Does such a system exist?

[S P Arif Sahari Wibowo]

Just to clarify...

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, James Knott wrote:
> Daisy chaining serial ports will result in long response 
> times. Each time you pass through a computer, the serial port 
> has to receive the entire character and then transmit it.

No. I wasn't talking about daisy chaining serial port, but 
getting each computer to access next computer's console through 
serial port. For normal access each computer will be a server 
with its own network connection. So it is daisy-chaining console 
access, not the serial ports.

> Also, if any computer along the chain is down, you won't be 
> able to reach any beyond it.

Only if all those machine is down.

> Also, how would you select one computer from the rest?

Well, you connect to each computer through network connection, 
using TCP/IP. :-) Serial ports only to connect to next machine's 
console.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, James Knott wrote:
> It seems to me ssh is the better solution. If a computer is 
> capable of connecting via the serial port to the next 
> computer, ssh would likely work to.

Not really. The serial port is to connect to console (both BIOS' 
and kernel's console). This and idea for relatively cheap "out 
of band" connection. There is many condition where the machine 
cannot be connected by ssh, but can be accessed through console, 
e.g. to control its booting, even reinstall OS, etc.

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