WOW! Where has this been all my life!! I've been waiting for YEARS for someone to make something like this.. I would have even been happy with VGA to composite to make it easier to video capture, but this exceeds all my expectations.. Cant believe I haven't stumbled across this before now. Thanks for bringing this up.. definitely doing this!!

So weird I looked up ways to do this 3 days ago for over 4 hours, and then see this video summing up all my research. Well played.

This is definitely one to watch. When HDMI audio is supported, this will be one of the most popular Pi projects ever.

Great review! PiKVM is one of the best projects I've ever seen. The developer is not only incredibly talented, but a super nice guy. He really goes out of his way to help you out, and even add custom features! There is so much you can do with this software, it truly is mind-blowing!

Thanks man! It's because people like you, the Linux community is getting better and better everyday! I pay my respects to a generous dev like you.

Just wanted to say thanks for making this video. 3 weeks ago I googled the hell out of diy kvm over network and didn't find anything helpful. I've ordered the parts to build a couple. Thanks so much.

Simply WOW! I have been looking for a cheap IP KVM for literally years!!! Man that guy who came up with this idea is a genius,

Wow! This solves so many problems for me. I can’t wait to try this out.

Awesome job promoting this. It is much needed. This seems like a great project to support and build.

about halfway through I started wondering if I could use this for remote installs (from a custom ISO)... and then at +10m you show exactly that! Nice!

Holy crap this project has come a LONG way since I first checked it out back around March. I really look forward to the HAT accessory, I'll probably end up ordering a handful of them.

Thanks! You just gave me what I needed for my home datacenter :)

Awesome vid. I think I bumped into this project when it was still really rough. This looks amazing now.

Sounds interesting. Two comments though. 1) Audio quality of this video is rather poor. Lacking in high frequencies. You might want to look into your setup. 2) Could do with a better initial explanation of what the KVM over IP achieves. What plugs into where? A diagram would really help.

I know what I am building next! This is awesome.

I'm so excited about this! This might be the most exciting video you have produced. BTW- I have seen some of the items you mentioned in past videos and ordered online from Microcenter. That was cute until I actually drove to their nearest store. OMG! That place is HEAVEN!

Thanks for this video! This is just amazing what we can do just using a RPI 4!! Thanks again, fantastic and really complete explanation.

Keep up the good work bro. You are amazing. Your videos always have lots of good information.

Also Dr Don - two cool bits you didn’t mention in this (but which you actually came up with earlier) : - plugging a physical KVM switch into it and wiring that up so you can trigger the switching button from device to device; this would let you plug multiple systems into this configuration and switch between them with a command that switches over the physical connections. So if you have, say, several servers to maintain remotely - all done with one connection - Using a VGA > HDMI converter (about $5-15) to allow this solution to work with older gear, servers, etc. This has been tested by people (in their forums) and apparently works well. Combine this with the switcher and bingo, you can control remotely a cluster of systems; awesome for unattended support. Not just the advantage of more up-to-date software and infrastructure - this can also potentially bet set up and you could instruct a remote user to plug it into a box (so you can do a build, etc.). I reckon this could mean the difference between doing the job remotely and a 4 hour drive each way because of a BIOS screen. It's really hard to over-state how awesome this thing is eh.

this is great! thanks for sharing this

Awesome product. It’s amazingly working well. Definitely would buy the hat to test it out.

Woah, this is neat! I'd love to see a multi-system variant (hooking up 2, 3 systems at once) as a means of administering a small serverfarm. Such a cool little product for that price!

Great tip! Thank you for sharing!

ill be having a few of these !!! server pc and a remote one for parents

Great work Don! Thanks for sharing the video with us!💖👌👍😎JP

Nice! Thanks for support on pi4

I actually came across this or at least a project like that a couple of weeks ago but I haven't further look into it yet. Seeing how well it works for you and potentially even on Zeros makes me interested indeed as I have quite a usecase for KVM switches. Both at home and at work.

Whenever I'm away, power goes out or an update breaks my Chrome Remote Desktop. This is great! I had never thought to look for an HDMI to CSI-2 adapter. Excellent video, but some of the cuts where you are moving your hands are a bit awkward. That's OK.👍

Rarely do I find a tech video where I actually learn something new. This is one of them :) thanks! 😊

Goddammit. I hacked something similar together with a Pi ZeroW and a serial to UART level shifter in order to control my remote offsite backup NAS. I just wish this video here was around earlier this year :D Now I am going to rebuild my "IPMI" (how I called it) with this brilliant Pi-KVM. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Cool, as a cheapo KVM for my lab (Dell Optiplex 990 on steroids) I was using a Raspberry Pi but taking advantage of the vPro AMT KVM over IP and Manageability Commander/Mesh Commander, but the method only worked for vPro Intel chips by enabling the AMT setup. Still, if you have a vPro Intel processor, you can setup a KVM almost for free, you just need any other computer on the network, even a pi zero. Really like this approach you are posting though, no need for vPro!

