Linux kernel debugging first steps on i386

(from the SGI XFS mailing list)

If you have compiled in kdb and you get an oops (at least in 2.4 series kernels):

Next time it hangs, enter these kdb commands and
capture the output on the serial console.

set LINES 10000
set BTAPROMPT 0
-md1c320 system_utsname
-id %eip-0x40
-cpu
-ps
-dmesg 200
-bt
-bta