Mr. Geerling Senior needs his own channel! He's charasmatic, well spoken, and can have Redshirt Jeff do silly things in the background. Great to see the whole family! Time to do an interview with Katie next. We want to know what's her line, she into tech too? Videography seems to be a starting point...
@@JeffGeerling Lol. I look just like my dad (RIP). The difference is that I have extremely sensitive skin (due to a random genetic mutation) so I am often shirtless, whereas he was usually in a suit.
Having an engineer as a father but with our only technical conversations being: "arguing about how greater he must be" on anything technical in-spite anything he may be lacking in current methodologies: I must present my admiration on your ties... It was really fun to meet your family Jeff.. You guys are just great!
$150 board, $50 pi, $100 4 port switch (with 50% discount). That is $350 already. Or $450 on a regular price. These "cheap" solutions are nowhere cheap at all.
I didn't thumb down this but it is a bad video because you can get way through it (about half way in my case) without being told exactly what these Pi KVMs are and how one uses them!!!
@@D9ID9I May be we have a misconception here between (i)KVM and IPMI. Jeff explained what IPMI is very briefly starting at 1:39. Don't confuse this with desktop (USB, HDMI, DP) or enterprise (IP-based) KVM Switches like ATEN's. This is supposed to plug into your computer to provide an IPMI interface which the computer doesn't provide or which is present but doen't fit your needs. You connect to the Pi to manage the computer like you would connect to an IPMI or a virtual machine console. I'm not a fan of giving one thing more than one name and confuse the heck out of others trying to make sense of marketing jargon either. But they've been pretty consistent with iKVM (integrated KVM).
You talking to your Dad reminds me so much of my childhood. My own father was in a similar position for the first 20 years of his career and taught me heaps about electronics. Pre-internet though!
Why would anyone thumbs down .. it's great to see your dad on. Its great to see more about you and your family. Great video I'll have a look in buying one 😀
I subscribed because of the way you explain everything, and you have a great personality. I love the bloopers at the end, its great to see you do edit out the mistakes but you show at the end, that you are not perfect and you have some fun with it and yourself. Great channel, love all the projects I have seen so far.
LOVE dad’s comment about losing three hours because he KNEW it was hooked up correctly. Best use case for time-messaging would be future-self telling me “Nope.”
Thank you for this review! I'm not gonna use such a KVM, but I can imagine this be useful and affordable for people, who do. Once I build a server and put it e.g in the basement, as a software developer I'm certainly going for the PI-KVM.
Certain server brands, like Dell, for instance, the solution is called DRAC ( dell remote access console ) but their support really depends upon such a solution for troubleshooting hardware, especially for failed hardware. On other systems, it might be called ILO for integrated lights out. Premise is the same; their techs do really depend upon such hardware for access. These Pi KVM's would be a great fit for accessing servers remotely after the system has booted, but I don't see them as being as developed as DRAC/ILO's are. In today's corporate world, especially if they are contractors that work with any government agency, the #1 concern is security along with hardening. For a number of years, we did use multi-port IP KVM's, but that fell out of favor a decade or so back. They were expensive, and often gave no more functionality than these Pi KVM's. Hardware devices integrated into the servers, like DRAC's/ ILO's took over. As we move to cloud based resources, well, even that level of access is partially gone. But then, with cloud based, we no longer have to foot the hardware bill either.
These devices are targeted on the lower end, SMB and homelabbers who might not have servers with built in management (or it's so old it's effectively insecure or unusable).
It was a great video with your data you should post more videos like this more often. I have seen many videos of pi kvm but this one was unique and I enjoyed a-lot
Just came here to say Hello to your dad. Now we know where all the techi-ness in Jeff comes from.. :). Sir! we would love to see more of you on this channel..God bless.
"He's the one who taught me a lot about technology" Sons of radio engineers are all going 'Yeah, that's right". I think we all started messing with electronics about the same age Jeff did. :)
Absolutely amazing to meet your dad! Your sister already helps you, soon the channel might be a family affair ;) re: KVMs I don't like the TinyPilot out of principle, using open source work to sell something with lock-in is a bit antithetical
why is the big clock in the background updating the text on the minute at the second handle at 30 seconds? - I am used to updates at the full 60 seconds ...
At first I thought your dad in that childhood pic was just you after shaving your beard :D But then I realized actual Jeff wouldn't do that so I took another glimpse. "GG", a.k.a. in this case = Good Genes. __b
You’re on stage 2 of 3 of getting cozy on cam by adding body language but we can’t see it. Frame it up so we can see your hands. Also I’m really excited to try this lol
Price of around €350-€400 kills this at start. It can control single computer, it's build on unreliable Raspberry Pi with its subpar SD card which is prone to randomly die. At this price range you can get decommissioned real KVM over IP, add cost of three-four of these things (if you have so many servers) and you can easily buy new dedicated KVM with 8-16 ports. This toy here shouldn't cost more than €50, then it would make sense for one-station home lab maybe.
I'm aware that these stuff may not so much used any more - but for me both solutions lack vga input, ps/2 keyboard/mouse and rs232 serial even having a hdmi out on a server isn't guaranteed - in professional 19" stuff vga and 4:3 resolution is still dominant
One can get a VGA to HDMI adapter for about $10 to $20; requires a USB port to power it ( or wall plug ) . Only servers that I've seen with PS/2 and RS232 ports would be in the OVER 10 years old category. That category is typically bound only for the recycling heap, or as a door stop because one is to lazy to buy a proper door stop.
@@MrPir84free then the only type of servers you've seen in the past decades is the consumer-grade one meant for rental to customers with the more fancy stuff like ipmi (which is basically some sort of embedded kvm) in the professional world the old analog and serial connectors are often the only ones available - the reason: reliability although those connections are rather limited for todays standards they're quite solid ones and easy/simple to implement with something like usb and hdmi one has highly complex stuff with differential signaling which is more complex to get done - multiply this by a scale factor of thousands to millions and you end up with quite a big number for the additional cost
I've just finished building a PI-KVM. It works great for my use case, and I've even added a 4 port KVM switch that will switch device via software right in the PI-KVM browser. Even better is that I designed and printed my own case that's a 1u rack mount. With that addition, the whole thing neat tidy, powerful and can control several machines. Though only one can be have the ATX feature at the moment. I've already suggested a feature to allow one PI KVM to do the ATX thing for several computers! I love the out of the box features, it simply worked without modification, it really isn't anywhere as difficult as the video made it out to be. If you use the PI-KVM like a tiny pilot, it's just as plug and play. The ATX feature was the part that's the most complex, and even then, it's not really that hard.
Plug and play once you have it assembled. It's not a barrier for you or me, but I know many people who just want to deploy a KVM (or ten) would rather spend some extra money so they can pull it out of a box and plug it in, zero assembly required. Right now that market's served on the $600+ end, but nothing sub-$500. I think that's the niche TinyPilot targets, though I wish TinyPilot had ATX hardware control too.
This was one of my favorite videos yet Jeff! It was awesome to meet your father. The two of you look just alike. It's also cool to see he is associated with Covenant Networks. I'm guessing one of the engineers he spoke of being associated at that facility with might be Tim Thompson from JoyFM? Thanks for all the great videos you make and please keep them coming.
It's just a remote controller, not a KVM. It needs to support multiple of HDMI and USB, with a direct connection to local display/kb/mouse, plus flawless switching, to be called a useful KVM.
@JeffGeerling QUIRK ALERT! The TV clock in your interview segment with your dad. @12:28. The text reads “Eleven minutes past seven”, then @12:30, as the (red) second hand hits “6 o’clock”, the text changes to “Twelve minute past seven”. Now I’m in the antipodes, but I don’t think THAT explains it….? 😂
I'm a huge fan of your channel, Jeff, as well as big into RF and software defined radio. I was really happy to learn that your dad is a BIG radio guy! Awesome! EDIT: Are you at all into radio related stuff? I'd love to see you do a pi project involving software defined radio or something!
I've messed around with my RTL-SDR sometimes. I actually used it for HD Radio decoding so I could listen to baseball games since the MLB blacks them out if you try streaming the audio online! www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/hospital-stay-and-mlb-blackouts-led-me-rtl-sdr-radio Would love to do more RF projects though.
Built one a few months back for the Rpi3 it was kinda a struggle as I have to compile one for myself as there where no precompiled version for my Pi and I still a noob, but it was fun and learned a lot. Can't wait to build one again as now I have a Rpi4.
@1:57 why walk?...... Just power cycle the POE port if you have it powered via POE :P.... you can even script this with ansible if you want :P That is... just for resetting it....
I've worked with many IP KVMs. On top of their usual lack of features (hdmi is rare, many don't even do USB) they tend to suck. Java based interfaces, mouse doesn't always work. The fact that this works even on your phone makes it better than pretty much everything else out there.
