Aurga Viewer: Does this Wifi KVM live up to expectations?

[@tekjoey]

I never thought of looking up the FCC certification! super informative stuff

[@apalrdsadventures]

Much easier than taking it apart

[@joaomercado3220]

Love your video style. Succinct, interesting and stripped of any annoying ego driven frills. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

[@Cyril29a]

This is such a great idea. I haven't watched the video yet but I certainly hope it works well. I currently use an old laptop with a usb kvm that I remote in to for similar reasons. This is such a simpler solution I just finished the video... Too bad it works so poorly. I would want this to connect to the network and be useable via a computer.

[@apalrdsadventures]

The hardware has so much potential, it's a simple design that *should* be able to work well.

[@gyorgytamasvizi5559]

Hello! I have the device, and I use it only on Android (with the app only), and it works somewhat well. However, you have the possibility to connect this device to the wifi network, however, you can access it ONLY via its own wifi network! -> This is not a KVM over IP solution, as I hoped, but a "KVM over Wifi" solution: you need to be in the area, to directly connect to it, then the app(s) work, AND the device you are connecting with continues to have internet connection (as the Aurga Viewer bridges to the AP and that network). The setup to connect to wifi with the Aurga Viewer is only for the sake of the client devices: they stop connecting to a wifi AP as soon as they find out, no internet connection is available on the Aurga Viewer wifi... That is the reason, why you can connect the A.V. to a wifi AP (that has internet connection). Unfortunately, the app (and the whole system) doesn't allow the A.V. device to be accessible from the network :( Hope these clarify what Aurga Viewer can (and cannot) do!

[@ArthurKhachaturov]

​@@gyorgytamasvizi5559 wow, that's a really weird design decision by them...

[@gyorgytamasvizi5559]

@@ArthurKhachaturov Hello! Probably, it was the easier path to take (implement), as no indirect connection is in place here (You don't configure the device to have a fixed IP address, afaik, it is DHCP only, let alone a port to connect to - all is automatic inside the app/device). Implementing a kvm over IP solution is really hard, PiKVM is the other option (and its many hw-implementations all go back to one software implementation), which can be used "the old way" :) I also hoped to use this device remotely, but I can only use it in its vicinity, as direct wifi connection is a must for the app + device.

[@WhistlerInstructors]

Connecting it to your own wifi requires you connecting to the device via bluetooth on phone to configure your wifi details. Then once its configured setup reserved IP for the device on your router and you can plug it into any device and have full control. Works perfectly. My only wish is that it had HDMI passthrough so it could be used to remote access digital signage android boxes without the need for a 1 to 2 hdmi splitter. Even with a separate splitter its still the cheapest internet remote KVM on the market. Ctrl Right click allows special key combinations and other special features via a menu.

[@apalrdsadventures]

I'm not sure if you actually watched the video but it would not connect to my network at all.

[@pepper5105]

for the mobile app you have to input the wifi password to save the credentials to the kvm device. I don't think any ios apps have direct access the the saved wifi network credentials, even in android not all apps can access the saved wifi credentials.

[@apalrdsadventures]

I did that, and it didn't connect to my network.

[@gustersongusterson4120]

Thanks for reviewing this thing! I kept getting tons of social media marketing from them and was curious.

[@apalrdsadventures]

me too, that's why I asked them for a review sample

[@dennisdoherty1133]

I may look at one of these, would be interested to put this in it's own VLAN and log all outbound traffic to see if it's attempting to initiate sessions/call home. Great way to get in an environment and have BIOS level access to a host.

[@apalrdsadventures]

I couldn't get it to connect to my network, so I couldn't test that. I agree that if the software worked well it would be a killer little stick for remote sysadmin stuff.

[@svensubunitnillson1568]

my thoughts as well. i would't trust such a device for any sensitive systems. nice feature tho

[@Tarbard]

I can think of some good uses for this.

[@Trains-With-Shane]

Yeah I think i'm giong to pass on this one. I don't have many requirements of a device like this but one of them is that it work reliably. I like the idea and the form factor, though.

