JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

134•elashri•2h ago

Available for retail purchase: https://jetkvm.com/products

Comments

tmyrden•2h ago

Has been for close to a week now! Mine is already through Canadian customs after shipping from China. Purchased via Wisdpi.

I think they opened sales the same day that GL.iNet announced their new cloud KVM.

nati0n•2h ago

PiKVM seems to be the large competitor here and is completely open source. If you're looking into KVM solutions, probably check it out, but JetKVM is over 50% less, which is a huge argument in favor of it.

https://pikvm.org

yapyap•1h ago

JetKVM is over 50% less what?

gessha•1h ago

Price.

holysoles•1h ago

over 50% less the price, I see the JetKVM at $90 USD, but PiKVMs range from $230+.

I found PiKVM useful as I already had the hardware laying around, so setting one up didn't cost me anything, and its a pretty good experience. If I were to buy new though, not sure I'd find it worth the cost for my use case.

newsclues•1h ago

Tiny pilot is also an option

mliezun•1h ago

Was gonna say the same thing, here: https://tinypilotkvm.com/

pythonaut_16•49m ago

Is it really $400 per host?

Why would one pick a TinyPilot over NanoKVM or JetKVM?

tripdout•1h ago

What justifies the V4 Plus being worth $350? They're using the CM4 so they’ve made a PCB, but what hardware are they adding over the peripherals available on a Pi 4/5? All I can tell is an additional Ethernet port, a SIM card tray, and an “ATX controller”.

What does the board look like, why can’t I DIY that version, etc. Are they just trying to make it up with the software (that I also can’t tell what it looks like).

nerdsniper•50m ago

It's not really worth that much. You absolutely could DIY it, probably just kludge in a basic $30 HDMI capture card. Also JetKVM is now just as "open-source" as PiKVM is, so there's not even a moral high ground to spending extra. Both are open-source software but not open-source hardware (no schematics or gerbers or anything like that available).

choilive•1h ago

I can buy 3 or 4 x JetKVMs for 1 PiKVM, pretty hard to justify going for PiKVM unless there is a PiKVM feature you need

NelsonMinar•1h ago

The JetKVM is very impressive looking at a great price. Until recently it wasn't really available in the US but it looks like it is now/

The V4 Mini is a very nice piece of hardware. I paid $300 for one in April from Amazon. I also got PiKVM running on a Pi Zero 2 W and it worked fine but was a bit squirrely. Having the purpose-built device is nice.

You can also use a Pi Zero 2 W as a serial console: it has a USB On-the-Go port perfect for the purpose. But the KVM approach is more generally useful since you can access a consumer BIOS from it.

iamtedd•38m ago

They recently opened a global store. Previously, the only way to get one was to "buy" it on kickstarter, presumably from the US as well as the rest of the world.

breput•1h ago

Just a FYI - many people[0] (including myself) have had serious issues with JetKVM.

In my case, I found it is not compatible with all HDMI sources but others just have unknown "Loading video stream..." issues.

[0] https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm/issues/84

ahepp•1h ago

It's difficult for me to tell how many of the issues in that thread are serious, because there also seem to be a surprising number of people who come back to say "I solved it by enabling h264 in my browser".

On the other hand there are people who say "I ordered three, two work and one doesn't" which seems like pretty good evidence there can be real issues with the hardware.

bradfitz•1h ago

I ordered three and they all worked and then one died. Fortunately they replaced it, though.

woleium•37m ago

this doesn’t seem ideal for a piece of hardware that may go in a remote location.

hk1337•52m ago

> people[0]

I read that as you were selecting the first record from the people array

nerdsniper•49m ago

I'm excited to take mine apart soon and figure out why this might be happening for those people.

awill•1h ago

From the specs it's very annoying this uses a mini-HDMI. There's room for a full HDMI port, and it's such a waste. We all have dozens of HDMI cables at home, but zero mini-HDMI.

mynameisvlad•1h ago

Looking at the product itself, it looks like it barely squeezes the mini-HDMI externally as is, let alone then PCB/internal available space.

I don't think there is, in fact, room for a full HDMI port. Mini HDMI is a compromise, and everyone knows it. It wouldn't have been included if full size HDMI was feasible.

jonah•1h ago

The formfactor is self-imposed though, they could have made the device a few mm wider to accommodate a full HDMI port, but then it wouldn't be nice and square. Form over function maybe.

rtkwe•1h ago

Mini-HDMI is fine for this use though and can just move with the item so it's not like you need to buy many.

mynameisvlad•45m ago

The form factor is based on the Apple Watch screen they use, clearly.

amelius•1h ago

I've been looking for something like this, but with a built in LTE modem.

