accessing serial console on sparc64 machines through uplcom

[Paul de Weerd]

Hi all,

In an attempt to resurrect some old machines (and test some 6.5
snaps), I pulled out a bunch of old sparc64 machines from storage
yesterday.  These have been shelved for a very long time (and i've
tossed two out because they have definitely failed).

Unfortunately, I've not been able to type anything useful on the
serial console.  So my current thought is that this simply doesn't
work with the USB to serial adapter I'm trying:

uplcom0 at uhub3 port 1 configuration 1 interface 0 "Prolific Technology Inc. USB-Serial Controller" rev 1.10/3.00 addr 9

Could there be pin-out or flow control issues that allow incoming data
(from serial console on the sparc64 box to the cu(1) running on my
laptop with this uplcom(4)), but that give erratic behavior when
trying to type?  Pressing enter once at a login prompt gives me:

Please login:
Please login:
Please login:
Please login:
Please login: Sun(tm) Advanced Lights Out Man
Please Enter password:

I've uploaded a couple of script(1) typescripts for the four machines
I tried that have the cu session output captured:

http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v210_1.txt
http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v210_2.txt
http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v215.txt
http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/solair_workstation.txt

In all cases I just did `script -c "cu -l cuaU0"`, none of them
properly responds to any input on the console.  The solair machine
doesn't respond at all, it just sits there, the v210 machines don't
boot (admittedly, I forgot the ALOM password, but I can't type it in
either).  The v215 actually boots into an old OpenBSD 5.3 install but
has completely garbled up output after it boots.

Any advice on how to get any of these going again?  Will this work at
all with the uplcom(4) device, or do I need a true serial port on a
machine somewhere?

Thanks,

Paul 'WEiRD' de Weerd

--
>++++++++[<++++++++++>-]<+++++++.>+++[<------>-]<.>+++[<+
+++++++++++>-]<.>++[<------------>-]<+.--------------.[-]
                 http://www.weirdnet.nl/                 

[Christian Weisgerber]

Paul de Weerd:

> http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v215.txt

Puzzling.  Seeing stuff like this...

---------------------------->
Automatic boot in progress: starting file system checks.
/dev/sd0a (e580d48835930ea5.a): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0k (e580d48835930ea5.k): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd1a (b4b681cb78013c36.a): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0d (e580d48835930ea5.d): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd1d (b4b681cb78013c36.d): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0f (e580d48835930ea5.f): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0g (e580d48835930ea5.g): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0h (e580d48835930ea5.h): file system is clean; not checking
/dev/sd0j (e580d48835930ea5.j): file system is clean; not checking
Automa/dev/sd0i (e580d48835930ea5.i): file system is clean; not checking
tic boot in progress: st/dev/sd0e (e580d48835930ea5.e): file system is
clean; not checking
arting file system checks.
<----------------------------

... I wonder: Did you reboot inbetween and there was a huge loss
of output, or does it actually repeat output?  The latter would be
particularly inexplicable.

> Will this work at all with the uplcom(4) device,

It certainly should.

> or do I need a true serial port on a machine somewhere?

No.  I have used uplcom(4) and uftdi(4) serial adapters to access
serial consoles since... since well before I got rid of my alpha
and sparc64 gear.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          [hidden email]

[Theo de Raadt-2]

Christian Weisgerber <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Paul de Weerd:
>
> > http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v215.txt
>
> Puzzling.  Seeing stuff like this...
>
> ---------------------------->
> Automatic boot in progress: starting file system checks.
> /dev/sd0a (e580d48835930ea5.a): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0k (e580d48835930ea5.k): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd1a (b4b681cb78013c36.a): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0d (e580d48835930ea5.d): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd1d (b4b681cb78013c36.d): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0f (e580d48835930ea5.f): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0g (e580d48835930ea5.g): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0h (e580d48835930ea5.h): file system is clean; not checking
> /dev/sd0j (e580d48835930ea5.j): file system is clean; not checking
> Automa/dev/sd0i (e580d48835930ea5.i): file system is clean; not checking
> tic boot in progress: st/dev/sd0e (e580d48835930ea5.e): file system is
> clean; not checking
> arting file system checks.
> <----------------------------
>
> ... I wonder: Did you reboot inbetween and there was a huge loss
> of output, or does it actually repeat output?  The latter would be
> particularly inexplicable.
>
> > Will this work at all with the uplcom(4) device,
>
> It certainly should.
>
> > or do I need a true serial port on a machine somewhere?
>
> No.  I have used uplcom(4) and uftdi(4) serial adapters to access
> serial consoles since... since well before I got rid of my alpha
> and sparc64 gear.

