Screen resolution - why do I need to ask for this here?
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Hi gents,
Read your posts, and maybe I came a bit too strong about this, but you simply must admit that when any os has a display attached, and it can show output, that it should do so properly.
In my many attempts I even changed the pc whit a different os, Openwrt and opnsense. The first started on that same big ass tv with very small characters, then you know what os this is.... and since I could not see any installing, I thought that I had picked the wrong package. So I rebooted the usb stick, forgetting to choose the bootorder, but I can reset any time (I was distracted here by RL matters). When I went back to the matter at hand, It showed Pfsense boot up on the screen, and what showed? It was correct displaying it. So I thought, "Ok, lets get going then..." and after a while I had to reboot again, and what happened? the characters were way off again.This is actually what I wanted to let you know, it is not a smear in your face but just a fact that this software generally shows output, but it doesn't care, but this is my opinion and what I think happens...
Coming on strong about the OS, ok, that is not all miscalculated, Freebsd is partial Unix, but so is Linux, and so is Netware, so, me bugging about this Linux thing is just ventilating my frustration on these things, not personal, you have to see and live what I went through to get so far, and if not having all the knowledge, things can get in your hair very fast. So, I apologize for my behavior.
Sorry pfSense. -
@johnpoz Sorry man, but I did not laugh, I just tried this and thought that this would work. Knowing what I had to do to get a console working, I had to invest much more to get things working, and for what? just a bit of testing?
That is all this was, finding out a way to make vlans so that IOT devices can not touch the rest of the network, thatsall....
Oh and by the way, I was closer to crying...... -
@johnpoz said in Screen resolution - why do I need to ask for this here?:
@andyrh said in Screen resolution - why do I need to ask for this here?:
Part of the fun is making the weird work...
While there is something to be said about creative jury rigging to accomplish a task that has limited window to get done. I wouldn't personally call that fun ;) I am in the proper tool for the task camp ;)
You don't need a TV to see the console of a pi, just enable ssh when you install the image to your sd card, and you can ssh to it.. I have had multiple pi's, going back to the first one and including the Zero (without networking - just bought the cheap usb nic for it to get it on the network) - never once connected a monitor of any of them.. ;)
Would never in a million years attempt to use my TV as a monitor to work on something like a pi or server or my router.. How do you have such device without an actual monitor to use - even if its your normal PC or laptop, etc. And if I didn't I would just order a cheap monitor to use, and it would be here tmrw and could do whatever I was going to do then ;)
I just threw out 2 old 4:3 shit monitors to be honest - they are pain to get rid of.. Freaking computer stores want like $30 each to dispose of them.. Had to wait til the city runs its electronic recycling program to get rid of them ;)
I am puzzled, how can you, and I am serious, when installing software to a Pi, how do you know when to enable ssh? do you have a disability device like blind people do to read the screen? can you read braille?
I sure don't have that, I must be able to see where this is going when installing.... So either you know something we don't (and do please tell) or you just guess from endlessly installing them, knowing exactly when to put what in where.... And that I find truly magnificent, making no mistakes there.... -
This remark I made about serial.... find me a pc that has one on board (excluding the USB)
Oh, I can buy one, but the world is a bit turned over. Please follow me here:
Serial 9 pins are male.
Serial 25 pins are male.
Parallel 25 pins are female.
Convert serial to USB are.... male
Then I need a cable, long enough, from female to female.... adding to the signal loss and problems that may arise from such construct.
In network land, it is better to use one cable from A to B than several connectors in between.
This solution is waiting for problems..... and keep searching......just a bit of info that I bring up here...
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You are not understanding what is meant by console... Not talking about old school 9 pin connection.. Did you read the thread I linked too?
Simple usb console cable is what is used these days... Not sue what your going on about several inbetween? Put the box your setting up as your router next to your PC.. Once you have it setup its gui admin, or ssh.. And now you can put it where you want it for normal use - right next your 55 inch TV I take it ;)
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If you are installing on a generic PC with some extra NICs in it though you're unlikely to have a serial console available. You definitely won't have a USB console.
I would always use a VGA connection over HDMI if that's available.
For almost all graphics hardware FreeBSD/pfSense does not use any specific driver. It uses the generic console mode. It's up to the BIOS and graphics hardware to pass that to the display and up to the display to show it correctly.
pfSense doesn't include anything additionally for graphics because most of the time it's expected to operate headless and the generic console output is sufficient to install and occasionally troubleshoot.I imagine your TV is capable of displaying it but it may well need some settings adjusting. The one I used did. I just hit auto-scale IIRC when I did it.
