Get output serial output from machine by usb

Question

I have a problem. I am testing a small linux on desktop. By default it output boot log to serial port, but my machine's have not one.

I found in internet that one way to do what I want is connecting usb-serial converter to usb port of machine and start linux with console=ttyUSB0, but I have not any serial device, so I can't get output from converter. As I understand in my case i can buy 2 usb-serial controller and serial cable to get serial output from one machine at another.

Then I think may be there is a simpler way to do it. May be I can connect to desktop only by usb?

Also I have android device and arduino uno, may be I can emulate usb-serial controller by one of them?

Thanks for you help.

Answer 1

This really isn't a programming question and really should have been posted to something like superuser.com. But...

The Arduino alone won't help you unless you have something else to connect it to, for example an LCD display. You would also need to write a suitable Arduino sketch and hack the Linux kernel to support console output via a protocol you devised to go with this.

There is a small chance the Android device will help you, but you would need to write software to turn it into a slave device which can receive a stream of data somehow and again hack the Linux kernel on the machine you want to see the output from.

In general it is not possible to link two USB hosts together. USB typically requires a master and a slave and the connectors are both physically and electrically different for these roles. There is an exception to this with USB OTG, however I doubt your computer has a USB micro connector and again lots of software needs writing.

By far the easiest solution would be buy two USB serial devices for a few $ on EBay. Or, go to a store and buy one in person if you're in a hurry.