[syslinux] netconsole for pxelinux

[Ferenc Wagner]

"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa at zytor.com> writes:

> Ferenc Wagner wrote:
>
>> I'm in the position that a network console would occasionally be very
>> useful for me to control pxelinux.  Has the possibility of adding it
>> (next to VGA and serial) been ever discussed?  I understand that it
>> may sound somewhat contorted, but it could also serve instead of a
>> TFTP PUT for extracting hardware info, for example...
>>
>> How hard would it be to add (considering gPXE as well)?
>
> If done over a UDP-based protocol, not very hard.

But what could provide the flow control?  xon/xoff?  Or could it be
ignored, as it would mostly be needed in input direction only, and
there's no point in pasting large amounts into the pxelinux console?

And would it need buffering, or just transfer one packet per character?

> Keep in mind that Linux' netconsole protocol doesn't work -- it's
> unidirectional only.

I didn't even know there was a "protocol" there, I always used simple
(unidirectional) socat or netcat.  What do you mean?  Of course
ideally it wouldn't need a specialised client either, if possible.

> In order to use a TCP-based protocol, it would have to be done on
> top of gPXE.

Yes, that would narrow its usability somewhat.
-- 
Feri.