UBoot's terminal server

From UBoot manual:
"...There are several ways to access the serial console port on your target system, such as using a terminal server, but the most common way is to attach it to a serial port on your host. Additionally, you will need a terminal emulation program on your host system, such as cu or kermit. .."

My question is:
How can I use Uboot shell wo RS232 COMport connection - are there ways to get rsh (telnet or whatever) server working on UBoot?
Yes, I'm using RS232 currently, but what if I want to use UBoot shell through ethernet, how could I configure UBoot to make it setup "terminal server"?

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It's possible to route console over the network interface via NetConsole. Read about it in doc/README.NetConsole.

regards,
Ben

Thanks Ben,
I tried this way - it does not work.

First - UBoot issue:
when I enter "setenv stdout nc; setenv stdin nc'", the env var stays the same - I can see it from "printenv".
I changed sources - set stdout and stdin to nc by default and erased env var. Loading default values did not help:
still I see
...

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   Using MAC Address 12:34:56:78:9A:BD
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

...
I searched source code for 6666 or 1a0a (1A0A) - default port - nothing found, except ncb.c from tools folder (linux app)

Second - my Fedora5 issue:
It does not understand "nc -u -l -p 6666 < /dev/null &" - shows help topic on that

So I really doubt this could work in described way.

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Did you check if the required features are enabled in your board configuration?

You did not search thoroughly; I find more that 60 files:

	-> find * -type f | xargs egrep 6666 | wc -l
	61

One of them is - big surprise - drivers/netconsole.c

Seems you did not read the documentation either. Please reread the doc/README.NetConsole file, now from beginning to end, and pay special attention when it talsk about "some distributives (Fedora Core 5 at least)" - this could be important to your problem.

It can. You just have to do it right.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
ATTENTION: Despite Any Other Listing of Product Contents Found  Here-
on, the Consumer is Advised That, in Actuality, This Product Consists
Of 99.9999999999% Empty Space.

Dear Wolfgang,

I searched through latest (Uboot 1.2) doc folder, but did not find kind of text you mentioned:
"...some distributives (Fedora Core 5 at least)..."

Also I recompiled Uboot to support NetConsole: I defined CONFIG_NETCONSOLE
CFG_CMD_NET (in CONFIG_COMMANDS, wo it I had compiling errors) CONFIG_NET_MULTI (wo it I had compiling errors)

The problem is that when I define CONFIG_NET_MULTI, Uboot does not initialize network at startup - I cant use tftp or any network related. When I "run nc" - serial COM port shell dies, but do not see anything on host (I tried SuSe now)

What are the criteria which defines whether board is capable of netconsole or not?
What means CONFIG_NET_MULTI and why network stuff - eth_init(bd_t) - does not launch when it is defined?

I have UBoot 1.1.2 from STlinux.com and 7100mboard

Best regards,

Viktor Volke

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U-Boot 1.2.0 is not latest, it is actually quite old. Please use current code (top of tree from git repository).

Please contact their support group then. I don't know which changes they might have made.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
                                                - George Bernard Shaw

You need to set CONFIG_NETCONSOLE in your board .h file and recompile U-boot. This will let you redirect the streams.

There was recently a patch to the README.NetConsole file about using nc under Fedora Core 5. I believe you should try it without "-p". I'm a Debian/Ubuntu user, so can't really speak from experience.

regards,
Ben