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Hi all. I'd like to connect 2 e450s via a serial connection so I can
tip from one to the other. I am doing some testing which will require
1 of the 450s to be in single user mode and I will be remote.

I have tried connecting the 2 A/B ports with a null modem cable and
tip-ing to cua/a but that didn't get me anywhere. Can anyone else give
me a tip or 2?

Thanks.

bozothedeathmachine@excite.com (Ben) writes:
>Hi all. I'd like to connect 2 e450s via a serial connection so I can
>tip from one to the other. I am doing some testing which will require
>1 of the 450s to be in single user mode and I will be remote.
>
>I have tried connecting the 2 A/B ports with a null modem cable and
>tip-ing to cua/a but that didn't get me anywhere. Can anyone else give
>me a tip or 2?
>

When your first E450 is using its A port as the console, you can't
run tip on it for other purposes. So you need to get a splitter
cable to give you access to the signals for the B port for using tip.
So then you would connect the cable to the B connector on the splitter
cable on the E450 you run tip on, and the other end of the cable would
connect to the A/B port on the E450 you will run in single-user mode.

-Greg
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"Dr. David Kirkby" <drkirkby@ntlworld.com> writes:
>
>I built such a cable from information at
>http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/serial/
>The 25-25 pin cable they suggest does indeed work. Apparently, not all
>null modem cables have all the connections, so that might be your
>problem.
>
>Note, I'm sure there is an error in the pinouts at that site for the
>9->25 pin cable. Pins 2 and 3 should be crossed. (I'm also sure I
>pointed this out to them, but it does not seem to have changed.)
>

No, a null-modem cable between a 9-pin and a 25-pin connector
does NOT cross over pins 2 and 3. That's because IBM reversed
the signals on pins 2 and 3 when they invented the 9-pin RS232
port. On the 9-pin connector, pin 2 is RxD (Receive Data), and
pin 3 is TxD (Transmit Data).

-Greg
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Do NOT reply via e-mail.
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No, I am using normal console on the other machine. That being said I
assume the keyboard and monitor must be disconnected from the 450 I
was to tip TO, correct?

When tipping, will I receive normal console output?

Thanks for the help.

Ben..

gerg@panix.com (Greg Andrews) wrote in message news:<bg690u$lm5$1@reader1.panix.com>...
> bozothedeathmachine@excite.com (Ben) writes:
> >Hi all. I'd like to connect 2 e450s via a serial connection so I can
> >tip from one to the other. I am doing some testing which will require
> >1 of the 450s to be in single user mode and I will be remote.
> >
> >I have tried connecting the 2 A/B ports with a null modem cable and
> >tip-ing to cua/a but that didn't get me anywhere. Can anyone else give
> >me a tip or 2?
> >
>
> When your first E450 is using its A port as the console, you can't
> run tip on it for other purposes. So you need to get a splitter
> cable to give you access to the signals for the B port for using tip.
> So then you would connect the cable to the B connector on the splitter
> cable on the E450 you run tip on, and the other end of the cable would
> connect to the A/B port on the E450 you will run in single-user mode.
>
> -Greg

Ok. First I want to say thanks to everyone for there input, but there
is another "but" following...

But, I still can't get the machines to talk. I booted sun1 into SU
mode then quickly unplugged the keyboard and mouse. I then connected
my laptop (Procomm Plus on Win2k) to the serial A/B port. I got a
carrier-detect light, but nothing from the console. I tried this both
with and without null cable. Then tried the same thing for the serial
port of sun2 (running normal console) with/without null. Nothing. I
can't get any kind of output from the serial port. I'm getting close
to wits end here.

Is serial A console by default? Or do I have to edit some config
files?

