On 29 Jun 2025 07:46:42 -0700, Peter wrote in message
<20250629144651.A36D8220874@???>:

> From:    Arnt Karlsen <arnt@???>
> Date:    Sun, 29 Jun 2025 05:15:04 +0200
> > ..perfect, use an usb serial port adapter, if needed.  

>
> Can order two of these,
> https://www.ebay.ca/itm/176977602085
> or one of these.
> https://www.ebay.ca/itm/356854224863
>
> PCIe and USB are equally useable? Any preference?

..the usb route. Chances are you have such cable tools around
if you've ever messed around flashing new firmware onto things
like cameras, rc radios, autopilots or laptop bios chips, etc.

> > ..a 3'rd VGA, on the main board?
>
> No. The "I/O ports list" is from system board documentation. "1x
> VGA" means one VGA connector on the system board. The Radeon card has
> one VGA connector and one DVI. In total that's two VGAs and one DVI.

..and no vga on the scsi card?

> > ..no network port on the main board?
>
> The system board has a twisted pair Ethernet socket.
> https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-ipibl-lb-hp-oem
>
> The drawing notes "LAN+USB" and the I/O ports list neglects mention
> it.

..ok, a viable pxe boot option.

> > https://www.temu.com/ca/-pci-e-to-422-485-serial-converter-supports-300bps-921-6kbps-multiple-data-bits-stop-bits--protection-g-601099695222306.html
> >
> > ..this url fails here, requires Chinese espionage
> > style "Security Verification."
> > Use an usb serial port adapter instead, if needed.
>
> Rather than temu I prefer one of the eBay options above.

..excellent.

>
> Second message from Arnt.
>
> > ..ok, it boots up ok with the 512MB sticks in ram slots 3 and 4?
>
> Yes, boots equally well with the 512 MB sticks installed or not.

..ok, keep them in there until you get 8GB ram.
A new main board chock full of ram might be cheaper
than 8GB of DDR2 ram...

> > ..have you tried plug in a scsi drive into the scsi card?
>
> Not yet.
>
> A Quantum Atlas V 3.5 series 9.1 GB is here. For my needs, probably
> large enough for the whole system with swap and home remaining on the
> SATA drive. It has a high density connector compared to the
> connector on the SCSI card. An adapter is needed to connect the
> ribbon cable.

..worth a try. All you need is a boot loader with a serial
console on that scsi disk. If you still have the iomega disk
stuff around, try it too. The scsi card may be hannging the
pc trying to boot from the absent iomega disk or any other
scsi disk. Which would moot my suggestions below.

> > ..easiest way ofcourse is with ssh, _if_ it boots up.
>
> Disk activity would be audible. No activity evident.

..you need at least a working bootloader to get a working
serial console, or a working serial console set up in the
bios.
That might even work with a usb serial console cable:
https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/html_node/Serial-terminal.html
https://askubuntu.com/questions/924913/how-to-get-to-the-grub-menu-at-boot-time-using-serial-console
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Working_with_the_serial_console
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/linux/serial-console-grub-single-user-mode

..reading from serial from linux command line:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/42376/reading-from-serial-from-linux-command-line

> > Then it's a simple case of banning kernel modules out
> > of your way, and load the modules with the opptions
> > you need, to get things working ok.
>
> A serial console is a nice exercise. Is it likely to show where the
> conflict occurs? If so, I mount the SATA drive on a working system
> and block the module. Then return the drive to the Pavilion and it
> should work.

..that too is a viable plan. And since you're going to work
with a usb serial console cable, you'll wanna pipe all logs
and other output thru netcat to an usb serial console, and
then fetch all that nonsense off that usb port with netcat
or even cat into your emergency log server.

..writing to the serial port from the Linux command line:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8877269/writing-to-the-serial-port-from-the-linux-command-line

..reading from serial from linux command line:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/42376/reading-from-serial-from-linux-command-line

..the netcat way:
https://www.pureengineering.com/tips/netcat-serial
https://linuxize.com/post/netcat-nc-command-with-examples/
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-netcat-to-establish-and-test-tcp-and-udp-connections#how-to-send-files-through-netcat
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/96718/how-do-i-use-a-serial-port-on-linux-like-a-pipe-or-netcat
https://superuser.com/questions/607783/can-i-pipe-redirect-a-console-application-through-netcat-so-it-can-be-used-remot
https://www.aeronetworks.ca/2013/10/serial-port-tricks.html


..you want udp if you wanna try this:
https://www.brainboxes.com/faq/how-to-use-netcat-to-pipe-serial-data-over-tcp


..these remote log server recipes assumes boot to runlevel S works:
https://linuxconfig.org/introduction-to-the-linux-kernel-log-levels
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2031163/when-to-use-the-different-log-levels#2031209
https://linux.how2shout.com/how-to-setup-syslog-server-on-ubuntu-server-24-04/
https://www.computernetworkingnotes.com/linux-tutorials/how-to-configure-syslog-server-in-linux.html
https://www.itpro.com/infrastructure/network-internet/355174/how-to-build-a-dedicated-syslog-server
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/log-aggregation-rsyslog
https://medium.com/@AustinNewtonTech/configuring-a-syslog-server-and-forwarding-linux-host-logs-3b782c7baa0f



..if you are able to enable the serial console in your BIOS,
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto

..otherwise, go:
https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2025/04/22/linux-serial-console-in-2025/
https://www.cyberciti.biz/hardware/5-linux-unix-commands-for-connecting-to-the-serial-console/
https://www.conserver.com/consoles/

> > ..you only need a boot loader, like grub, on e.g. an usb 
> > stick, or off a pxe boot server.    

>
> Will read about pxe. Thanks for the links.
>

> Thanks,                           ... P.

>


--
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
Scenarios always come in sets of three:
best case, worst case, and just in case.