@@yudhavidian102 I've used them from time to time. I see they finally have switches with HTML. Still stupidly expensive though. My prediction is that we will see an overall price drop as a flood of Chinese manufacturers start skinning PiKVM and start producing equipment the same way openWRT caused a price drop/better flexibility in the Wifi Market.
4:00 _'Setup was a little more difficult because it comes as a kit and you have to assemble all the parts yourself.'_ For some, that's a bug. For others, that's a feature.
In my case, I accidentally pinched the 5v fan wire in the GPIO pins... and the first time I turned it on some smoke started coming out. I thought I fried the whole thing, but luckily it was just some burning insulation on the fan wire.
@@MarcoGPUtuber Unfortunately of all the assembly process, I forgot to record "first boot". I should learn by now that's the shot that has the most potential for excitement!
Absolutely brilliant production guys, what a brilliant family team. I was here for the details of the KVMs. I didn't expect such a superbly produced, informative and entertaining production. Respect!
I have seen lot of reviews over past years, but this is the first one that tell a tale of personal experience. Great work Jeff, I find inspiration in things you do.
You are a spitting image of your dad. The picture of him when he is younger looks a lot like you do now, if you didn't have facial hair. Uncanny! Great video and very helpful, thank you both!
But but if a kvm crashes what do you need? A kvm for the kvm? But if the kvm for the kvm crash? Do you need a kvm for the kvm for the kvm? But if the kvm for the .....
gotta do a triple pi with a redundant switch for the perfrerials, Kubernetes, and putting this software in a pod to run on them Even better also include another interconnect to the other PIs so you could update and manage the other PIs ...
Funny how things change! During my brief stint in radio in the mid-90s, we were still using carts (more or less 8 track tapes) for commercials, background music during traffic reports, etc... I wonder how many people in radio today have *ever* grabbed a cart to play a commercial? :) We, as individual DJs, were just starting to bring our laptops in to play random sound effects at the time. It was a novelty.
I remember my first job in radio was helping decommission the cart machines; they were upgrading to CD players instead, so for a while there were 3 cart machines and 3 CD players with the CDs installed in 'carts' of their own. The wall of the studio was basically like a video store, with hundreds of carts and CDs for all the music and commercials the station would play. Back then disc jockeys were actually that-half their job was grabbing the programming binder and making sure to line up all the carts and CDs in the right order, then hit the button for each and every one (at least until basic automation was in place so the console could switch between them itself). A project soon after that was installing 'RCS' PCs for each studio, which involved importing thousands of reels, carts, and CDs into the system so the computer could play all the audio.
I had to make an ad and dub it to a cart for a radio course I took in college. Now you can just make an mp3 file or whatever audio format you like and push a button. No carts that jam.
@@JeffGeerling My first job in radio was helping move WIOD studio into new building sometime in 2000 - 2001 when I was a highschool kid. Then almost 20 years later I helped dismantle it all and replace it with modern IP audio tech but this time as a full time employee.
It's always amazing to find open source projects like the PiKVM that are both better and cheaper than existing solutions. Thanks for reviewing these products
This is so cool, I was planning to make something like this w/ RPi but I didn't know it is called KVM, I guess Internet gods heard me and helped me to find this video.
Also on a tight budget just go with a "Pi Zero 2" and an HDMI-CSI adapter. You will just have wifi to connect to it, but for adhocc problem solvings it would be great. And if you pair it with a smart plug you can have it dormant till you need it. Dont forget about tailscale if you want to reach it from anywhere no port forwards needed and it goes out on any firewall 99.9999% (but to draw the screen and also push it over VPN with tailscale it will realy limit the fps of your grabbing. In my test to 1-3fps over tailscale and) without vpn it shows about 15-25fps whch is enough if you trouble shoot a critical error remotely. Maybe some OverClocking can solve this just make sure to cool the little guy enough for it. Nice little tool for people on a budget This Is The Way.
“Gone are the days of walking to my basement to restart a locked Pi” Umm, you’re using a Pi to ensure you don’t have to physically restart a locked Pi? So are you going to put another Pi in front of that one, then another in front of that one, then another in front of that one, then… 100-300ms latency on a gig local network? That’s awful. Are there any solutions like this for x86 mini PCs that have some actual power?
I love the look of pride Mr Geerling had on being interviewed by his son the video personality! You both look alike at around that age. He seems the perfect dad that every kid might wish for and a great role model. Hopefully he will start his own channel or a joint channel. Loved the inside view on radio support. Great feedback on the device use experience and pros & cons. I like the definition of latency and the adjustments. The criteria for selection was really helpful. Well done Jeff! Superb video.
