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.
Why would one pick a TinyPilot over NanoKVM or JetKVM?
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).
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.
In my case, I found it is not compatible with all HDMI sources but others just have unknown "Loading video stream..." issues.
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.
I read that as you were selecting the first record from the people array
Given that these things have bare metal access, keeping them off of the public internet seems wise no matter what though.
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.
Also, where do you buy (IoT?) Sim cards cheaply, valid over entire continents or worldwide?
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.
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.
It would be awesome if they made a PoE version.
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!
> 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.
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.
I think there just aren't as many options for DisplayPort capture chips as for HDMI/DVI capture.
Example: https://geekworm.com/collections/pikvm (but I think this still requires separate power)
To do this, wouldn’t you effectively need to make a graphics card (VGA would work) where a separate chip could read the screen buffer? And somehow get this card to display preferentially over the on-board video card?
I’m sure the all in one card version exists, but honestly a cabled version seems more robust (w/o vendor support that is).
0: https://anyware.hp.com/web-help/pcoip_remote_workstation_car...
0: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/thin...
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)
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
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…
KVM can also be nicer than RDP for certain multi-box workstation setups that need high bandwidth and low latency.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Homelabbers tend to like rackmount. (I've owned multiple servers with such dedicated remote management/access hardware built in.)
JetKVM seems designed to be more a shadow IT at individual desks solution, for use at companies that don't prohibit and actively police that.
Would have to dump the flash with proper tooling, and load up a clean OS on a blank chip to even begin checking for issues. Mostly, these gadgets are purposely built like garbage for a number of reasons.
If I needed a DIY KVM install for a home-theater, I'd just setup a https://pikvm.org/ install. =)
Personally I'd never use these on an interned facing network. But they can still be handy for local only.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yHhdTRVvDFU&pp=0gcJCQYKAYcqIYz...
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.
(N.b. unfortunately the ATX board cannot be ordered independently, so be sure to order the "nanokvm-full" package)
Nothing instils faith in a product like using a gaming chatroom populated by tweens for communication.
tmyrden•2h ago
I think they opened sales the same day that GL.iNet announced their new cloud KVM.