Writing Device Drivers

Setting Up a Target System on the SPARC Platform

A quick way to set up the test machine on the SPARC platform is to unplug the keyboard before turning on the machine. The machine then automatically uses serial port A as the console.

Another way to set up the test machine is to use boot PROM commands to make serial port A the console. On the test machine, at the boot PROM ok prompt, direct console I/O to the serial line. To make the test machine always come up with serial port A as the console, set the environment variables: input-device and output-device.


Example 22–1 Setting input-device and output-device With Boot PROM Commands


ok setenv input-device ttya
ok setenv output-device ttya

The eeprom command can also be used to make serial port A the console. As superuser, execute the following commands to make the input-device and output-device parameters point to serial port A. The following example demonstrates the eeprom command.


Example 22–2 Setting input-device and output-device With the eeprom Command


# eeprom input-device=ttya
# eeprom output-device=ttya

The eeprom commands cause the console to be redirected to serial port A at each subsequent system boot.