console debugging without a serial line

[julie Sullivan]

Hi list
On linux-kernel today there were a couple of interesting tips for
debugging the kernel from a console in the absence of a serial port. I
thought this might be useful/interesting to someone here (it was to
me) so here's the link:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/3/23/1

Andi Kleen mentions the following:

>There is also USB debugport, but you need a quite expensive cable
>(~$100) for it. Usually it only works on one of the USB ports.

Googling for 'USB Debugport' found this, which also might be useful:

http://www.coreboot.org/EHCI_Debug_Port#AMIDebug_RX

Does anyone (who might also be interested in reading this article)
know if the 'Ajays NET20DC USB Debug Device' mentioned in this article
might be the 'quite expensive cable' mentioned by Andi? (I saw one of
these listed for $89.)  Apart from generally coming in handy, I have a
netbook I'm thinking of sacrificing as a kernel testbox in the future
which I'm sure doesn't have a serial port... (yep, I think that's a
really great excuse for buying yet another new funky device :-)  )

Cheers
Julie