Pretty awesome, thank you!

Very cool! Great Vid! I have always wanted a device like this. Please make a more descriptive hardware setup video. Particularly the hdmi csi

now just put it on a mini case and ship it to remote clients, amazing!

What is going on? That is an excellent question. I am so pleased that all these dope guys pose the question at the beginning of their videos.

This is such an incredibly cool project. Open-source is just so much better than an expensive enterprise-solution where you are subject to the mercy of a company if you need a feature or bug-fix. And it will become much easier to setup with v3.

Ok this is amazing. If I had something like this setup at work I would not be in the office right now on a Sunday morning fixing a panicking build server! Will have to test if it works with a usb vga capture card though.

This is what I’ve been looking for to use with Model Y surveillance NVR.

Great idea!

Thanks Don.

Nice video but can you elaborate more on the physical build of the 2 options and how you interconnect the Y split cable?? Any plans to to include on this DIY the ATX control? Last but nit least have you considered to Print in 3D a PCI bracket case? Then you can put the pi inside of your tower using like a PCI slot similar to a Supermicro board with IPMI

Woah! such a Cool Idea..

This is Cool Uncle Don!

glossing over that USB Y-splitter like that is why poeple will blow up their motherboards. That Y-splitter is what makes or breakes the whole thing and you just glossed over it. They recommend a Type-C splitter with PCB which are much harder to find btw.

I like you can control the POWER and RESET buttons of the host computer too

And here i thought its going to be covering a Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) on a Pi.

I wanted to do this very thing for my cctv, ended up using USB over cat5 adapters and vga over cat5 adapters and ran 2 cables to the nearest TV and just put a mouse there. This seems so much more elegant...

Ou this is so cool :) very nice project

Thanks man! amazing...!!!

Hello, is there Somewhere a pic of all connected wiring ? For the pi and pi connected to a pc ?

This is really cool! I'm using a AV-access 4kip100-kvm and it works so fast I can actualy game on it. However I'm struggling to get my switch to keep the connection stable. As soon as I send data via the switch I have black screens :( but maybe something to take a look in. It is lossless streaming up to 4k and usb2.0 is fully supported. Very cool this Pikvm my subscription is added ✌️

This is so cool and could be so helpful with various projects, but I was hoping so much for a soild 60fps on the video feed. I wanted to do something where I have my pc in a 4U server style case in another room. then have something like this in the office easily hidden and keeping my desk looking clean. some of the more expensive network kvm claim to do 4k60 so im going to look into that. using this in combination of say steam streaming is also a option

Amazon link to USB hdmi no longer works. Please fix, thx.

Hey, great video. I will be using this for a non-server. Just FYI, Dell iDrac does use HTML5 now rather than java. Since the Dell R620 and R720 servers have been released in 2012 they can support HTML5. You might want to check for the latest Lifecycle controller for your PARTICULAR Model

So gonna buy the hat for when I build my next home server. I got an HP DL360 and iLo2 is rough to use.

There is another very similar project called tinypilot kvm that uses the same usb dongle. They sell this great little device that separates out the power and keyboard from the usb c connector so that you don't have to use tape. I think this ones software looks a little more refined, but tinypilot will install on the standard raspberry pi OS. I'm definitely going to check this one out though. Thanks for the heads up! Also, as a side note, iLo 4 and 5 both have very good html5 consoles now. But as always with hpe, you gotta pay to play.

Now that looks familiar!!

SWEEEEET !!!! Keep it up!!!

This is so cool, is there a way to let both the piKvm and the local screen connected to the computer being monitored ?

The KVM over IP is not a new idea, but it's first time to implemented in such low cost, good job! it's much better than 4 bay 2.5 inch sata NAS...

Awesome, thanks to share. Their designed board should have 4G option ! It could be excellent : you send a computer with this device and you can configure it remotely on another network!

OMG! Thanks!! join the discord

I'm not personally interested in KVM but this is indeed amazing. And it indirectly got me thinking about how close we're to a Raspberry powered OBS streaming box. I believe you have done some tests with OBS, right? Is the performance good or do we need to wait maybe for the next Pi generation?

Sooo... you mean to tell me I can leave one of these at my parents house and when they start having problems I can just tell them to plug it in!!!!! Mind blown.

Thanks for the review. And what about Mic and Headphones? Is there a possibility to hook them remotely as well? Thanks

For those confused about the usb connection, a usc-c power/audio adapter splitter works perfectly.

So it is really a KVMP(orts)D(rive)

Very cool project! Rack servers without iDRAC/ILO would need a VGA to HDMI converter as HDMI output is not common on those.

Thoughts on powering the pi from the 5v stand by power rail on the power supply? Is it possible or is it a bad idea?

Awesome!

Nice project. I have a problem I'm trying to solve and wondering if this project could possibly solve it. Is this possible to use on a guest vm while syncing the keys from the host client? If so are keystrokes still 100ms latency?

