Mapping BIOS interface from VGA to serial

From: Jack Patteeuw (jjpatteeuw_at_peoplepc.com)
Date: 08/02/03 

Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 01:42:23 GMT

I work in a medium sized shop supporting Solaris and Tru64 on SPARC and
Alpha. We have 3 sites, in 2 cities and only 2 people to support about
60+ systems, so keeping things simple and common are the only way we can
keep our sanity.

There is a lot of discussion about going to Linux especially as Alpha
approaches end of life (but boy, are there some deals on used hardware
now !)

We currently use an old DEC software product called Console Manager that
allows us to connect the serial ports from multiple servers through some
terminal server back to one system where we can control everything. It
is simple, it is cheap and it works, so don't suggest changing to
anything different.

I know most new Intel "servers" can map their BIOS output to COM1 and
after Linux is loaded re-directing its output to COM1 is not a big deal.

Here is my question. Can anyone recommend a VGA "simulator" board with
a serial connection that maps VGA screen sequences to VT100 so we can
continue to use our current setup with older and/or "non-server" Intel
hardware ?

TIA

jp

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