A RISC-V Stick-on

[@subynut]

As a guy who works in IT, those security concerns are at the top. However, those hardware issues are a biggie, too. I think I'll wait and see. I appreciate your reviews of these projects, Jeff!

[@Kabodanki]

With all connected devices we have today I think having VLAN on ISP routers should be mandatory. That would be a first step

[@subynut]

@@Kabodanki Yep! Isolating devices definitely helps reduce the attack surface.

[@nialltracey2599]

Yep. But on the plus side, this will probably push a lot of the open source devs to port the other KVMs to RISC-V as a matter of priority...

[@scytob]

@@Kabodanki people over-estimate the security benefit of VLANs....

[@AlanBerman]

​@@scytob Yep, just depends on your threat model.

[@stey2590]

I made a DIY pikvm v2 using a pi zero 2w and total project cost was around $45. It has been such a life saver using it to setup my recent opnsense firewall and also managing a few of my thin client PCs.

[@DavidAlsh]

Instructions pls

[@settlece]

now that what i will use my zero for

[@stey2590]

@@DavidAlsh Google "Pikvm V2", Pikvm has all the documentation on their site. Requires a bit of tinkering but not difficult and very worth it if you have the use for one. I also printed a case from printables that allows for an oled screen to be added.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@settlece Depending upon how your motherboard's power button is setup, you can potentially insert the zero to intercept the button presses so that the zero is the thing that actually closes the circuit and the button just tells the zero to close the circuit, which freezes things up to allow the pi to pretend that the power button is being pressed even when it's not because you're not there. On my system, that would require a custom connector, but I've had computers that I built where the power switch was literally just a switch with a couple female leads that would be plugged into a motherboard header. A motherboard like that could definitely be set up so that you could remotely power the system down and turn it back on remotely. I can't figure out a way of interacting during the boot process, which is probably not that big of a deal, given that if it's stuck there, you may not even have network access anyways.

[@MrTrilbe]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade plenty of HDMI to CSI adapters about or the Pi can do display in via GPIO

[@sivasanthoshr.m2222]

the size is so compact they could redesign as a thumb drive if the figure out a way to run most of them via type c or thunderbolt. Really looking forward to it.

[@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

You'd still need a video input, I understand some devices put out in type C video too, but unless it works natively in bios it neutralizes the point of a KVM.

[@PO0YA]

Like a fire stick

[@Sarge_Gaming]

you dont want the power coming from the pc if thats your plan with usb C because when the usb port stops getting power it cuts the kvm connection also usb C video does not work in certain situations like bios on some machines

[@robonator2945]

​@@Sarge_Gaming many machines have an option in the BIOS to continue supplying power to their USB ports even while off

[@jmr]

In the thumb drive form factor it's basically a pen testing tool.

[@the_beefy1986]

I ordered one about a month ago when Wendell did a small video on this item. I haven't heard a peep since they got my money. Thanks for pointing out USB backfeed issue. I'll definitely check for that before I use it on my home NAS.

[@magfal]

I got a confirmation of shipping for my 2 from Ali Express

[@CRCinAU]

Yep, I got the tracking number for my 5 units yesterday. So much easier to use something like this than other KVMs that have issues with refresh rates and resolutions.

[@troyj3292]

Mine arrived late last week.

[@wooviee]

Their site said that orders will be shipped "Mid to late September" when Wendell made that video and still says that now, so I suspect they have one big shipment coming. Waiting on 5 Lites myself.

[@TonyHoyle]

I tried to order them then but they were bought out and you couldn't even preorder. Ordered one today but there's a 70 day lead time.. with postage is £60 (about $80) but still a quarter of the price of the pikvm which I could simply never justify (there are cheap IP KVMs on Amazon for £150 but I don't think those offer much other than screen and keyboard, and having things like remote reset is important).

[@TheIceLeopard]

Bloopers at the end? Nice touch!

[@JH-uu7jl]

On the more expensive devices, you're not paying for the hardware and packaging, you're paying for access to the guts. As anyone who has ever bought a Pi over a "Pi killer" knows, the key is in support, community, full software access, and excellent documentation. Glad to see a new entrant and I hope they do well enough to feel comfortable open sourcing their work in the near term.

[@dominick253]

True. Pi 5 with Ubuntu is rock rock solid. I leave it on 24/7 and it's faultless. Makes me want to switch to Ubuntu full time. Next time I need to reinstall Windows I'm going to Ubuntu instead. Looks better. Runs smoother. Makes more sense. Less spying. And now that games seem to work great on Linux. Maybe I'll start with my laptop and see how it goes.

[@JeffGeerling]

Also paying for the developers working on PiKVM which is usually the base (or at least some of its components) for many of these devices. I'm always willing to spend a bit more to ensure the health of the open source foundations for these products (to a point!), and if a company bases their hardware on an open source software project, I usually ask if they are willing to also provide monetary support back to the project they're basically profiting off of.

[@monochromeart7311]

@@dominick253 main issue with Ubuntu are snaps (which rely on a single built-in proprietary server). Either use a de-Canonical Ubuntu (e.g Mint and Pop!_OS), Debian, or an official Fedora/OpenSUSE distro (perhaps the atomic ones like Kionite).

[@KagrithKriege]

We need a revision of this ASAP. I'll buy 100 Lites if they add POE and get pikvm running. Please keep us posted on this Jeff!!

[@Jetta4TDIR]

@@KagrithKriege i like the POE idea

[@Wheeze_NL]

I don't figure POE will be an option on the lite, but who knows

[@paulstubbs7678]

So your going to lite up your world - how does that help

[@Jetta4TDIR]

@@KagrithKriege i read on the specs sheet (parameter comparison) that there is wifi and POE expansion accessories

[@therainstorm809]

The nanoKVM lite exposes GPIO pins, allowing you to DIY your own power control solution. You only need one optocoupler relay and three Dupont wires, with an additional cost of less than $1. The nanoKVM's GPIO output pin connects to the input pin of the relay. The three Dupont wires are used to create a Y-shaped 3-way connection: one end connects to the case’s power control wire, another end to the motherboard’s power control pin, and the third end to the relay’s output pin. When you click "Power" on the nanoKVM web interface, it actives the GPIO signal for specific seconds, which triggers the relay switch to close for a while, effectively shorting the motherboard’s power pins and turning the computer on-similar to using a screwdriver to short the power pins to boot up the system.

[@efad3215]

The security concerns are not a hard pass from me, but the hardware issues make it a "wait and see" for me

[@Jetta4TDIR]

@@efad3215 agreed, i feel the same

[@p4rk5h]

Also their backend isn't opensource.

[@JoeHamelin]

You ALWAYS put iDrac/iLO type interfaces on a separate management VLAN/network. This is old hat in the server world.

[@efad3215]

@@p4rk5h That's what I meant about security concerns

[@FalconFour]

The USB power backfeed is such an easy fix - shouldn't even need a diode, just remove the 0-ohm resistor with clippers. Odd that they even put that in there. The host (PC) provides 5v to the USB device to power it, but this already being an externally-powered device, shouldn't even need a 5v connection at all. May have been there due to design confusion (e.g. "well, it can be powered by the host PC, why not?"). So, I actually jumped on it - probably the first thing I'll do is desolder that resistor and de-couple the host bus from the external power bus.

[@IngwiePhoenix_nb]

I just finished stuffing my new server shelf - and this video drops. Awesome, I looked at the PiKVM and the price was kinda crazy. Besides, with some short wires, just hanging the NanoKVM off the back of a server is super doable. Really like the idea and method behind this - let's see if they do open source it though.

[@JeffGeerling]

Yeah, a lot of people are in that same boat; just toss this on like a dongle on any server you want control over, but waiting on the software...

[@alanbarber4543]

Def like the idea of a PoE micro kvm I could attach to my homelab servers. Hope they build one.

[@szymex22]

When they get those small issues worked out its gonna be great. I had to pay double the price of a standard motherboard to have IPMI integrated (external KVM was even more expensive with shipping). I'd definietly buy this after it matures for my second server which doesn't have any kvm at the moment, only a smart plug that lets me restart it remotely when it crashes 😅

[@JeffGeerling]

Smart plug is how I manage a couple of my SBCs when they crash too, haha. Poor man's KVM

[@-aexc-]

ew, the stars on the repo req. i kinda understand the sales part maybe kinda

[@JeffGeerling]

Yeah, not a fan of gamifying repo stars. It's a strange metric to care about, as it should at most be seen as a general gauge of interest... not anything to do with project health and should definitely not be tied to any kind of KPIs!

[@lis6502]

and i will star their repo with my whole bot network (like 8 nodes, but shhhhh ;p) just to get the source faster and manifest that attention != quality. How many cool projects aren't starred because they aren't built with (name newest JS framework this week). Fuck starts (with riscv strap-on:P)

[@settlece]

@@lis6502 maybe that is what they are hoping for

[@Shocker99]

@@lis6502 Why do you have a bot network?

[@navinvent]

This seems perfect for me to plug into my parents computer

[@EdwardBowden1]

These things are great, I've got a Lite one and some others on the way. Performance hasn't been ideal in my testing but the price difference is crazy. I got mine for £16 before the price increased so it's just so inexpensive. You can also add all the missing features of the Lite to it manually, I just got some optoisolators and resistors and added the power button control to it. In terms of security it would be ideal if it was open source but to be fair you can just block it from having an outgoing connection to the internet and most of the risk is mitigated.

[@JeffGeerling]

Yep; many people who would pick one up might not know how to set up an isolated management VLAN, but honestly, for any BMCs that's a good idea (even if you fully trust them!). They have total control over your server!

[@robonator2945]

why has no-one else though of that?! An offline IP-KVM, the best of both worlds! An innovation like this is second only to write-only memory! (a bit more seriously, the issue is moreso possible intrusion into your network. Virtually no-one is going to literally just raw dog and IP-KVM on the open-net, they're gonna use something like hamachi, tailscale, zerotier, etc. The risk is always about a device getting unauthorized access to the internal network and *_then_* having more control than it should)

[@ThylineTheGay]

@@robonator2945 eeeh, even if it's only supposed to be accessed from inside the network, it's still good to _not_ have a vulnerable OpenSSL package..

[@BromTeque]

I’ll probably pick up a few of these if they ever go fully open source.

[@chris-tal]

I'm no lawyer, but I'm 85% sure there's no such thing as "their proprietary OS" (it contradicts the fact that it's very cheap) and it has a LOT of GPL code in it and possibly violating a few of these licenses. The only thing proprietary about it is I guess the RISC-V code optimizations (the ISA is open so no idea what's the deal there) and maybe peripheral IPs (like an HDMI input, hw encoding, USB controller Link & ULPI, ethernet MAC, etc) they may have bought or developed.

[@309electronics5]

More like: proprietary app stack. Cause at the end ≈98% of devices run a bog standard Linux kernel with busybox and other Gnu utilities ontop. The application (stack) is the real magic sauce cause that actually is what makes the device fulfill its purpose and it does all the functions the device does either using custom drivers or system calls. But at the end its still Linux

[@chris-tal]

Yeah they can use a binary blob type kernel module (driver) while implementing a software root-of-trust for it and the userspace stuff too if they don't want to go full open source.

[@309electronics5]

@@chris-tal I mean even broadcom who is not a fan of opensource at all compiles their drivers as binary blobs so why cant the chinese also do it? Binary blobbed drivers and a proprietary app stack are all secrets they are going to want to hide. The rest is bog standard Linux

[@pixel_vengeur391]

I ordered mine when Wendell's video dropped, still waiting for it but I'm excited. I'll stick it onto the Thin Client I use as an OPNsense router, which is the only feature missing to me :)

[@davidquirk8097]

That's given me an idea to control a backup server that only needs to be fired up intermittently. Tomorrow I'm going to pop the cover and take a pair of wires from the back of the front panel switch and connect them to a spare Home Assistant relay board I have. I can drive that via Wire guard when I'm not at home and directly when I am. I usually only shunt files to and from the server and AndFTP handles that pretty well from my Android devices.

[@jasonboles1526]

this is finally small enough form-factor to implement my KVM idea - would be a slightly bigger box but have a C13 on one end and a C14 on the other, so could give itself power and also have a "hard-reset" relay inside. Then attach it to the server/PC with a short C13-C14 power cable. I'll still wait until they port PiKVM or Open Source their OS though...

[@basileus9343]

once the code is in the open and the community gets their hands on it, it will blow up. I can't wait. I couldnt ustify spending hundreds of eur on a kvm, but now im sold. I'll be watching the development very closely. It looks like they are also working on a pcie card form factor so thats even better. I'm literally salivating

[@SilentDecode]

I ordered one, with 2 friends of mine also ordering one each. It's for our mini-PCs that don't have a IPMI solution or monitor attached. Maybe the NanoKVM isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than absolutely nothing. Ofcourse this goes into a VLAN without internet access.

[@senacht]

Gonna adopt a wait and see on this one. Too many questions and potential red flags to grab one just yet.