Thanks again.

gerg@panix.com (Greg Andrews) wrote in message news:<bg690u$lm5$1@reader1.panix.com>...
> bozothedeathmachine@excite.com (Ben) writes:
> >Hi all. I'd like to connect 2 e450s via a serial connection so I can
> >tip from one to the other. I am doing some testing which will require
> >1 of the 450s to be in single user mode and I will be remote.
> >
> >I have tried connecting the 2 A/B ports with a null modem cable and
> >tip-ing to cua/a but that didn't get me anywhere. Can anyone else give
> >me a tip or 2?
> >
>
> When your first E450 is using its A port as the console, you can't
> run tip on it for other purposes. So you need to get a splitter
> cable to give you access to the signals for the B port for using tip.
> So then you would connect the cable to the B connector on the splitter
> cable on the E450 you run tip on, and the other end of the cable would
> connect to the A/B port on the E450 you will run in single-user mode.
>
> -Greg

On 1 Aug 2003 02:19:31 -0700, bozothedeathmachine@excite.com
(Ben) wrote:

>Ok. First I want to say thanks to everyone for there input, but there
>is another "but" following...
>
>But, I still can't get the machines to talk. I booted sun1 into SU
>mode then quickly unplugged the keyboard and mouse. I then connected
>my laptop (Procomm Plus on Win2k) to the serial A/B port. I got a
>carrier-detect light, but nothing from the console.

That won't work. The keyboard must be disconnected *before* the
machine is powered up. As part of the power-up sequence, the
machine looks to see if a keyboard is attached. If one is
attached, it's used for console input and console output is
directed at the monitor port. If there's no keyboard attached
*when the machine is powered up*, console I/O is directed at
serial port A.

If you have the correct null-modem cable linking port A to port B
(say) on another Sun box, "tip -9600 /dev/cua/b" on that other
Sun box should allow you to talk to the console on the first box.

If you prefer to use a Windoze laptop as the controller, TeraTerm
is highly recommended at the terminal program to use:

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html

Mike.

bozothedeathmachine@excite.com (Ben) writes:
>Ok. First I want to say thanks to everyone for there input, but there
>is another "but" following...
>
>But, I still can't get the machines to talk. I booted sun1 into SU
>mode then quickly unplugged the keyboard and mouse.
>

No. Power sun1 off, unplug the keyboard and mouse, then power it on.

-Greg
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Do NOT reply via e-mail.
Reply in the newsgroup.

Greg Andrews wrote:
>
> "Dr. David Kirkby" <drkirkby@ntlworld.com> writes:
> >
> >I built such a cable from information at
> >http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/serial/
> >The 25-25 pin cable they suggest does indeed work. Apparently, not all
> >null modem cables have all the connections, so that might be your
> >problem.
> >
> >Note, I'm sure there is an error in the pinouts at that site for the
> >9->25 pin cable. Pins 2 and 3 should be crossed. (I'm also sure I
> >pointed this out to them, but it does not seem to have changed.)
> >
>
> No, a null-modem cable between a 9-pin and a 25-pin connector
> does NOT cross over pins 2 and 3. That's because IBM reversed
> the signals on pins 2 and 3 when they invented the 9-pin RS232
> port. On the 9-pin connector, pin 2 is RxD (Receive Data), and
> pin 3 is TxD (Transmit Data).
>
> -Greg
> --
> Do NOT reply via e-mail.
> Reply in the newsgroup.

There must surely be something wrong these set of connections, which
is at
http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/serial/


25 pin 9 pin
pin 1 GND - pin 1 GND
pin 2 TXD - pin 3 RXD
pin 3 RXD - pin 3 TXD
pin 4 RTS - pin 8 CTS
pin 5 CTS - pin 7 RTS
pin 7 gnd - pin 5 gnd
pin 6 DSR - pin 4 DTR
pin 20 DTR - pin 6 DSR

How can this work, if both both pins 2 and 3 at the 25-pin end are
shorted together on pin 3 of the 9-pin end? That makes no sense to me.
It must be wrong.

If I understand you correctly, the correct connections for a 25 to 9
pin null modem cable should be:

25 pin 9 pin
pin 1 GND - pin 1 GND
pin 2 TXD - pin 2 RXD
pin 3 RXD - pin 3 TXD
pin 4 RTS - pin 8 CTS
pin 5 CTS - pin 7 RTS
pin 7 gnd - pin 5 gnd
pin 6 DSR - pin 4 DTR
pin 20 DTR - pin 6 DSR

Is that correct ?

