Use your Pico Probe (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5699) and connect the 3-pin cable to the 'U' port - the probe board will appear as a COM/serial port, and you can open it up with any terminal program. we love using it for kernel debugging because the connection stays open between reboots and you'll get all messages directly printed, plus the early boot messages...even ones before the firmware is loaded or the display comes up.
Petite Pico Probe is Perfect for Parlaying with a Pi Penta
if you got a Pi 5 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5812) and you want to log in or debug without ssh'ing or using a monitor and keyboard - there's now a super fast and easy way to get into the UART console - thanks to the new JST SH 3-pin 'UART' port nestled between the HDMI connectors.