[@JamesTenniswood]

Interesting but I'd just like a wired one for as round $40

[@Mutation666]

Too expensive for the limited features

[@7MBoosted]

Some BIOSes have a setting to leave usb power even when powered off. Would that fix the start up problem, theoretically? Also, this device running over a network and being under $100 could be pretty disruptive if can provide similar basic functionality to a pikvm/tinypilot for less than half the cost is a lot of cases. Also, concerned about the security of this device, interested to learn if the desktop software or device itself attempts to "phone home" at any point for any reason. That would be a turn off for me.

[@apalrdsadventures]

You could use a powered hub too, as a simple fix. A quick pcap shows it appears to use a custom UDP protocol (Wireshark didn't detect it, but maybe it's RTP).

[@ivanmalinovski7807]

There's also the Sipeed NanoKVM, which is even cheaper

[@7MBoosted]

​@@ivanmalinovski7807 interested in seeing similar coverage on that device.

[@7MBoosted]

@@apalrdsadventures I wonder if using a powered usb hub to usb ethernet adapter you would have an easier time getting it added to a network?

[@apalrdsadventures]

It's not available in the US (from Aliexpress.us), so that makes it quite difficult to review. It also appears to not be finished yet, software wise.

[@Cynyr]

2:30 if it is running linux, then surely they have their sources published somewhere... Right?

[@apalrdsadventures]

Their userspace app wouldn't need to be published, so if they took a kernel from either mainline or Allwinner with no changes they wouldn't need to publish anything. If they made changes then yes, those changes would need to be published. Given that the Allwinner SoC is advertised as an integrated camera chip (with CSI input and h.264/5 encoding), I'm guessing that Allwinner has already published the sources for their kernel modules and Aurga is just compiling them.

[@Cynyr]

@@apalrdsadventures i thought they would still need to provide a link to the sources for the kernel either way. It's been a while since TiVo though so my memory is fuzzy

[@apalrdsadventures]

Only provided on request

[@MrBoboka12]

If it would work, maybe the 80$ would be ok.

[@mjmeans7983]

I really hope you used an isolated wifi to test this... If you didn't it's amazing that you trusted that app developer to not be stealing your wifi password and connection details by sending it in their telemetry over the mobile network. Never enter a wifi password and connection details into an app! SMH.

[@MrPir84free]

The simple solution to that would be a travel router, with a unique SSID and password, I'm not sure that the folks over in the far east, where this device "might" send such data - would be able to use your wifi password for... I guess that they could sell it with any sort of associated location data; but that would be technically a waste of time if someone really wanted something of use. A wifi password really is only of use if you happen to be within a hundred or few hundred feet of the wifi access point/router to begin with. For me, something like this would be on a travel router; but if I did it at home, it'd be on the guest network. Now, this thing acts like a keyboard and mouse; remote control ; code injection of some sort from the keyboard - that's a possibility - because you'd be plugging a USB device into your computer; but you run similar possibilities just loading their app onto your phone, laptop or computer. Yeah, if you are concerned about your wifi password, loading the app, or malicious code on device as it's plugged into your server, etc would be a greater concern. The other thing that concerns me about this device - is the requirement for having an app specifically; if there's no web interface to the device - if the company goes bust in a year or two, and then decides to no longer support the app let alone provide it- well, so much for your $80 investment; .

[@sonofskywalker3147]

Amazing video 🙏 Does it work with a TV ? I would like to cast my PC to my TV (2 different rooms) to be able to play games on my sofa 🥹 Thanks

[@apalrdsadventures]

They have an Android TV app, although I don't have an Android TV to test on. There is no interface for non-Android TVs. You'd also need a wireless game controller that reaches to the PC, and the latency might not be ideal.

[@sonofskywalker3147]

@@apalrdsadventures thank you I will look into that. Keep up your great videos 🙏

[@unicodefox]

I assume the latency with this wouldn't be great. If its supported on your TV you could likely install the Steam Link (or Moonlight, or Parsec) apps on your TV and use it that way

[@duytdl]

While I would never buy this but really appreciate you taking the trouble!