I have recently gotten my hand on a batch of uftdi(4) that were
so defective that I threw them in the garbage.  I believe they were
clones, and operationally just a wee bit off.  Two behaviours were
very bad: they would misbehave on the usb bus at times, and they
would suddenly repeat a chunk of characters.  It is odd that is not
a power of two, looks like 67 or maybe 68...

[Paul de Weerd]

Thank you Theo and Christian for your replies.  This machine has just
been upgraded from 5.3 to 6.5!  I did lose half the memory, POST
detected errors and left me with 4GB usable.

The uplcom(4) from my previous mail has been destroyed and disposed of
- a replacement uplcom(4) worked just fine.

OpenBSD 6.5 (GENERIC) #153: Mon Apr  8 17:32:51 MDT 2019
    [hidden email]:/usr/src/sys/arch/sparc64/compile/GENERIC
real mem = 4294967296 (4096MB)
avail mem = 4203978752 (4009MB)
mpath0 at root
scsibus0 at mpath0: 256 targets
mainbus0 at root: Sun Fire V215
cpu0 at mainbus0: SUNW,UltraSPARC-IIIi (rev 3.4) @ 1504 MHz
cpu0: physical 32K instruction (32 b/l), 64K data (32 b/l), 1024K external (64 b/l)
"memory-controller" at mainbus0 not configured
pyro0 at mainbus0: "Fire", rev 3, ign 780, bus A 2 to 13
pyro0: dvma map c0000000-ffffffff
pci0 at pyro0
ppb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb
pci1 at ppb0 bus 3
ppb1 at pci1 dev 1 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb
pci2 at ppb1 bus 4
ppb2 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Acer Labs M5249" rev 0x00
pci3 at ppb2 bus 5
ohci0 at pci3 dev 28 function 0 "Acer Labs M5237 USB" rev 0x03: ivec 0x780, version 1.0, legacy support
ohci1 at pci3 dev 28 function 1 "Acer Labs M5237 USB" rev 0x03: ivec 0x780, version 1.0, legacy support
ehci0 at pci3 dev 28 function 3 "Acer Labs M5239 USB2" rev 0x01: ivec 0x781
usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub0 at usb0 configuration 1 interface 0 "Acer Labs EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
ebus0 at pci3 dev 30 function 0 "Acer Labs M1575 ISA" rev 0x00
rtc0 at ebus0 addr 70-73: m5823
pciide0 at pci3 dev 31 function 0 "Acer Labs M5229 UDMA IDE" rev 0xc8: DMA, channel 0 configured to native-PCI, channel 1 configured to native-PCI
pciide0: using ivec 0x784 for native-PCI interrupt
atapiscsi0 at pciide0 channel 0 drive 0
scsibus1 at atapiscsi0: 2 targets
cd0 at scsibus1 targ 0 lun 0: <MATSHITA, DVD-RAM UJ-85JS, F100> ATAPI 5/cdrom removable
cd0(pciide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2
pciide0: channel 1 disabled (no drives)
usb1 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub1 at usb1 configuration 1 interface 0 "Acer Labs OHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb2 at ohci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub2 at usb2 configuration 1 interface 0 "Acer Labs OHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
ppb3 at pci1 dev 2 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb: msi
pci4 at ppb3 bus 6
ppb4 at pci1 dev 8 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb: msi
pci5 at ppb4 bus 7
ppb5 at pci1 dev 9 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb
pci6 at ppb5 bus 8
ppb6 at pci6 dev 0 function 0 "ServerWorks PCIE-PCIX" rev 0xb5
pci7 at ppb6 bus 9
bge0 at pci7 dev 4 function 0 "Broadcom BCM5714" rev 0xa3, BCM5715 A3 (0x9003): ivec 0x795, address 00:14:4f:b0:85:1a
brgphy0 at bge0 phy 1: BCM5714 10/100/1000baseT/SX PHY, rev. 0
bge1 at pci7 dev 4 function 1 "Broadcom BCM5714" rev 0xa3, BCM5715 A3 (0x9003): ivec 0x796, address 00:14:4f:b0:85:1b
brgphy1 at bge1 phy 1: BCM5714 10/100/1000baseT/SX PHY, rev. 0
ppb7 at pci7 dev 8 function 0 "ServerWorks HT-1000 PCIX" rev 0xb4
pci8 at ppb7 bus 10
ppb8 at pci1 dev 10 function 0 "PLX PEX 8532" rev 0xbb
pci9 at ppb8 bus 11
ppb9 at pci9 dev 0 function 0 "ServerWorks PCIE-PCIX" rev 0xb5
pci10 at ppb9 bus 12
bge2 at pci10 dev 4 function 0 "Broadcom BCM5714" rev 0xa3, BCM5715 A3 (0x9003): ivec 0x796, address 00:14:4f:b0:85:1c
brgphy2 at bge2 phy 1: BCM5714 10/100/1000baseT/SX PHY, rev. 0
bge3 at pci10 dev 4 function 1 "Broadcom BCM5714" rev 0xa3, BCM5715 A3 (0x9003): ivec 0x797, address 00:14:4f:b0:85:1d
brgphy3 at bge3 phy 1: BCM5714 10/100/1000baseT/SX PHY, rev. 0
ppb10 at pci10 dev 8 function 0 "ServerWorks HT-1000 PCIX" rev 0xb4
pci11 at ppb10 bus 13
mpi0 at pci11 dev 1 function 0 "Symbios Logic SAS1064" rev 0x02: msi
mpi0: SAS1064, firmware 1.8.4.0
scsibus2 at mpi0: 63 targets
sym0 at scsibus2 targ 0 lun 0: <SEAGATE, ST973402SSUN72G, 0603> SCSI3 0/direct fixed naa.5000c50007e1df0b
sd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <SEAGATE, ST973402SSUN72G, 0603> SCSI3 0/direct fixed naa.5000c50007e1df0b
sd0: 70007MB, 512 bytes/sector, 143374738 sectors
sd1 at scsibus2 targ 1 lun 0: <FUJITSU, MBB2073RCSUN72G, 0505> SCSI2 0/direct fixed naa.500000e019033ec0
sd1: 70007MB, 512 bytes/sector, 143374738 sectors
pyro1 at mainbus0: "Fire", rev 3, ign 7c0, bus B 2 to 255
pyro1: dvma map c0000000-ffffffff
pci12 at pyro1
ebus1 at mainbus0
"flashprom" at ebus1 addr 0-1fffff not configured
com0 at ebus1 addr 80-87 ivec 0x7c8: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
com0: console
com1 at ebus1 addr 40-47 ivec 0x7c9: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
"rmc-comm" at ebus1 addr 0-7 ivec 0x7ca not configured
"gpio" at ebus1 addr c0-c0 not configured
led0 at ebus1 addr 0-80: rev 0x5a
power0 at ebus1 addr 40-c1 ivec 0x7c3
"i2c" at mainbus0 not configured
vscsi0 at root
scsibus3 at vscsi0: 256 targets
softraid0 at root
scsibus4 at softraid0: 256 targets
bootpath: /pci@1e,600000/pci@0,0/pci@a,0/pci@0,0/pci@8,0/scsi@1,0/disk@0,0
root on sd0a (e580d48835930ea5.a) swap on sd0b dump on sd0b