--
Dr. David Kirkby,
Senior Research Fellow,
Department of Medical Physics,
University College London,
11-20 Capper St, London, WC1E 6JA.
Tel: 020 7679 6408 Fax: 020 7679 6269
Internal telephone: ext 46408
e-mail davek@medphys.ucl.ac.uk

"Dr. David Kirkby" <drkirkby@ntlworld.com> writes:
>Greg Andrews wrote:
>>
>> No, a null-modem cable between a 9-pin and a 25-pin connector
>> does NOT cross over pins 2 and 3. That's because IBM reversed
>> the signals on pins 2 and 3 when they invented the 9-pin RS232
>> port. On the 9-pin connector, pin 2 is RxD (Receive Data), and
>> pin 3 is TxD (Transmit Data).
>>
>There must surely be something wrong these set of connections, which
>is at
>http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/serial/
>
>
>25 pin 9 pin
>pin 1 GND - pin 1 GND
>pin 2 TXD - pin 3 RXD
>pin 3 RXD - pin 3 TXD
>pin 4 RTS - pin 8 CTS
>pin 5 CTS - pin 7 RTS
>pin 7 gnd - pin 5 gnd
>pin 6 DSR - pin 4 DTR
>pin 20 DTR - pin 6 DSR
>
>How can this work, if both both pins 2 and 3 at the 25-pin end are
>shorted together on pin 3 of the 9-pin end? That makes no sense to me.
>It must be wrong.
>

It is wrong. It's wrong in three ways. You've pointed out the
most obvious one. (the second line has the wrong pin number for
the 9-pin connector).

>
>If I understand you correctly, the correct connections for a 25 to 9
>pin null modem cable should be:
>
>25 pin 9 pin
>pin 1 GND - pin 1 GND
>

No. This is the second problem with obsolyte.com's pinout.
Pin 1 of the 9-pin connector is not GND. It is DCD, and it
should not be connected to the chassis ground pin on the 25-pin
connector.

>
>pin 2 TXD - pin 2 RXD
>pin 3 RXD - pin 3 TXD
>pin 4 RTS - pin 8 CTS
>pin 5 CTS - pin 7 RTS
>pin 7 gnd - pin 5 gnd
>pin 6 DSR - pin 4 DTR
>pin 20 DTR - pin 6 DSR
>
>Is that correct ?
>

It's correct as far as the data, ground, and RTS/CTS pins are
concerned, but I think it shows an inferior connection of the
DTR, DSR, and DCD pins. (that's the third problem)

Take a look at the 25-to-25 null-modem cable diagram on the same
web page. It doesn't show DTR on one end going to just DSR on
the other end. It shows DTR on one end going to both DSR and
DCD on the other end. That is the superior connection.

So not only is part of the obsolyte.com 25-to-9 pinout wrong,
but other parts are inconsistent with their 25-to-25 pinout,
*which they recommend*. They need to revise that page.

-Greg
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Do NOT reply via e-mail.
Reply in the newsgroup.

Good morning all!

Post your technical queries to ap-csc-english@sun.com if you are based in
the Asia Pacific region (including Australia and New Zealand). This is the
Technical Support area. They should be able to point you in the right
direction.

However, unless you have a Cobalt machine - all other hardware and software
support requires you to have a valid maintenance contract number with Sun.
If you don't have one, be prepared to pay for time and materials costs.

Best regards
Andrew

"Greg Andrews" <gerg@panix.com> wrote in message
news:bge7ed$d8b$1@reader1.panix.com...
> bozothedeathmachine@excite.com (Ben) writes:
> >Ok. First I want to say thanks to everyone for there input, but there
> >is another "but" following...
> >
> >But, I still can't get the machines to talk. I booted sun1 into SU
> >mode then quickly unplugged the keyboard and mouse.
> >
>
> No. Power sun1 off, unplug the keyboard and mouse, then power it on.
>
> -Greg
> --
> Do NOT reply via e-mail.
> Reply in the newsgroup.