on console or serial if input is detected so
that you can use the grub menu over a serial cable or while booted to
your USB VGA.
For the terminal, use the following in your /etc/inittab (immediately
below tty6):
s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 115200 ttyS0 vt100
This launches a getty while booted to minimal boot (runlevel 1) as well
for troubleshooting (you can't do this with SSH and possibly not via
USB->VGA dongle.
It's a bit different for systemd. For that, take a look at the Arch wiki
(noting the grub.cfg commands above since we don't setup grub-mkconfig).
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/working_with_the_serial_console
HTH
--DJ
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