It is on my list now. I'm going to do it. Probably in a couple months, maybe sooner :) I've already done a couple projects, but I figure it was fun enough for me to do, might as well share it more with the world!
I have boards with IPMI, but many of them are like: "If I'd known this particular IPMI was going to suck *this much*, I would've gone with a different board." But then, I'll bet they *all* suck in *different ways!* For example, Asrock X570D4U.... the framebuffer is 800x600 (not even 1024x768), and the serial-over-lan is wired up in hardware but not in BIOS.
This is the first time I watched one of your UA-cam videos. If I can make a suggestion. At the beginning of your video, please briefly explain the technology. I know it's hard to believe, but there are people who have no idea what KVM means. I looked it up. Keyboard, Video, Mouse.
Good point-I sometimes forget that the 'older' tech I talk about sometimes, especially if it's something only a smaller part of the industry still uses, are less known these days. I try to always at least add some explanatory text when I introduce a new acronym, but I forgot to do that in this video!
You can get away with just the Pi hardware + USB HDMI capture card + USB-C cable, though I'd recommend the tiny pilot usb/power adapter if you intend on keeping the Pi running over a host reboot then just image the Pi with Pi-KVM and it works fine.
As a father of two young boys, the picture of you using the computer as a baby contrasted with where you are today is very touching. Your father must be very proud. All the best to you both.
Thank you for review, I just ordered a PiKVM, which if it works well, I plan to deploy at each of my Clients' Offices with servers. Really enjoyed getting to see you hang out with your dad on this one. A little jealous, TBH. Enjoy the time you have together as much as possible. I can't even begin to express what it is like to lose that.
For a special project, perhaps. otherwise, I'd concentrate on RDP, remote management, powershell, etc first, and save the money for more useful endeavors.
@@MrPir84free RDP, Remote Utilities, and VPN are all deployed, but there are times, i just need to see the HDMI output and send HID. This is especially the case when dealing with hardware RAID, which seems to be interfaced with prior to the OS booting. This is especially true with my clients that have dell R720 servers in their office. But usually my go-to is RDP ove a VPN.
Call it OCD, but I'm can't stop looking at the clock behind the two of you. For some reason the text display of the time, along the bottom of the clock, is 30 seconds behind the time displayed by the second hand. For example, at 7:10:29 it still reads "Nine minutes past Seven", but at 7:1:30 it changes to "Ten minutes past Seven".
The whole video i was thinking WTF do they mean Kernel Virtual Machine? - what are they virtualizing? near end of video i realize keyboard video mouse LUL
Mr. Geerling Senior needs his own channel! He's charasmatic, well spoken, and can have Redshirt Jeff do silly things in the background. Great to see the whole family! Time to do an interview with Katie next. We want to know what's her line, she into tech too? Videography seems to be a starting point...
I agree.. I would love to follow someone who is a radio engineer on a tech channel like this! He was great!
J
Definitely have Katie on. If Stephen Colbert can have Evie on, Jeff can do no less for his mom.
Yes, I'd love to hear about his Software Defined Radio setup that we saw at the end of the clip. Does he use it to transmit?
Jeff: Your father is GOLD! Wish I had a father like him!
Mine is dead from a heart attack. Make do.
I enjoy how young Dad Geerling looks exactly like current Jeff
Except I keep my shirt on! Most of the time, at least.
I was going to say, Jeff your Snapchat “Dad Filter” Ain’t foolin anyone.
@Jeff Geerling knowing what he will look like in old age ...wait is that time travel?
@@JeffGeerling Does he even recompile the kernel xd
@@JeffGeerling Lol. I look just like my dad (RIP). The difference is that I have extremely sensitive skin (due to a random genetic mutation) so I am often shirtless, whereas he was usually in a suit.
I'm jealous of how cool (great) your dad is. Cheers to you and your family for taking the time to make this!
Great to see your Dad on the channel and his background, excellent to see and hear his experience with the devices.
Having an engineer as a father but with our only technical conversations being: "arguing about how greater he must be" on anything technical in-spite anything he may be lacking in current methodologies: I must present my admiration on your ties... It was really fun to meet your family Jeff.. You guys are just great!
42 dislikes from people who already bought KVM for over $500 before this video
45 now, probably some now that read your comment
$150 board, $50 pi, $100 4 port switch (with 50% discount). That is $350 already. Or $450 on a regular price. These "cheap" solutions are nowhere cheap at all.
