Next Previous Contents 17. If the boot failed this will not be of any use since the terminal can't work without an operating system. It's possible to modify the Linux kernel so as to make a terminal serve as the console and receive all the messages from Linux intended for the console.
Some people use a serial console when they run a PC without a monitor or keyboard.
Normally, a PC will not start up without a keyboard and video card but some BIOSs permit it. In any case serial support needs to be compiled into the kernel and not supplied as a module. See the above mentioned kernel documentation and the man page for lilo.conf for more details. For Kernels before 2.2 The Linux Journal in April 1997 had an article on patching the Linux kernel. The following was not in the Linux Journal article.