misc/61264: Unable To Use VT100 Terminal Emulator (TeraTirm Pro) To Install FreeBSD 5.2RC2 On I386 Over Serial Line

[Sabahattin Gucukoglu]

>Number:         61264
>Category:       misc
>Synopsis:       Unable To Use VT100 Terminal Emulator (TeraTirm Pro) To Install FreeBSD 5.2RC2 On I386 Over Serial Line
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    freebsd-bugs
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Jan 12 11:50:11 PST 2004
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Sabahattin Gucukoglu
>Release:        FreeBSD 5.2-RC2
>Organization:
I Need More Of This
>Environment:
	N/A
	
>Description:
      Using either Hyperterminal or TeraTerm Pro - Windows-based VT100
      and ANSI terminal emulators - to follow instructions given in the
      handbook about installing FreeBSD headless (i.e. over serial line)
      aren't successful.  In particular, when VT100 terminal is selected
      for Sysinstall, the pageup/pagedn keys don't work as they are
      advertised, and the terminal is regularly corrupted - repeated
      lines, overlapping lines, uncleared screen resulting in bits of
      text that escaped the previous screen, etc.  I would use the ANSI
      terminal option for installation, because that would give me only
      7-bit plain old ASCII, but that's even more hopeless - down arrow
      in main menu somehow gets you the "Do you really want to exit"
      prompt, and the same happens when you pick "FreeBSD System
      Console".  The selection is made prior to entering sysinstall, by
      the boot floppies, by typing a number 1-5.  My reasons for doing
      this are that I am totally blind and, not being able to see the
      terminal screen, can't do the installation in any other way.  The
      hope was that if I could get FreeBSD installed with SSHD/TelnetD,
      the whole issue of accessibility aids would not be a problem - I
      might install them later if necessary or if system administration
      somehow became problematic, but at least I could administer the
      system from more accessible systems.  I could also instruct the
      bootloader to use - -P to kernel, giving me access through the
      serial port until those networking features were ready.

>How-To-Repeat:

    Connect Windows PC running either of these terminal emulators
    (preferably TeraTerm Pro as it needs zero extra configuration and
    which is freely available at
    http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html ) to a
    candidate box for FreeBSD 5.2-RC2.  Then, follow the handbook
    guidance for serial installation, and use the Windows PC as "Some
    sort of VT100/compatible terminal".  The only exception to this -
    when you first boot the floppy, rather than going through the
    lengthy bit about disconnecting/reconnecting the keyboard, you could
    just type "-h" at the bootstrap prompt, press enter, and you'll get
    stuff spewing on the terminal.  When you are through the kernel
    decompress/boot, use "VT100/Compatible" as the terminal choice when
    prompted (it should be option 2).  First, try the usage screen - tap
    pagedn, which is assigned the VT100 "Next" key.  From the main menu,
    choose Options (try using the cursors, you'll see what I mean, you
    may see screen corruption, but if not make the selection and then
    cursor around - - say DHCP.  Tap space to change the flag, and you
    should now definitely see some terminal corruption.  Also from your
    encounter with the usage screen or other submenus in this system
    like the custom install you may be able to see remnents of previous
    screens.

>Fix:

      Q&D Fix recommendation - redraw screen after every single
      dialog/menu.  Ugh...  but necessary.  That's what Debian GNU/Linux
      does & it works.  Any chance of a completely text-mode (i.e. no
      pretty graphics) installation process using only prompts for
      readline input?  :-)


>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: