Re: [SLUG] Ancient TI-S1500 Unix Machine

From: Andrew M Hoerter (amh@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Aug 05 2003 - 23:51:15 EDT


On 5 Aug 2003, Tyler Vann-Campbell wrote:

> I know the IP address of the LAN interface (BNC) and my first thought
> was telnet, but I haven't had any luck using that method to get a
> console. I've been using a breakout box to test the leftover dumb
> terminals and multiplexers and several terminal emulators on serial
> ports, but the most I've been able to get is an echo from the machine.

What exactly do you mean by "an echo"? If it prints a login prompt in
response to hitting enter or something like that, then it's probably
working, but I guess that's probably not the case. The only serial lines
you should need are TXD, RXD, and ground. Everything else is extra,
although if the serial port supports (and uses) modem control lines you'll
want DTR, DSR, DCD, and possibly RTS and CTS as well. Different systems
interpret those lines differently.

You could try rlogin or rsh, but without a root password, I'm not sure how
far you'd get.

Basically, you're going to need to bring the machine to single-user mode
so you can reset the root password and do whatever else you want to do.
The way to do that is to get on the console port (as you're attempting to
do), power-cycle the hardware, and somehow get the system to boot in
single-user mode. I don't know much about the hardware you're talking
about but googling for details might help determine a course of action.

If by some stroke of luck root is already logged in and idling on the
console, of course you can just edit /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow as
appropriate and fix the password.

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