UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am new to Unix. I just got my SUN box from ebay with Solaris supposedly preloaded. The problem is I am unable to connect via Hyperterminal to Solaris, or more to the point, cannot tell if I have a successful connection and that solaris is the one not properly booted up.

I hooked up a null modem cable between my PC serial port and one of the A/B ports on SUN. I setup the hyperterminal to use COM1; the connection fails with error 633, what ever that is. In the control panel on windows, I defined a new 'direct computer-to-computer' connection via COM1 and checked the SLIP unix connection option,; it did not work.

When I used COM3 instead when setting up the Hyperterminal it successfully connected and I have a blank screen with no prompt. I have no idea as to what to do next. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Use a cisco console cable. One end of the cable is DB9 connector and the other end is RJ45 connector - connect this to a db25 cross cable(or Null Modem adapter) to serial_A on the sun box.

(Error 633 The port is already in use - usually a modem error -
Make sure that you are not using another program that requires that port. If not, try rebooting your PC computer.)


What are your connection settings in hyperterminal??

e.g. Comm Port?
bits per/sec = 9600
data bits = 8
parity = none
stop bits = 1
flow control = hardware

Please list.

Also do you have a keyboard plugged in to the box?


Try connecting the console cable to sun box, unplug keybd from sun and rebooting the sun box.

Connecting to the console will not involve slip. My hyperterminal does not have an option for slip and I don't find slip in the help files. So I won't be able to tell you exactly what to do. But don't use slip.

Thanks finster and perderabo, I just got an OK prompt on my Hyperterminal. I started a new connection with all the settings set as above. Yes, Hyperterminal definition does not have a SLIP option. I set that in the modems and network & dial up connections panels. In modems there was an option for "direct computer to computer connection" so I figured that may be where I should set things.

Thanks once again.