This will be great for my NVR that has a shite web interface.

I got my Pi-KVM to work, including the OTG, by using only the following parts: - Raspberry Pi 4B 2GB - USB-C to USB-A cable (uses the computer connected via USB-A to control/view connected to Pi USB-C to power it) $5 for a 3-pack on Amazon - HDMI-to-CSI-2 bridge $34.99 on Amazon - HDMI to HDMI cable (from my box of cables) or VGA-to-HDMI ($10.99 on Amazon) - SD Card (SanDisk 128GB that I already had) -- for the Pi-KVM image and ISO images to mount to server It only cost me $40 in additional parts to get the basic functionality working. The VGA-to-HDMI adapter is for VGA output only, which majority of servers/systems utilize. I fully tested both VGA-to-HDMI and HDMI-to-HDMI and they work as expected. Now, I have my own KVM over IP console working, I can move the systems into a data closet or attic and can remotely manage them. All my systems can be remotely powered on via Wake-on-LAN, so no need to be physically in front of the system in order to perform maintenance. Next project is to get a EzCoo 4 port HDMI switch $75 on Amazon and connect the Pi to that (make sure it gets power via the same USB-A to USB-C cable). That is still less than $200 in parts to include the Pi for a 4-port KVM over IP and works using web interface thanks to PiKVM project.

mind blowing

Definitely cool. I am assuming a mainstream remote control program could be used...teamviewer/anydesk? Remote to remote....to physical.

With the 0w is there much lag? I have quite a few of those and I'm tempted to use these on my home labs.

excellent.

Don: Did you mention about using pikvm for doing remote support? I need to control and monitor the remote computer which has monitor and kbd/mouse local to the computer. Would I use some kind of HDMI splitter before the pi? How will the display resolution be resolved between what is feed to the pi vs to the local monitor?

Holy F*** Thats a godsend for low-end hardware that doesn't have a dedicated management interface.

Awesome

Cool!

Good video and detail. But to be honest, most newer server hardware (iLO's or iDRAC's, etc.) are HTML5 capable now. Java is only a concern with systems that are older than a few years ago. I definitely can see a use for this but as it relates to your statement about server hardware, this really doesn't apply nowadays IMO.

this would be grate for install vids

Hello, I really love your videos but this time i am a bot confused, regarding to what hardware do I need. I have a spare raspberry pi4 2gb I can use, and I want the cheapest solution, the diy version. Is it enough just the csi bridge and some cable adapter or do i need to buy an extra hat? I am confused if i need the hat as well the csi bridge or not. Your video is very good on the software part, but the hardware for me it is not clear. Thank you.

Correct me if I'm wrong: If ALL you care about is the video feed and keyboard+mouse control, seems like the only things you need are the RPi (I'd get the 4), the HDMI-CSI bridge connected ONLY by the ribbon cable, and the power splitter (or jacked up USB cables). Plus power source, of course. No other hardware or wiring is needed, right? (I want to control Macs so the motherboard and power connections don't mean anything to me)

I would pay good money for a pizero or a pi4 compute module version with a mini case.

@6:54 you can 3D print inserts for the USB plug :)

XWindow has been network transparent from day one. Back in the 80's. It's commonly called a thin-client. Or a remote XWindow client. I set up a thin-client on a 386 PC for my daughter to log into my Dual PII computer back in the late 90's. Only Windows waited until the new millennium to allow remote desktop. But they only allowed one desktop. So if someone connected to your computer with remote desktop, they were driving the same desktop you saw. UNIX and Linux actually had true multi-user login from the beginning.

could you make a video about how to connect the ATX controls

This is really cool! So only HDMI is supported? What if I have an old PC with VGA or DVI port?

Any difference in performance between pi zero W and Pi 4?

Is this a 1-to-1 relationship, eg., one RPi&KVM hardware, to one device to be KVM-controlled?

Is there any DIY Raspberry pi project which can be used to connect USB devices via Ethernet?

I still have a PS/2 KVM with all cables which i seen a few months ago along with a Null Modem Cable, was in a old dust box

would it be possible to include audio streaming also?

I don't NEED a KVM, but I definitely WANT a KVM

hey this is awesome. one question i had is if it is easy for clients to set this up on their broken systems so i can remote repair them. it would seem like they would not know how to add these devices to their network to get the internet connection to be established between my workshop and their client systems.

I have some servers it took major effort to get BMC's virtual console to work, i have to run a very old Ubuntu VM just for them

this is going to priceless to hand over a few of these to our field "engineers". One thing that is kinda glossed over, to the point that i'm actually not sure it exists. Aside from offering remote control to a desktop via hdmi. Does it offer a desktop of it's own? It would be lovely to have a workspace where i could store data using utilities such as nmap or samba.

Could this be used as Advanced Power Management? (e.g. from oVirt)