Re: Gaps in logs while using usb-serial as a console

From: Randy Dunlap
Date: Mon Oct 30 2023 - 23:51:17 EST




On 10/30/23 07:19, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 09:30:15AM +0100, Greg KH wrote:
>> On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 10:15:30AM +0200, ariel marcovitch wrote:
>>>> Please realize that usb-serial console was the result of me loosing a
>>>> drunken bet. It's amazing it works at all. For "fake" devices like
>>> LOL your drunken bet was quite helpful to some people
>>> Because modern PCs come without a serial port, I wanted to use it to
>>> see early logs on my crashing kernel without having to use printk
>>> delay and things like that.
>>> I'm curious as to how kernel people debug PCs in general...
>>
>> We use a usb debug port connection (it's a special cable).

For EHCI it is a special cable. For XHCI you can use a special cable but
it is not required. (I saw a few people on LKML say that a normal data cable
works so I tested it and it does work.)

But if you want the special cable (for XHCI), this one works:
https://www.datapro.net/products/usb-3-0-super-speed-a-a-debugging-cable.html

So I tested with both the special debug cable and a normal A-A data cable,
both with satisfactory results.

> Sometimes people use netconsole (see
> Documentation/networking/netconsole.rst). I don't know how common it is
> nowadays, and it may not be quite as reliable as a debug port device,
> but it should still work. And it doesn't require special hardware.

It would be great if netconsole worked with wifi and not wired (ethernet).

--
~Randy