SILO - halt at the boot: prompt to return to OpenBoot PROM

[jv234567]

Installing Gentoo on a Sun T1 Netra using a PC terminal emulator on the LOM (Lights Out Management) serial port (Thanks Ultra Spec Cables for the RJ45 to RS232 null modem adapter).

Its really difficult to get back to the OBP (OpenBoot PROM) prompt because the emulator lacks the Sun Stop key and Ctrl A/break/ etc does not work. You need a power cycle.

So if you mess-up your SILO config or the kernel won't boot during the installation you can be left at the SILO boot: prompt with no where to go except your broken boot option.

You could enter the full address of an alternative boot device (e.g. the installation CD) - which is tough.

Or you can type 'halt' which exits SILO and takes you back to the OBP prompt with no hassle. You can then type 'boot cdrom' and boot from the installation CD.

So it would be nice if the documentation included the SILO 'halt' option and if the example silo.conf file had a cdroom boot option to allow boot choices between hdd and cdrom for those of use who did not get it right first time.