Also, where do you buy (IoT?) Sim cards cheaply, valid over entire continents or worldwide?

gruez•1h ago

get a esim adapter (ie. euicc in sim card format), find a plan on https://esimdb.com/, load it onto the esim, and plug it into your iot device.

spott•30m ago

Looks like they are coming: https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-rm10c4/?utm_source=websi...

candiddevmike•1h ago

Why not combine the ATX board and the unit itself, and have a real HDMI port? This seems like a mess of cables and dongles.

nullify88•1h ago

Something like the NanoKVM-PCIe? I have both JetKVM and NanoKVM-PCIe, its nice to have options.

candiddevmike•1h ago

Yea, just looked at this based on the recommendation in the other comment, it's exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully the software holds up/stays maintained...

nullify88•52m ago

I do think that JetKVM software is more polished, and has more frequent updates. Stuff like streaming images over the network is something that is handy.

Nano KVM commits have stagnated a bit, but the form factor is really nice to have everything tucked away. I wish I could run JetKVM on the Nano KVM.

rtkwe•1h ago

The KVM can be plugged into any system not just those with a spare PCI-e and you can move it around easier without having to bring systems down if you don't need the direct power control which is the main use case of the PCI-e board.

dmitrygr•1h ago

I've been satisfied with NanoKVM lite. Cheap and does what i want.

fotcorn•1h ago

I have the PCIe version of NanoKVM, and I am also happy with it.

The big advantage of the PCIe version is that it does not take up space on the desk and all the cables for ATX power control an inside the PC case.

Full-sized HDMI is nice, the only limitation here is 1080p resolution. 1440p or higher would allow mirroring the output on the main monitor to the NanoKVM, but this probably a weird use-case anyway.

ahepp•1h ago

I've been really happy with my JetKVM. The tariff situation is unfortunate, my recollection is that it was something like $50 during the kickstarter (could be wrong, didn't check). Looking around a bit, I'm not sure I see anything remotely as hackable at a competitive price, so maybe $90 is still a great deal.

It would be awesome if they made a PoE version.

542458•46m ago

> The tariff situation is unfortunate

I wish there was a way of ordering from a non-US source so I didn't get hit. I'm not in the US, so it feels silly that I have to pay the American import tariffs on Chinese goods!

nerdsniper•41m ago

I believe the $90 is "mostly" without the tariffs - it appears to be the updated post-Kickstarter price (which was $70). The iKoolCore distributor says:

> US Tariff update: There are currently no additional tariffs, but this may change after November 1st. We’ll ship your order promptly to help minimize the risk of tariffs, though we can’t guarantee none will apply.

I am in the USA and the unit I ordered from iKoolCore is being shipped to me from China. I have no idea how much more I might have to pay in tariffs once it arrives to customs, or how I will even go about paying those tariffs.

gommm•1h ago

I've been using it since I got it. It's been working great with one small issue that I haven't been able to solve. For some reason when I use plasma on Arch linux (but not ubuntu), the display outputs garbage. I'm guessing it's not detecting the EDID correctly and setting a weird resolution or refresh rate. It's not a major issue since other desktop work well so I haven't spent much time looking into it.

iamtedd•34m ago

I get that too on a machine running Mint Cinnamon. It also happens from the BIOS screen, so I don't think its a Linux issue. A re-plug fixes it, but that's not great for a remote access device.

directmusic•1h ago

As others have said, a full size HDMI port would be nice. However, I've been very satisfied with my JetKVM. I was about to order the GL.iNet KVM they just launched, but I ended up picking up another JetKVM now that sales are open.

My use-case is that I have it connected to an Raspberry Pi which I use to test the RPi builds of my application. I just ordered a second to connect to a mini-PC which is the minimum spec supported by my application. It has made my testing experience very smooth.

ape4•1h ago

I couldn't see if it could "press" the reset button.

spogbiper•1h ago

there's this add on which allows it to do front panel/power stuff

https://jetkvm.com/products/atx-extension-board

rtkwe•46m ago

They made an add on board that you wire between your case buttons and the header on your motherboard so you can than then 'press' any of the buttons.

somanyphotons•1h ago

I wish there was a KVM out there that didn't need HDMI, where it sat on PCIe bus and presented a really dumb framebuffer/kb/mouse to the BIOS/OS, but sent it out over the network

brokensegue•1h ago

or that just connected over usb and acted as a usb display adapter

spogbiper•1h ago

afaik usb isn't an option for bios/preboot display. so only useful if the thing is booting up OK enough to run a usb display driver

wtallis•1h ago

USB-C in DisplayPort Alt mode plus USB 2.0 signalling for the keyboard and mouse inputs is starting to be a pretty common option on consumer systems. Capturing that would allow remote control of a PC including the BIOS using a single cable (though a second cable would still be needed for connecting to a desktop motherboard's header for power and reset buttons).

