Time-lapse server

Hardware

• www.soekris.com net4801
• 2.5" hdd 40GB

Software

• ubuntu 9.04 latest (http://www.ubuntu.com)
• kernel config (from http://wiki.soekris.info/Linux_kernel_.config_collection)

Serial console access

• usb-serial adapter (drivers)
• ZTerm for MacOSX (http://homepage.mac.com/dalverson/zterm/)

And modifying linux to enable serial support:

(from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto)

vi /etc/event.d/ttyS0

# ttyS0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on ttyS0 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on runlevel 2
start on runlevel 3
start on runlevel 4
start on runlevel 5

stop on runlevel 0
stop on runlevel 1
stop on runlevel 6

respawn
exec /sbin/getty 38400 ttyS0

vi /boot/grub/menu.lst add this line somewhere in the first part:

# Enable console output via the serial port. unit 0 is /dev/ttyS0, unit 1 is /dev/ttyS1...
serial --unit=0 --speed=38400 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=15 serial console

and append this behind the kernel line of the kernel you want to boot:

console=tty0 console=ttyS0,38400n8