[Soekris] comBIOS via COM2 / GPIO 18 19 20

[Igor Sobrado]

In message <50804.1203414777 at critter.freebsd.dk>, Poul-Henning Kamp writes:
> In message <200802190945.m1J9jTEI014024 at jenny.webhoster.ag>, soekris at reimes.inf
> o writes:
> >Hi all,
> >
> >Is it possible to access the comBIOS via the second com port? I
> >connected the GPIO pins 18-20 (RX, TX, GND) to my USB/serial converter,
> >it works fine with linux as /dev/ttyS1, but i also want to control the
> >BIOS and PXE boot as well.
> 
> As far as I know, there is no way to make comBIOS use the second com
> port, short of a recompile.

I think that it is a security feature.  Just my opinion, but I think
that it would be too easy to lock a Soekris computer by redirecting
the comBIOS to the second serial port on a machine with a single port.

In short, the OS output can be easily redirected to the second serial
port in most cases; however, the comBIOS cannot be redirected to avoid
locking a Soekris computer with a single serial port.

Of course, a "lights out management"-like feature like the one provided
in the net5501 to turn off the PSU for a few seconds would be useful
to reset the comBIOS to default settings if this feature is implemented
in the future.

Cheers,
Igor.