USB console or other alternatives

[Doug Lee]

I'm one of these guys running FreeBSD 4.11 on very old hardware (a
Pentium 166, specifically), and I want to upgrade to FreeBSD 6 or 7
soon but with new hardware.  Being blind, I need to use something
other than the video card for a console.  I've been using a serial
console for a long time, but serial ports are getting scarce.  I need
the console to become active during the boot sequence in case of
problems, as it can with a serial console.  As I did with FreeBSD 3
and 4, I will also want to activate this console during FreeBSD
installation if possible, so I don't have to have someone else be here
when I install it.

Can modern hardware and a modern FreeBSD version provide console
access before the kernel loads via USB or via anything other than an
actual on-board or PCI serial port?

Please Cc answers.  Thanks very much for any info.


-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org        
SSB + BART Group         doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"Innovation is hard to schedule." -- Dan Fylstra