Chapter 2. Managing the System Console

In the first chapter of this book, we saw how to set up our developer kits and (in part) the host PC. We already got a first login via the serial console by showing you how you can connect a serial (or USB-to-Serial) adapter to each kit; however, in this chapter, we're going to go further into exploring the serial console and the shell running in it.

In this section, you will learn some useful command-line tools to manipulate files and also learn how to manage the distribution's packages. These commands will be used into this book, and even if you may already know them, it's useful to briefly review them.

In the end, a special section will introduce the bootloader commands (U-Boot in our cases) so you may feel more confident in managing this important component of the system. In fact, the serial console is mostly used to set up the running system (that is, the running distribution), but it is used to set up the booting stages and (sometimes) the whole system update!

Again, experienced developers may safely skip this chapter. However, by reading it, you can find useful tips and tricks that can help you in the development stages.