I think there just aren't as many options for DisplayPort capture chips as for HDMI/DVI capture.

nullify88•1h ago

Something like Intel AMT? Some prosumer motherboards like ASRock Rack have out of band management controllers in them.

fotta•1h ago

annoyingly, AMT still requires me to have a dummy HDMI dongle plugged in to work

nerdsniper•1h ago

Yes - but a bolt-on solution for nearly any motherboard with an extra PCIe or NVMe slot.

ohnoesjmr•1h ago

Teradici is that, but too expensive for home users.

nerdsniper•59m ago

It looks like I can find Teradici card for $50-200 (used to new), which is in a similar range as the JetKVM. However, according to the installation manual that I found [0], you still need to plug in the DisplayPort connector on the Teradici host card to the GPU output port(s).

0: https://anyware.hp.com/web-help/pcoip_remote_workstation_car...

nerdsniper•1h ago

Yeah there are sort of some BMC/IPMI options like [0] but all of the ones I've seen still require some kind of special (generally proprietary) internal connector on the motherboard, which might not be "HDMI" exactly, but still violates the spirit of your requirements.

0: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/thin...

downrightmike•22m ago

Lights out kvm

dang•1h ago

JetKVM – Control any computer remotely - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42986909 - Feb 2025 (1 comment)

JetKVM Source - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42553822 - Dec 2024 (1 comment)

JetKVM – Next generation open-source KVM over IP for $69 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42313894 - Dec 2024 (2 comments)

JetKVM: Tiny IP KVM That's Not an Apple Watch - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41957056 - Oct 2024 (14 comments)

systems•1h ago

I know this might sound naive but for those of us who had to google

kvm here mean keyboard video and mouse, not the linux kernel-based virtual machine kvm

this device apparently is used to connect to machines remotely over IP

layer8•1h ago

People familiar with KVM switches have the reverse issue with the Linux kernel thing. ;)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45706866#45713054

RicoElectrico•1h ago

Likewise with DRM.

bigbuppo•32m ago

Digital Radio Mondiale?

technothrasher•31m ago

Being a nerdy kid in the 80’s, I can’t see the acronym MCP without thinking, “You’re in trouble program. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself. Who’s your user?”

btschaegg•18m ago

Well that one at least has appreciable parallels :)

Letting an LLM loose on a real system without containing it in a sandbox sounds about as predictably disastrous as letting a glorified chess program run all ENCOM operations…

rtkwe•1h ago

The virtualization KVM is the new kid to the block. Back in the day the best way to get multiple machines controlled was to just have multiple machines sharing the same monitor, keyboard and mouse.

deepsun•1h ago

I thought that was RDS (remote desktop).

trenchpilgrim•9m ago

RDP is over network, which doesn't work well if your need to access a machine that doesn't have a working network stack because you're troubleshooting a hardware failure, early boot failure, OS provisioning, etc.

KVM can also be nicer than RDP for certain multi-box workstation setups that need high bandwidth and low latency.

cleech•59m ago

Classic TCP (TLA [Three Letter Acronym] Collision Problem)

lawrencegripper•1h ago

Have 2 of these for my homelab with the power management extension and they’ve been great, would recommend

chelmzy•1h ago

Don't use these on your corporate devices or the infosec department will think you are a DPRK remote worker.

jauntywundrkind•1h ago

No out of the box TailScale but it's 'easy to add.'

WebRTC is neat. It looks like it relies on CloudFlare WebRTC relay for STUN / TURN, but supposedly you can self-host the cloud api. https://jetkvm.com/docs/networking/remote-access

I'd also point out the gl.inet Comet Pro, which has some nice to haves like wifi 6, full sized HDMI ports, HDMI and USB pass through. https://www.gl-inet.com/campaign/gl-rm10/

The PiKVM approach of having a whole computer you can also use makes so much sense to me. Interesting seeing similar parallels in NAS space, where Ugreen for example is running Debian on their NAS.