Steve
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@johnpoz said in Screen resolution - why do I need to ask for this here?:
You are not understanding what is meant by console... Not talking about old school 9 pin connection.. Did you read the thread I linked too?
Simple usb console cable is what is used these days... Not sue what your going on about several inbetween? Put the box your setting up as your router next to your PC.. Once you have it setup its gui admin, or ssh.. And now you can put it where you want it for normal use - right next your 55 inch TV I take it ;)
Is this cable (https://www.amazon.com/Console-Essential-Accesory-Ubiquity-Switches/dp/B01AFNBC3K) ????
I am old school, and I mean I had no cable that had usb on one end and rj45 on other... The ones I used back then was ... you guessed it right: seriel 9 pins.
That made me shiver. But as I understand you right, and yes, I did read the link you provided, there is now a cable (above link) that I can put in my laptop's usb and the rj45 can go into one of the network ports?
Is that correct? -
@avandel-0 said in Screen resolution - why do I need to ask for this here?:
But as I understand you right, and yes, I did read the link you provided, there is now a cable (above link) that I can put in my laptop's usb and the rj45 can go into one of the network ports?
Is that correct?No.
There is also a serial RJ-45. Works the same as the 9 and 25 pin D shell ports.
Be aware not all serial RJ-45 ports are wired the same. -
@andyrh any link to a cable is what I ask, and how do I designate the onboard network controller port to console?
I do think that one of the ports must be dedicated to console???? Or is this also a wrong idea? -
Search your favorite online retailer:
usb to rj45 adapter serialThe label by the port is the only way to see the difference. The manufacturer docs may be useful. Some are labeled with words, others with icons.
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@andyrh You are aware I am building one of my own? I have this 64 bit 3Ghz intel with 4Gb ram and a 4 ports gbit interface in it. It has onboard also usb and a rj45 network port. So we are talking about a selfmade old pc upgrade to firewall/router here....
There is no indication.... yet! -
I missed that.
I use the VGA port to a spare monitor port and a keyboard on my pfSense firewall, a Lenovo desktop.
(Not plugged into my great big TV
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Just to be clear here you almost certainly cannot use a serial console for this build.
A generic PC probably doesn't have a (9-pin) serial port and that's what you would need.
Dedicated appliances sometime have RJ-45 serial ports but they are wired to serial internally, they are not Ethernet. No generic PC will have that.
Dedicated appliances sometimes have USB consoles but internally they are wired to a USB to serial chip. Again, no generic PC will have that.When you install on a generic desktop PC your console choices are serial, if it has an old-school 9-pin port, or VGA/keyboard (whatever video output it has).
Steve
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@stephenw10 Ok, so If I have this thought over carefully, the best way is to buy a simple serial card (pci) and a serial cable to usb if I want to use 'a console'.
On top of that, the serial cable needs prolific driver to communicate between them with the connection speed. (https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/connect-to-console.html)
At some point it says: If the client PC does not have a physical serial port, use a USB-to-Serial adapter.
Now before I go out and spend more money on this tiny, not so tiny anymore, project, what do they mean here?
I mean, come on, USB I get that, but when the laptop and the pfSense pc either have serial port, what do they mean by that? USB is serial, but what does this mean? -
Those instructions are referring to connecting a client (usually a laptop) to an existing pfSense install that has a serial console.
I would not attempt a serial console connection unless your pfSense target device already has a serial port and as I understand it yours does not.
It is technically possible to add a serial card but pfSense will almost certainly not use that as it's primary console by default. Your system will have serial ports defined internally as com1 and com2 but just not connected to anything and pfSense will try to use com1. You would be required to add loader values to change the com port with would be difficult with no console!
So don't do that.
On a generic desktop system like that you should use the VGA console which means a keyboard and monitor attached via whatever video output it has.
If you can use an actual VGA connection I would do that.
Other wise try to borrow a monitor with HDMI for the install or look at the settings your TV has for it's inputs.
Steve
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@stephenw10 thanks, now I am going to find me a monitor.....
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@stephenw10 I wish someone at pfSense would put in the documentation the simple facts:
When making this from a old PC, USE A VGA monitor!!!!!!!
Bought myself a refurbished monitor with vga cable, (22 euro) and it is working fine, and the monitor has unlike TV's, a auto-adjust key.Thanks again for helping......
(mumbles in himself... wish I went to this step way earlier.....grmph.....)
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Well, glad you were able to get installed eventually.
