Re: serial console device, and installboot vs. /boot.cfg

Some brief hints that may help:

  Read boot(8) after knowing that the first-stage boot blocks load /boot
  which loads the kernel.  You need the first-stage ones to use the
  right console to get good diagnostics.

  I am 98% sure that the console from the first-stage boot is passed to
  /boot.


about:

4) what is "-o console=auto" intended to do with installboot? I tried

I think it's 'do some kind of default' which is sort of useful when you
have no idea about the system hardware and no idea what somebody might
want.  It does not seem like a good choice for someone who knows what
they want.


FWIW on a pcengines apu2 (on which I run amd64 not i386 but I don't
think that matters) I run:

  installboot -v -o console=com0 -o speed=115200 /dev/rwd0a /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1


and my boot.cfg is unchanged from the install.  (Of course, don't copy
this because your disk might be different and it might be ffsv2.)