[@POLI-TECHS]

Welcome back Jeff!!! 🎉 ❤🥳🎈

[@JeffGeerling]

Thanks! Was going to mention something about the baby in this video but just didn't think about it until now haha. Baby's doing great, sleep is about 60% recovered so far, and it's been "fun" being the full-time kid-shuttle while my wife was recovering.

[@jamg7119]

@@JeffGeerling Contratulations for your baby!!! Hugs and smiles for your family =))

[@JSiuDev]

Lets all give a star to the repo (NanoKVM) to get it open source. It has 1.2k now. Edit: 1.4k now, lets keep it going!!

[@JeffGeerling]

Right now we're going 100 stars per hour!

With everything like this, patience pays off, waiting for a successor, which will iron out the issues and concerns. I'm glad I was not in the hurry buying one, seeing all the hardware and software issues.

[@jojodi]

I'm working on a dirt cheap variant of this based on pico rp2350 right now.

[@JeffGeerling]

Ooh, nice! Please let me know when you have something going, would love to take a look at it :D

[@rochellerochelle1488]

The PIKVM guys were being pretty unreasonable with their pricing.

[@jackdoolittle165]

Idk. Their price is for a custom PCB for a project you could DIY for like $30. Its not terrible

[@micweis]

How's that? They made the software open-source, which allowed me to build my own PiKVM without paying them a dime. I'd say that's pretty damn reasonable of them, and it makes sense to me that they want to have a high profit margin on their pre-built options.

[@lis6502]

PiKVM is worth every of it's asking dollar. Not only they've opensourced everything, they were pioneers bringing affordable OOBMs to homelabbers like myself. Heck i can also mail this little sucker whereever it's needed and serve remote administration services (which i did a couple of times). So yeah, go get some priopietary big brand name BMC, ah yeah, they're not selling them outside of their devices ;p

[@marcogenovesi8570]

unreasonable? Have you seen the prices of any other IP KVM?

[@perwestermark8920]

In what way unreasonable? Selling hardware means a legal requirement for warranty and support. That can cost quite a bit of money. Are you willing to offer a cheaper product? Where can I buy it?

[@jakakovac3238]

PiKVM also runs on usb c cable directly from computer or laptop and imitates the keyboard and mouse trough the same cable for me… I love this function! No need for multiple charging bricks!

[@JeffGeerling]

Only downside to operating in that mode is if either the computer has flaky USB power supply (most thankfully don't these days), or if the computer cuts power to USB (some do when powered off, at least to some ports), and you can't use the KVM while it's shut down to boot it back up if needed.

[@Noughtta]

I ordered one last month and I'm still waiting for it to be shipped, hopefully it gets here soon as it looks amazing!

[@JoeTaber]

I'm using a DIY PiKVM V2 with a Pi 4 and ezCoo 4x1 KVM switch to manage multiple devices from the one PiKVM endpoint. It works great!

[@eternaldoorman5228]

I think I made one of these in 2005 or so, it was also my firewall and it ran OpenBSD 4.something. I had pf rules to restrict ssh access to certain IP addresses, and I also tried to make remote reinstalls of the kernel possible. That was tricky because if it goes wrong you want to be able to fall-back to the previous image, and that means you need to change the boot loader, and I never got around to that bit. But my idea was to make this into a product and get the manufacturers Soekris in Belgium, to cooperate on selling it as a remotely managed firewall. I gave it to Nik Thomas when I left for Bolivia in 2009 and he sent me an email once, while I was in a very stressed state, asking me if I wanted to do some remote system administration on it, and while I was looking at that mail a f'ing KVM window came up on my screen! I seem to recall that there were some Israelis in the café I was working in at the time.

[@povilasstaniulis9484]

Got one, tested it, ordered another one for my second box. These are neat little devices with great potential. Of course, these are still far from being fully mature, there are still a lot of things to be ironed out. I would call these pre-beta at best. But as a developer I'm more tolerant to bugs and imperfections so I'm willing to take the risk with these little boxes. The security of the software on these boxes is indeed a concern. For now, it would be best to keep these in an isolated network. And make sure you disable the "Virtual network" thing so you don't accidentally network link your KVM to your server ! As for the backfeed issue, just get a cheap USB 2.0 C cable and disconnect the 5V pin. It's not a good idea to power your KVM from the computer you're controlling anyways.