Sean-Der•7m ago

Hopefully you are in a network that allows P2P! Then STUN just works and you can use any of the public servers (CloudFlare, Google, Twilio...)

Running your own TURN server would be trivial also. I have been tempted for a long time to make a 'TURN in a Box' that does autoconfig so people can run it easily on Hetzner/AWS

dangerboysteve•1h ago

I picked up one from the kickstarter campaign. It's a wonderful, well-made device and open-source to boot. I plan to buy more.

nixosbestos•57m ago

If Sipeed had any idea how to run a product or software, the NanoKVM line would eat this alive.

Fortunately, Sipeed is like most other chinese manufacturers and have no idea what they're doing. Did they partner with Manjaro for that one? I don't think the Manjaro folks are even that incompetent.

crims0n•56m ago

Please forgive my ignorance, but what advantage does this have over RDP/VNC?

dmd•54m ago

RDP/VNC don’t work when the computer is off. Or the computer’s network card is down.

pythonaut_16•52m ago

Operates at a hardware level, separate from the target machine rather than software in the OS.

With RDP/VNC what do you do if the machine fails to boot? Or RDP stops working for some reason and you can't SSH in?

Or for installing a headless OS on a new machine.

I'm sure there are more specific usecases as well but that's what I mainly use remote KVM devices for at home.

mlapida•50m ago

A few things: 1/ the system doesn’t need to be connected to a network, or can be on a private/secured network. 2/ You can make changes to BIOS and other elements of the system that the OS can’t “see”. 3/ If the system is sleeping or shutdown, JetKVM can send a wake-on-LAN signal/magic packet.

I’d say for many use cases, it’s not better than RDP/VNC, but if you’re looking access that is independent of the network and state of the system, JetKVM can’t be beat.

crims0n•39m ago

Ah, this use case makes the most sense to me - thank you kind stranger.

Greed•39m ago

I might be missing something, but what does this do that an app like AnyDesk doesn't? Is there something inherently better about remoting in with dedicated hardware rather than using any of the free and widely available software solutions? I can see where this would make sense for low powered machines that can't easily encode video at high speeds / low latency, but I struggle to see the sense of this in a context where I actually want video output (a powerful workstation) rather than just SSH.

woleium•38m ago

it’s useful to be able to get into the bios for remote support situations of critical servers, I guess

cjm42•33m ago

I believe the primary use-case for devices like this is debugging "Why isn't this server rebooting?" without driving to the datacenter. Good luck figuring that out with AnyDesk or SSH.

layer8•31m ago

It doesn’t require the OS on the target hardware to be running, and no other software can get in the way. It can also connect via a separate network than the one the computer is on (if any).

neilv•33m ago

Provenance and trust are relevant for a remote KVM.

But I can't find any information on their Web site about who runs the JetKVM company, not even a partial name or handle of anyone, nor even what country they are in. Which seems odd for how much this product needs to be trusted.

Searching elsewhere, other than the company Web site... Crunchbase for JetKVM shows 2 people, who it says are based in Berlin, and who also share a principal company, BuildJet, which Crunchbase says is based in Estonia. The product reportedly ships from Shenzhen. BuildJet apparently is a YC company, but BuildJet's Web site has very similar lack of info identifying anyone or their location, again despite the high level of trust required for this product.

Are corporate customers who are putting these products into positions of serious trust -- into their CI, and remote access to inside their infrastructure -- doing any kind of vetting? When the official Web sites have zero information about who this is, are the customers getting the information some other way, before purchasing and deploying?

If these people are still running the companies, why aren't they or anyone else mentioned on the company Web sites? That would be helpful first step for trust for corporate use. So its absence is odd.

delusional•20m ago

I don't think this is nearly at the stage of "corporate customers putting into serious trust"

Buildjet (the parent company) looks to be a pretty small company with currently modest revenue[1]. I agree that the absence of people on both webpages is sort of odd. I think it make more sense for their original service (CI workers) than it does for a hardware product.

https://ariregister.rik.ee/eng/company/16075023/Buildjet-O%C...

trenchpilgrim•11m ago

I think products like JetKVM are targeting hobbyists and small outfits; corporations who aren't on a public cloud are using stuff like idrac, ilo, or dedicated rackmount KVM hardware.

RajT88•17m ago

This is cool. JetKVM seems really popular on my homelab groups, but I use something similar called Aurga for my personal stuff.

I don't see anyone in this thread using Aurga. It's not as good as RDP or physically being in front of the machine, but it's good enough.