Sometimes it may be neccessary to access your SGI without keyboard,
mouse and monitor. Many servers, like the SGI Origin even don't
have a graphic adaptor installed, so this is your only
chance for installing IRIX on that machine. This page describes
how to connect to a machine via a serial cable.
Connecting a PC or another workstation to your SGI via a serial
link is really straightforward. You only need a Null-Modem cable
and connect it to your SGI and to your terminal (e.g. another
SGI or a PC or whatever you like). Note that so called "Laplink"
cables don't work, they will just cause you problems - you
need a true null-modem connection.
Also note that some older SGIs like my Personal
Iris 4D/25 already have a crossed connection - the connectors
are female 9 pin connectors insread of the standard male
connectors. Here you do not need a Null-Modem cable
Your terminal settings should be as follows:
| Speed |
9600baud |
| Data bits |
8 |
| Parity |
None |
| Stop bits |
1 |
| Flowcontrol |
None |
The short abbreviation for these settings is 9600 8N1
and no flowcontrol. If possible, emulate a VT-100
terminal (almost every terminal does). And very important: Do
not connect a keyboard to the SGI machine. This last
requirement is neccessary, because with a keyboard connected to
your machine, the SGI won't jump into serial mode at boot time.
There is also the possibility of forcing your SGI to boot in
serial mode by changing the environment variable console
within the PROM. This variable has the following valid values:
| Value |
Meaning |
g or G
g0, g1, g2 |
If console is set to g
or G, the console
is assumed to be the graphics display. On some systems with
multiple graphics adapters, setting console to g0
(identical to g), g1,
or g2 can be used to select alternate
graphics displays. |
| d or d2 |
If console is set to d,
the console is assumed to be a terminal connected to the first
serial port. In addition, some systems also accept d2
for a terminal connected to second serial port. |
Forcing a serial connect can be done by typing
setenv console d
and the default behaviour is restored by typing
setenv console g
Booting my Personal Iris
4D/25 then gives this screen:
Console DUART test PASSED
Memory walking bit test PASSED
Memory address uniqueness test PASSED
Interrupt mask registers test PASSED
Graphics subsystem test PASSED
System Maintenance Menu
1) Start System
2) Install System Software
3) Run Diagnostics
4) Recover System
5) Enter Command Monitor
Option? |