UNIX® has always had support for serial
communications. In fact, the very first UNIX machines
relied on serial lines for user input and output. Things have changed a lot from the days
when the average “terminal” consisted of a 10-character-per-second serial
printer and a keyboard. This chapter will cover some of the ways in which FreeBSD uses
serial communications.
After reading this chapter, you will know:
-
How to connect terminals to your FreeBSD system.
-
How to use a modem to dial out to remote hosts.
-
How to allow remote users to login to your system with a modem.
-
How to boot your system from a serial console.
Before reading this chapter, you should:
-
Know how to configure and install a new kernel (Chapter
8).
-
Understand UNIX permissions and processes (Chapter 3).
-
Have access to the technical manual for the serial hardware (modem or multi-port card)
that you would like to use with FreeBSD.