On Tue, Apr 09, 2019 at 09:44:39PM +0200, Paul de Weerd wrote:
| Hi all,
|
| In an attempt to resurrect some old machines (and test some 6.5
| snaps), I pulled out a bunch of old sparc64 machines from storage
| yesterday.  These have been shelved for a very long time (and i've
| tossed two out because they have definitely failed).
|
| Unfortunately, I've not been able to type anything useful on the
| serial console.  So my current thought is that this simply doesn't
| work with the USB to serial adapter I'm trying:
|
| uplcom0 at uhub3 port 1 configuration 1 interface 0 "Prolific Technology Inc. USB-Serial Controller" rev 1.10/3.00 addr 9
|
| Could there be pin-out or flow control issues that allow incoming data
| (from serial console on the sparc64 box to the cu(1) running on my
| laptop with this uplcom(4)), but that give erratic behavior when
| trying to type?  Pressing enter once at a login prompt gives me:
|
| Please login:
| Please login:
| Please login:
| Please login:
| Please login: Sun(tm) Advanced Lights Out Man
| Please Enter password:
|
| I've uploaded a couple of script(1) typescripts for the four machines
| I tried that have the cu session output captured:
|
| http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v210_1.txt
| http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v210_2.txt
| http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/v215.txt
| http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/serial_script/solair_workstation.txt
|
| In all cases I just did `script -c "cu -l cuaU0"`, none of them
| properly responds to any input on the console.  The solair machine
| doesn't respond at all, it just sits there, the v210 machines don't
| boot (admittedly, I forgot the ALOM password, but I can't type it in
| either).  The v215 actually boots into an old OpenBSD 5.3 install but
| has completely garbled up output after it boots.
|
| Any advice on how to get any of these going again?  Will this work at
| all with the uplcom(4) device, or do I need a true serial port on a
| machine somewhere?
|
| Thanks,
|
| Paul 'WEiRD' de Weerd
|
| --
| >++++++++[<++++++++++>-]<+++++++.>+++[<------>-]<.>+++[<+
| +++++++++++>-]<.>++[<------------>-]<+.--------------.[-]
|                  http://www.weirdnet.nl/                 
|

--
>++++++++[<++++++++++>-]<+++++++.>+++[<------>-]<.>+++[<+
+++++++++++>-]<.>++[<------------>-]<+.--------------.[-]
                 http://www.weirdnet.nl/