Greetings,

Anyone know if it's possible to upgrade from Slackware 11.0 to 12.0 remotely without having physical console access? Ie having to either be logged in via an RS232 cable or an ssh session?

I have an IBM x335 server which requires a special KVM-cable for keyboard, video and mouse which I do not have - hence the question.

Having read the UPGRADE/CHANGES_AND_HINTS/etcyadayada this is clearly slightly off mainstream... However I've come down to two possible paths:

1. Try setting Slackware up to allow login via a serial cable in single-user mode

2. Try to write a shell-script to append to the rc.S script that does all the upgrades, fixes the .new files, and then reboots back in multi-use mode. However, one little mistake, and I'm locked out of my server - ie disaster-waiting-to-happen mode :P

Has anyone come across similar bizarre problems before? And even solved them?

-y1

Hi,

Why not setup one of your slack boxen as a terminal to the IBM? As long as the Slack box has a com port that is compatible with the IBM and the Slack box presents the terminal protocol that the IBM wants then no problem.

Hello, and thank you for answering.

Setting up as a terminal - is that the same as setting up console login? (yeah, I'm new to this) so that I can still be in singleuser mode without trouble, and no extra/special programs loaded?

If I understand the man page correctly, is this set up in the inittab only? If so - where (else) do I specify the communications parameters (ie parity bits etc) ?

-y1

Hi,

Try;

'screen /dev/ttyS0 19200 vt100'

Do a 'man screen' to understand the command. You should change the baud rate to the IBM's port rate. Hopefully your DB connectors and cable are setup properly.