[@liarus]

if they fix the hardware issues, i'm buying this as my first KVM, they're setting themselves up for sucess if they keep going to he same direction

[@JohnneyleeRollins]

great now my pc can wear pasties and go out at night thanks Sipeed!

[@dfs-comedy]

I have a Pi4 running some critical infrastructure. So I hacked together a solution with a Pi Zero W and an ESPHome-powered smart plug. Configured the Pi4 to use a serial console, and connected that to the Zero W. This gives me console access to the Pi 4 via the Zero W. If I need to power-cycle the Pi 4, I toggle the smart plug from the Zero W. I don't have true keyboard or mouse access... but with a serial console on the Pi 4, I don't really need that. (And actually, I could hack up keyboard/mouse emulation with the Pi Zero W's micro-USB port, but without video it doesn't make much sense.)

[@yingste]

I just wish status displays for always on devices would stop using OLED panels and go back to LCD or anything else that won't burn out or fade withing a year or two

[@JeffGeerling]

It's interesting-some devices seem to ensure the screen refreshes enough it's not a problem, others tend to burn in. This one changes out the bottom portion of the display at least, but I could see the 'NanoKVM' logo burning in over long periods.

[@olestrohm]

At work they use eink displays, so that you can always see the latest update even if the power is removed, or the device breaks, or anything else happens

[@zyeborm]

​@@olestrohmissue is those cost around $10 vs $1.50 for OLED.

[@dwgray9000]

​@@olestrohm eink 4tw

[@robonator2945]

that's largely overblown as an issue, but eitherway either a transflective OLED or an E-ink would likely still be better

[@JustMortHandle]

I ordered one a couple of weeks ago, looking forward to receiving it

[@RicoCantrell]

Dude!! this thing looks cool and could make a good case for my use of RISC. Great video brother.

[@ran_red]

1:14 You are using the velcro strap to hold it down so I guess in your case this is a risc-v strap-on ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@BrickTamlandOfficial]

now i just need a kvm for when my nanokvm locks up

[@JeffGeerling]

It's KVM's all the way down!

[@rkan2]

A power outlet you can reset by calling in!

[@BrickTamlandOfficial]

@@rkan2 but if there's a power outage, the phones might be down too!

[@rkan2]

@@BrickTamlandOfficial HF radio!

[@BrickTamlandOfficial]

@@rkan2 that might work if the signal is encrypted

[@bunnymaid]

Actually, with these sort of things, it's not the cost that is the problem. It is the "when you **NEED** it, how much does it save you." Especially the hard to quantify stuff like "good will" when it would take several hours to get there and fix it, that's several hours for the customer(s) to boil over. What you want with your KVM is mind-numbing reliability. You might not need it for 5 years, but when you do, you really will need it.

[@HelloHelloXD]

I will wait until it is fully open source

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

If there isn't a way of ensuring that any firmware on the board isn't also secure, there's not much point in that.

[@309electronics5]

​@@SmallSpoonBrigade I bet you it runs linux so its basically violating the GPL License. Dont get me wrong here cause there are no huge consequences tied to it but still...

[@ThylineTheGay]

@@309electronics5 it does run linux, but it's based off the LicheeRV Nano, which does have open source software, they're likely using much of the same software from there. anyways, the GPL allows proprietary use if not modified

[@zambonidriver42]

Outtakes! Woohoo!

[@fujinshu]

The point about it being open source is bang on. I trust open-source solutions more but am completely OK with closed-source ones as well, which depends on who made it and what kind of track record they have. I’d prefer NOT to be exploited for my data in the first place, but advertisers getting a hold on my data is FAR better than it ending up in the hands of state-owned or state-linked businesses of authoritarian superpowers like China. In my order of trust, I’d put open source over closed source, and that above Chinese or Russian closed source.

[@LetrixAR]

But why do you care if China has your data? They can do something only if you are there.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

giving an IP KVM internet access is foolish, these devices are always better placed in a dedicated network accessible through VPN if you are offsite

[@S3anyBoy]

I'd trust Chinese or Russian closed source over countries with extradition agreements with the US

[@TomTRobot]

Excellent review. Well balanced, informative, and concise.

[@vladislavkaras491]

The size of this thing is quite impressive. So small... that some hacker with physical access could do some bad stuff! :P Hopefully this thing gets open source! Thanks for the video!

