13" rMBP / Cisco Console & VMWare Fusion?

[AStaUK]

I'm thinking of picking up a 13" rMBP (256GB SSD/8GB RAM) to replace my work laptop, and older Dell Vostro V130.  I'm looking now partly because of the 0% finance deal and because the 9hrs battery life would come in useful (the Dell does 2/2.5hrs at best).  I already have an iMac (mid-2011) and iPad Air so having iCloud sync with the rMBP is also good.

 

But the one issue I may have with the rMBP is that I'm currently working my way through CCENT/CCNA and will likely pickup a small lab to practice on.  I already have a USB-Serial cable which works fine on my Dell, but reading some posts I may run in to issues getting it to work with the rMBP.  Does anyone have any experience with this, can the rMBP be connected to a Cisco Console port, what software is best for this type of thing?  Currently I use PuTTY with Windows 7, and Elementary OS.

 

With the Dell I currently dual boot Win7/Elementary OS and switch between them as I feel like it.  With the rMBP I'll stick within OSX but it will be useful to be able to fire up Win7 (perhaps ElemOS as well) would the USB-Serial adapter work within Win7 via VMWare Fusion 6?

 

Thanks.

[n_K]

I've got a few different USB->Serial port adapters, none work on official mac lion and none work on hackintosh mountain lion

[Sparky101]

The USB to Serial adapter will work within a Win7 VM via Fusion as long as you have the Windows drivers for it. When you plug it in with Fusion running, Fusion will ask whether you want the USB device to be attached to OSX or the Windows VM. You don't need any support within OSX for the adapter. If you do find drivers for it you can use a CLI command called 'screen' from a Terminal window to console onto things, very basic but works. There's other apps which can do it too, iTerm I think and others.

[Brian M. Veteran]

I use a USB-serial cable on a regular basis with Windows via Parallels. Most of the popular virtualisation tools handle USB passthrough very well.

[AStaUK]

Thanks for the replies.  Having given it some more thought I've decided not to get a rMBP just yet and save the money, I'll perhaps take another look towards the end of the year when/if there is a refresh.

[Phemo]

I know you've said you're not going to get one now, but having recently purchased a 13" rMBP myself I was in exactly the same position today.  I work with a lot of Juniper, Palo Alto and F5 kit so I need serial console available as well.  I have an old USB to serial adapter that I've had for quite literally years which has the PL2303 chipset in (very common, most seem to have this) and there are drivers for OS X which allow this to work without even having to mess around with VMware.  The only challenging part was finding some software for serial terminal emulation but goSerial and CoolTermMac do the trick.  Not quite as nice as PuTTY but they work and are sufficient in the event I don't want to fire up my Fusion VM.

[offroadaaron]

I do it all the time.

 

http://www.aten.com/products/productItem.php?model_no=UC232A#.UtaMdp6SwrY

 

http://blog.kroko.ro/2011/12/21/mac-os-x-10-7-lion-aten-uc232a-usb-to-serial-adapter/ (maybe not this guide but google and you'll find a good guide)

 

It'll work with Mavericks. Don't use a Windows VM that's just noob and seriously the Unix command line is sooo much better.

 

When you've installed it correctly you should be able to open up terminal and go 'cd /dev/' you can do an 'ls' and connect the adapter and you should see the new adapter there in the list. Then type 'screen <device name> 9600' or you can use a different program to use it.

 

Once you get it all working it's soooo much better than something like putty!

[AStaUK]

Damn, the 13rMBP is still so very tempting and the 0% finance has been extended until the 28th Jan.  How does the scaled 1440x??? look, any blurriness to it or still sharp?

[Kami-]

Works via Parallels.