Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#201

Post by bronco21016 » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 9:56 PM UTC

naggie wrote: post #180

Brilliant idea. I have an idea to extend this! 1. A relay to reset the PC like iDRAC/iLO 2. 2 dual pole relay to move a USB flash drive to and from the PC it's connected to, in combination with (1) you could then boot ISOs remotely by dd-ing the ISO to the flash drive and then connecting it to the host PC with a relay

The GPIO should easily be able to handle doing a reset by connecting with jumpers directly to the motherboard. I guess there may be some circuitry required... I'm not positive on how the standard motherboard pins work.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#202

Post by louwrentius » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

I respect this effort, I think it's a great accomplishment.

I think most people are better off building their own home (lab) server with a motherboard that supports IPMI (KVM over IP) natively.

Supermicro (only brand I've experience with) or other brands that build server motherboards all include IPMI with HTML5 support.

Doing so will save you a lot of trouble. Maybe you may not be able to run the kind of hardware you want, but it's all a tradeoff. You have to choose.

I have HP Microservers (quiet) and a Proliant (loud) all with ILo (HP IMPI) and it's awesome.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#203

Post by pdimitar » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:08 PM UTC

I'll use the opportunity to ask for a KVM switch help here if that's not breaking the board's rules (and I feel it's related to the topic):

I got a company laptop recently and bought an Aten CS782DP KVM switch so I can reuse my gaming PC's monitor on it (using DisplayPort 1.4 cables). But when using my gaming PC the display now flickers very often when gaming and it's driving me crazy. Some people said it's the length of the DP 1.4 cables (they are very short though, In any case: would a KVM switch like the one in the post help? I suspected NVIDIA's G-Sync but turning it off for several days made no difference. :(

For the record, the display runs at 144Hz in both Win10 and Ubuntu. But it only flickers in Win10. The only thing that comes to mind is that the miniDP-to-DP cable that runs from my PC's videocard to the KVM switch is no good -- but not sure. I sadly can't use the KVM switch's DP-to-DP cable because my videocard only has miniDP on its rear.

Anybody had similar struggles in the past?

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#204

Post by Nexxxeh » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

ghaberek wrote: post #199

Nexxxeh wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The immediate issue would be the Pi Zero W only has one usable (micro)USB port, the other port is Power In only. If you run it for OTG, you can't use it for the dongle. There would be ways around this though, perhaps using a cheap microcontroller for the USB HID stuff.

Yeah I forgot that only one of the USB ports actually does data. I guess you could use a Teensy that interfaces through the GPIO pins and pretends to be the keyboard and mouse.

That's what I'm thinking, or worst case, one that communicated via USB to TTL adaptors. Or an ESP-based board that connects over WiFi. Or BT-enabled board.

Combined with a HDMI switch, you could then control multiple devices with just one Pi+Cap device.

I've been looking to do something similar for a while, albeit possibly with Windows as that's where I've (very rusty Delphi) programming experience.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#205

Post by nanomonkey » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:12 PM UTC

KVM = Keyboard, Video and Mouse

For those, like me, who were ignorant of this particular use of KVM, and couldn't find it in the article or comments.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#206

Post by techntoke » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #203

I'll use the opportunity to ask for a KVM switch help here if that's not breaking the board's rules (and I feel it's related to the topic): I got a company laptop recently and bought an Aten CS782DP KVM switch so I can reuse my gaming PC's monitor on it (using DisplayPort 1.4 cables). But when using my gaming PC the display now flickers very often when gaming and it's driving me crazy. Some people said it's the lengt…

Have you tried lowering to 60Hz in Windows to see if it helps? What about another switch?

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#207

Post by pdimitar » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:16 PM UTC

techntoke wrote: post #206

pdimitar wrote: post #203

I'll use the opportunity to ask for a KVM switch help here if that's not breaking the board's rules (and I feel it's related to the topic): I got a company laptop recently and bought an Aten CS782DP KVM switch so I can reuse my gaming PC's monitor on it (using DisplayPort 1.4 cables). But when using my gaming PC the display now flickers very often when gaming and it's driving me crazy. Some people said it's the lengt…

Have you tried lowering to 60Hz in Windows to see if it helps? What about another switch?

In the very few games I play 60Hz is way too low so I haven't attempted it at all -- I want the maximum Hz/FPS.

As for another switch, I am open to ideas if you have them. In my local market I was only able to find like 2-3 of them [that support DP 1.4] and they are all north of $250 -- which I don't mind but it would be non-pleasant to buy 5+ of them just to experiment.

Maybe my requirement for DP 1.4 is silly though. Maybe HDMI would be fine.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#208

Post by rjeli » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:31 PM UTC

bronco21016 wrote: post #185

Because of COVID my work on the road has come to a screeching halt. I was always using my iPad with an external keyboard for nearly everything and became really accustomed to having iMessage always a key command away. Now I work at home at a desktop with Ubuntu. It's a huge disruption to use iMessage now as I have to switch devices/keyboards. I had the thought of doing almost exactly this with the Ligthning-> HDMI ad…

oh, i wrote software that does this over airplay wifi mirroring and a bluetooth dongle as a mouse. i gave up because I couldn’t convince my phone to take a tablet hid profile for seamless mouse capture. it’s messy but I’ll throw it on github in a bit

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#209

Post by techntoke » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:34 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #207

techntoke wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried lowering to 60Hz in Windows to see if it helps? What about another switch?

In the very few games I play 60Hz is way too low so I haven't attempted it at all -- I want the maximum Hz/FPS. As for another switch, I am open to ideas if you have them. In my local market I was only able to find like 2-3 of them [that support DP 1.4] and they are all north of $250 -- which I don't mind but it would be non-pleasant to buy 5+ of them just to experiment. Maybe my requirement for DP 1.4 is silly thoug…

My guess is that switch simply doesn't support 144Hz, so if it works at 60Hz then you have your answer.

Re: Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

#210

Post by louwrentius » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 10:38 PM UTC

EvanAnderson wrote: post #33

This looks great. To be useful in the datacenter environments I work in such a device would need VGA capture, though. Most servers don't have HDMI ports in my experience. Anybody know of a good, cheap V4L2 USB-based VGA capture dongle?

Most servers have built-in IPMI.