[rescue] Tiny/cheap terminal server?

[David A de Gruyl]

* on [04-03-03 00:49] Gregory Leblanc wrote:
>Anybody know of something that would work as a single port serial 
>terminal server?  I'm living 300 miles from my stable internet 
>connection at the moment, but I'd like to have some way to manage the 
>server other than 'ssh', "just in case".  Calling friends/relatives who 
>live up there to go plug in a laptop just isn't that cool.  Thanks,

I would use a serial console server (terminal server).  I picked up a 
used microannex xl (Nortel / Xylogics) and it just works.  A similar 
product is the Xyplex maxserver.  One of the ports could be used for 
modem access, I believe.  Used systems are really fairly inexpensive.

More information on serial consoles can be found at:
http://www.conserver.com/consoles/

An alternate would be to put a modem on the serial console directly, but 
I don't know how well this works, and it requires software.

If you are speaking of PC hardware, however, I have had very little 
success with it.  Perhaps this is because of the design which generally 
does not give you full access to the console over the serial port.

David

-- 
David de Gruyl <david at bhaermandegruyl.org>