[@UpLateGeek]

Very interesting. I'm honestly pretty shocked that they can get such good quality streaming out of such a tiny little cube. I mean, I was half expecting a handful of FPS and crazy latency. So that's pretty impressive. If they can get an open sauce solution on there, that would be a pretty tempting offer, even just to have a few connected to machines around the house.

[@spinx2273]

iDRAC failure rates are tremendous. This is a great alternative.

[@TayschrennSedai]

I've literally never seen idrac fail and have run easily over 200 since I've been in IT...

[@spinx2273]

@@TayschrennSedai Thanks for sharing, glad you had success with them! My company had around 32 out of 64 iDRAC modules fail over a 4 year span; that is just for single failure rates, most of those 32 failures became repeat customers.

[@alfeersum]

This looks like it's got so much potential. If they iron out the bugs, I'd get one. Just need to get _another_ firewall so I can hang it off the back of the firewall.... 🙄

[@mlies37]

this reminded me i ordered one last month. Or I thought I did. Can’t find an email confirmation anywhere. Really started to doubt my own memory until I found the extremely sketchy feature on their website that lets you look up an order just by entering the associated email address. And yes, I have an order from August 2nd and it’s paid for. Good. Given the complete lack of updates I’m a little concerned tho. I guess it’s not a lot of money.

[@WX4CB]

The one i really would buy is a single kvm that would allow you to kvm into multiple machines from the same ipkvm. Would be great replacement for those old style manual lvm switches.

[@lePoMo]

if by old style kvm switches you mean those that have a button to toggle between connected pcs: those often also have a keyboard shortcut to switch. hence you can combine them with a KVM over IP and do that keyboard shortcut remotely as well. I think PiKVM even has a config for that (configuring the keyboard shortcut)

[@MrSomethingdark]

I care about things I can buy for my salary or for under 50 bucks but are actually full quality things. Rarely do I venture outside of that.

[@eltamarindo]

If you bought this product, I would suggest that you test the jumper wires / dupont wires with a magnet and that you do not use the included wires if they are magnetic. The ones that I got are strongly magnetic, suggesting that they are iron instead of copper or aluminum.

[@jonahsadowski]

I have one on order in the hopes I can make it into a jenky crash cart KVM with a direct connect to my laptop with a usb ethernet adapter. Even if I have to buy version 2 after the bugs have sorted out, the price of two of them still works out to a quarter of the cost of the next cheapest option for a direct connect KVM. I hope this project is able to sort out the security concerns and hardware issues because there's definitely some serious potential with this product.

[@djtecthreat]

This is suspiciously good for the price.

[@MikeHarris1984]

I think the NEXT BIG THING, is the MB manufactures can start including IPMI interface onto their systems for a remote managmenet solution where it can be used as WireGuard VPN connection or something like that, and then being built into the MB, have direct access to the switches to force reboots/pwoer off/power on/etc... Honestly this has been std on servers for decades.... and costs PENNIES for them to implement... but I think its building up to a NEED for power users to ahve full access via IMPI where you can also get info like power usage stats, fan stats, and a bunch more.

[@yanuk818]

It's reached 2k stars!

[@MikeHarris1984]

I've actually been designing a device like this... since the other open source IP KVM type things are like the PI KVM where its a full Pi to do this. the last hurrdle i've been working on is the video IN to the device to display reliable on a browser. but for softwrae and how to securly perform this over the internet anywhere in the world, I already have that worked out and perfect. But so far i'm able to reset/power off/power on my system remotelyh from anywhere with a tiny little device that just goes between the MB and buttons. So it plugs into the MB buttons, and then the actual buttons plug into the device. The buttons readlly have pass thru ont he ports, so buttons work native, even if the reset device is off. But its PoE/or plugs into the PSU on the comptuer for power and uses WiFi. But the KB/MOUSE input was easy... but Monitor IN to mirror it over web browser was difficult.

[@4lxAnd3r]

@1:16 I use the same TUF case it's still my favourite after all those years, good taste :P

[@terfy]

This device can change my life drastically to the better. As soon as it goes open source, I'll wait 4 months (just to be sure), and I'll buy a bunch of these. Seriously, controlling my servers from a nice hotel or beach. F... yeah.

[@JarredSutherland]

I have been waiting on mine for a bit now. Really want them to ship.

[@Sym0nd0]

Ah amazing timing, I was only looking at these on AliExpress the other day. Great review, Jeff.

[@GEN9100]

thank you for the bloopers i missed them.

