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

mtlynch.io

211–220 of 284 posts

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

#211

KVMs have been a the bane of my existence over the last 10 years. Almost 99% of the time they come with some ancient Java dependency that breaks on any modern OS and is barely usable. Not to mention the nightmare-ish KVM experience big players like OVH and Hetzner provide. This is a superior solution to all of them.

No. Modern IPMI is HTML5 based. Lightyears better than the old java/.net clients or this (awesome) hobby project.

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

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They advertise 4K@60Hz and my display is at 2560x1080 @ 144Hz. Math says my case should be supported but yeah, computer standards are often non-intuitive. I'll try with 120Hz and then 60Hz just to ascertain limits as you suggest. Thanks.

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

#213
You could also probably add power/reset functionality by hacking something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Wireless-Compu...

Or possibly just wiring up a transistor to the power button pin (not sure if it sources or sinks) between motherboard and the Pi, and just hold it high until it boots.

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

#214
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really into electronics, but I imagine it wouldn't be that difficult to control the switch of a cheap KVM-switch with the GPIO pins of the RPi. One might even control multiple KVM-switches and daisy-chain them.

Haha, I am kind of the opposite: I work on electronics, and am not much of a sys admin. One of the problems I've run into is that I haven't found a single switch solution with enough connections. I could build a multi-level multiplexer with many switches, but that's too much effort. If TinyPilot can support multiple KVM-over-IP connections, it would be a perfect fit for me.

> If TinyPilot can support multiple KVM-over-IP connections, it would be a perfect fit for me.

RPis only have 1 OTG port, though. A device that could get it to handle more machines with that single port would functionally be a KVM-switch. I don't think there's a way around that, at least not one that'd be cheaper or more practical.

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

#215
post #23

This looks awesome. I was looking for a solution like this last year. I budgeted a few hundred bucks but couldn't find anything. Ideally would have a way to handle a few different boxes. I did see something called Intel AMT, part of Intel vPro. https://www.howtogeek.com/56538/how-to-remotely-control-your... Does anyone have experience with this? (I have AMD box so doesn't help me) - actually looks like AMD has simila…

If a machine/server doesn't have built in IPMI, I am using an Adderlink Digital ipeps and control it that way 1). Apart from the built in RealVNC server, it also has HDMI video, USB and virtual media support among other things. I have no relationship with Adderlink, but I am a happy user of this product. Not cheap, but worth the price IMHO. 1) https://www.adder.com/en/kvm-solutions/adderlink-digital-ipe...

At the ~$700 price tag I found for it, I feel like you're missing the spirit of the post.

You could build ~7 devices for as many machines using the article's method.

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

#216
This is a cool project, but I’ve given up on KVMs over IP because they are laggy and offer you a screen shot of the remote system at best. You can’t copy/paste or easily log the output of a KVM.

Most modern x86 systems support boot input/output via serial, as does grub/grub2, the linux kernel and the userspace. It takes some trial and error to get the serial console set up for all steps in the boot sequence, but once that’s done you’ve got out of band access in a standard terminal with output history, copy, paste, etc.

Pair this with a switched PDU or “smart” outlet and you’ve got a full remote managed server on a shoestring budget. Any adjacent or spare computer with a usb port can host a $5 usb serial adapter and play the role of the console server.

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

#219

Fantastic project. Amazing how you overcame each obstacle, and very well written to boot. Kudos. Quite funny how you brought 1000 ms latency down to 200 ms. I wonder how this compares to iDRAC and that Raritan device.

I've used virtually all of the iDRACs. They're probably in that 200ms area (based on my gut feeling w/ no empirical measurements). They've been fairly responsive in my experience.

Out of curiosity do they bring any functionality that this device does not?

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

#220
post #208

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

How did you get the AirPlay mirroring working? Is there a library available for that? If I could just do that and use my keyboard's ability to switch bluetooth devices that might be sufficient.
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