[Grml] minimal changes needed to have non-graphical startup

[Marc Haber]

Hi,

recent HP servers do have an SD card slot which is suitable to host a
rescue system. The same approach also applies ot an USB stick that can
be pushed into a port and selected from the remote console.

Of course, the easiest way to have this is just dd'ing an grml iso to
the medium and then plugging it in without more ado.

In the HP case, one needs a special license to have access to the
graphical console. Some systems (for example the rather common
MicroServer Gen8) also need a license to get access to the text console.
The only thing that one gets on the Microserver Gen8 without inserting
more coins is a virtual serial console, which is suitable to access the
BIOS and boot an OS that can use a serial console. With grub, one can
even boot a regular Linux OS with seeing the boot manager on the virtual
serial port.

Unfortunately, grml has a graphical selection screen for the choice of
boot option. This makes it impossible to select a boot option or give
additional parameters without the "big", expensive license. 

Is there a possibility to remaster grml without the graphical boot
screen? Having a classical text oriented ISOLINUX screen is fine, having
ISOLINUX present that option on ttyS0 instead of a console would be
perfect.

Actually, I would love to have the possibility to do a simple patch in
an otherwise unchanged grml image so that my ProLiant grml is as close
to "release" grml as possible. I would appreciate a hint if that is
already possible.

While I do understand that having a nice-looking selection screen is
nice and important for user acceptance, this severely reduces grml's
attractivity for the server jockey who usually doesn't have graphical
access to the systems.

Greetings
Marc

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