[@realandrewhatfield]

Please let us know when they come out with the PoE version and have open sourced the code, then Im sold! :D

[@gala_vs]

im fine with the condition of open source they have put, 95% of people saying that it's a red flag have probably never contributed or audited any code, and the devs need to make back the R&D cost, its upto them what they think the cost of making it open source is

[@modem7cyber]

They've just reached 2k stars. "The star is coming to 2K! We will organize and opensource backend source code in Mid October！(and it is also the time all preoreders ship out)"

[@Sim-rh4tj]

I'd be happy to plug this in as needed to make it easier to fix headless boxes that I manage to break!

[@Bluestreak589]

Considered picking up one of these things.... If/when I do it'll definititely be locked behind its own VLAN and firewalling/WireGuard. For now I'm going to keep holding off.

[@animeistrash]

Hi Jeff, are you planning to review the Mecha Comet? It's a portable linux handheld that I discovered at Open Source Summit EU and it's really neat! I'm really considering to pre-order one of those, they have a kickstarter in november.

[@davidbubble6863]

Welcome back Jeff. Baby routine back on menu again lol. I wouldn't put my bet on open sourcing of the OS. Biggest red flag is they demand stars and number of sales to open source it. Who can guaranteed they will do that when they hit the target? If anything, sounds like MO for scam tbh.

[@kingyachan]

Mine literally just got delivered! :D

[@ThatGamePerson]

I would love a handful of these, I think the hardware issues and general availability (I'd rather wait until it's out of preorder for the US) make it a wait and see at the moment but like 5 or 6 of these and I'd be set for most things.

[@AndreasMeyer-k5i]

very good explained. Thank You!

[@Spacewizard-jd2ix]

I have the same giant TUF case for my server now. It's huge!

[@JeffGeerling]

plenty of room to build in... but a bit unwieldy.

[@otter-pro]

I'll continue to use raspberry pi with pi-kvm for now. It's still just as cheap, though it requires a little bit of time to set it up at first.

[@JohnCorrUK]

Brilliant Jeff ... What I have always wanted :-)

[@donatj]

I need to get into my servers bios and I'm too lazy to hook up a monitor. This is exactly what I want

[@chanakalin]

Wait for this. Thanks a lot man

[@uuu12343]

Holy, you mean I finally dont have to sell both my kidneys to afford an IP-KVM?

[@James2210]

The whole video I kept thinking "kernel virtual machine" rather than "keyboard, video, and mouse"

[@fevsea]

I predict an increase on the repo's stars following this video.

[@Chiren]

Just bought one. Let’s see how it goes.

[@TheIceLeopard]

Closed source until certain number of units sold? Yeah, immediate red flag for me.

[@privacyvalued4134]

Holding source code hostage until an arbitrary number of stars on GitHub is reached is wild. I fully expect to see, "Oh we reached 2k stars a while ago but now we've got 'stretch goals.'"

[@Psyden5757]

I guess they just want the development to get paid before people start building them all by themselves for free

[@marcogenovesi8570]

why a red flag? Even if it stays closed source it remains orders of magnitude better than most other offerings. There is like PiKVM and PiPilot I think and that's it, everything else is absolute garbage

[@elly3713]

This, opensource or GTFO

[@perwestermark8920]

​@@elly3713 Opensource means zero income. And how is that a great business model??? When was the last time you tried to pay for food and living by *selling* open-source code?

[@offroadsnake]

RiscV will be pivotal for IOT now 😊

[@PsRohrbaugh]

So basically corporate LOM brought to the consumer world? Edit: you mentioned some of other names for this technology, but yes it's been common in the corporate world for almost 20 years.

[@JeffGeerling]

Yep; PiKVM is the first project that really kicked it down to consumer level, but all those prebuilt options were expensive, usually $99 (+ your own SBC) and up!

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@JeffGeerling I'm glad to see this be a viable part of a home lab. Useful technology that used to be very expensive!

[@Ancient_West]

Never been to a video before any other comments been posted.

[@Ancient_West]

Guess today wasn't that day either... lol

[@JeffGeerling]

Haha you were *so* close-just a few seconds off :D

[@sosiskaschannel7052]

Very very useful! Thank you :3

[@pidojaspdpaidipashdisao572]

I always needed this

[@ScottHess]

The problem of this being a Chinese company isn't that Big Bad China might try to target you, it is that if they have a gaping security hole leading to easy compromise by randos on the Internet, there is no real way to address that. If a Dell or Intel has such an issue, they have to deal with it because they want to make continued sales, they have government and other contracts which will force a certain level of compliance, etc.

[@nezu_cc]

People out there calling pikvm expensive? Guys, when pikvm dropped it was SEVERAL TIMES cheaper than almost all other options at the time not to mention that all the other options were closed source.

[@JeffGeerling]

Expensive in relation to all the projects that use PiKVM's software but don't participate in PiKVM's development :( When these other KVM devs talk about their products, I always ask if they're willing to at least send some portion of funding back upstream to PiKVM.

[@robonator2945]

true but, self-evidently, it's still SEVERAL TIMES more expensive than it could be while offering similar (though not exactly the same) levels of functionality. The PiKVM is as expensive to the NanoKVM as those offerings were to the PiKVM. Something can be cheapER while still being more expensive than necessary to do a given job. Going the right direction doesn't mean you've reached your destination, it just means you're closer than you were 5 minutes ago.

[@D9ID9I]

"all other options" is the dumbest argument I ever heard. No one cares about the price of enterprise gear here at all.

[@ThylineTheGay]

@@D9ID9I when it is/was the only option..

[@leggysoft]

A low quality hdmi-usb capture card is $9 and the pi can do usb host, so not only can you have KBM you could even slowly mount a drive.

[@ClacKeyTech]

it would be so useful to have one of those for my main pc

[@coreymartin9630]

If they add PoE and upgrade the network jack to at least 1Gb, I'll buy like 10. Can you please make an update to this soon-ish? I want to let it cook in the oven a little longer but I know that I'll forget by then lol

[@Sarge_Gaming]

the stars requirement concerns me the most there essentially farming for reviews and stars to artificially inflate there ranking on github issue is if its later discovered that it indeed contains chinese back doors, a fact which wouldnt suprise me as the ccp has policies that insist chinese companies do this then it will already be deployed in thousands of places and would still be the highest rated on github with 20k stars which will give the fake impression its trustworthy it seems they dont want you looking under the hood untill they have it deployed everywhere which isnt verry re-assuring

[@animehaider]

Regarding the USB power backfeed issue, since I'm a little unskilled with the soldering iron would it be possible to just tape up the power pins on the usb cable?

[@JeffGeerling]

Possibly, didn't try that... but it's easy enough if you have a magnifying glass or good eyesight to flick the thing off with any old soldering iron

[@bimsbarkas]

Not going to use a closed source Chinese kvm. I have a few Chinese terminal servers, they have to use their own little dmz since security is terrible on them.

[@ProletariosDigitais]

No Worries Guys, if Made in US, NSA never put a back door, You can trust Uncle Sammy 😂

[@owlmostdead9492]

If the choice is between USA and China .. anyone right in their mind would choose USA.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

nobody said that made in US is better, they ask for opensource

[@ProletariosDigitais]

@@marcogenovesi8570 "Chinese software may have malicious software", US is Full of bullshit.

[@blablamannetje]

@@marcogenovesi8570 how about what Jeff says his iPhone's OS?

[@reggiep75]

I can guarantee that the US and the other Five Eyes alliance members are sitting on more of our personal data than China or anyone else could. You can't trust anyone who points the finger at others to peoples eyes off their sneaky business. You just roll with it if you trust it.

[@winlux2]

But how does it go into the internet? You have to open ports of your firewall in your router, right? IPv4 and v6 support? How will you find your NanoKVM in the internet? Do you have to manually set a static IP? Is there a sort of user ID instead?

[@autohmae]

Did you notice he said: wireguard (VPN) and tailscale (Zero trust security model aka new style VPN based on Wireguard) ?

[@winlux2]

@@autohmae No, I haven't.

[@KG4JYS]

It cannot be purchased. The aliexpress store link is bad (from their wiki) and the only place with it listed is tayo bayo for a thousand Chinese dollars (aka 69 USD). That's too bad, I wanted to do a reverse on it and see what it's really up to.

[@jacekruzyczka3058]

So it's the well-known behavior of manufacturers who wanna make money fast: They deliver a not-yet-mature product, and when the user complains about a flaw, they just say they are working on an improved version. But at least they have already received the money they want. The NanoKVM guys are not the only ones to do business the quick and dirty way.

[@autohmae]

They are fixing issues, if they are smart they can probably sell 100s of thousands and help establish their brand as trusted.

[@evilleader1991]

So just like Early Access games then 🤔🤔🤔🤔