@@D9ID9I you assume the 4-port switch, but all you need is a free port on the switch that feeds the machine anyway.
I didn't thumb down this but it is a bad video because you can get way through it (about half way in my case) without being told exactly what these Pi KVMs are and how one uses them!!!
@@D9ID9I May be we have a misconception here between (i)KVM and IPMI. Jeff explained what IPMI is very briefly starting at 1:39. Don't confuse this with desktop (USB, HDMI, DP) or enterprise (IP-based) KVM Switches like ATEN's. This is supposed to plug into your computer to provide an IPMI interface which the computer doesn't provide or which is present but doen't fit your needs. You connect to the Pi to manage the computer like you would connect to an IPMI or a virtual machine console.
I'm not a fan of giving one thing more than one name and confuse the heck out of others trying to make sense of marketing jargon either. But they've been pretty consistent with iKVM (integrated KVM).
You talking to your Dad reminds me so much of my childhood. My own father was in a similar position for the first 20 years of his career and taught me heaps about electronics. Pre-internet though!
Why would anyone thumbs down .. it's great to see your dad on. Its great to see more about you and your family. Great video I'll have a look in buying one 😀
I subscribed because of the way you explain everything, and you have a great personality. I love the bloopers at the end, its great to see you do edit out the mistakes but you show at the end, that you are not perfect and you have some fun with it and yourself. Great channel, love all the projects I have seen so far.
LOVE dad’s comment about losing three hours because he KNEW it was hooked up correctly.
Best use case for time-messaging would be future-self telling me “Nope.”
Thank you for this review! I'm not gonna use such a KVM, but I can imagine this be useful and affordable for people, who do. Once I build a server and put it e.g in the basement, as a software developer I'm certainly going for the PI-KVM.
2:15 "The Raspberry Pi is inexpensive..." 🤣
You are so funny! 😂
your dad knows his stuff, thats awesome . I would be so freakin proud
It was super cool to have your dad in this video.
This is exactly why I love this channel. Keep up the good work!
Certain server brands, like Dell, for instance, the solution is called DRAC ( dell remote access console ) but their support really depends upon such a solution for troubleshooting hardware, especially for failed hardware. On other systems, it might be called ILO for integrated lights out. Premise is the same; their techs do really depend upon such hardware for access. These Pi KVM's would be a great fit for accessing servers remotely after the system has booted, but I don't see them as being as developed as DRAC/ILO's are.
In today's corporate world, especially if they are contractors that work with any government agency, the #1 concern is security along with hardening.
For a number of years, we did use multi-port IP KVM's, but that fell out of favor a decade or so back. They were expensive, and often gave no more functionality than these Pi KVM's. Hardware devices integrated into the servers, like DRAC's/ ILO's took over.
As we move to cloud based resources, well, even that level of access is partially gone. But then, with cloud based, we no longer have to foot the hardware bill either.
These devices are targeted on the lower end, SMB and homelabbers who might not have servers with built in management (or it's so old it's effectively insecure or unusable).
The latency line had me laughing. xD That was so wholesome.
Loved this video! Might try a Pi-KVM with my old Mac Mini Server o.o
As a sysadmin this is an amazing product Im surprised didn't exist when I needed this solution
Hi to your dad from Morocco, thanks for the video
This channel is fueling my homelab addiction while I'm about to move
Hopefully your new place will have rom for a full rack!
It was a great video with your data you should post more videos like this more often.
I have seen many videos of pi kvm but this one was unique and I enjoyed a-lot
lol "With your data". Geerling Sr. seemed to have the emotion chip installed, but he was way nicer than Lore.
BLIKVM IS A RPI Compute Module 4 IO Board for PiKVM ua-cam.com/video/aehOawHklGE/v-deo.html
Lucky you for having such dad
Just came here to say Hello to your dad. Now we know where all the techi-ness in Jeff comes from.. :). Sir! we would love to see more of you on this channel..God bless.
I love your videos. They seem to be so in depth but not TOO in depth.
I'm been a backer for quite some time and even built my own. Love this thing.
Nice! GeerlingDad and GeerlingGirl. I really enjoyed this one, thanks Jeff!
+1000 for inviting your dad. Great discussion together.
I absolutely LOVE that clock display…!!!
What is it???
What software is it??
I want!!
Nice! I wanted to implement this myself.
In the middle of the interview I realized that you had set up some decent camera angles. You don't see that too often in UA-cam videos .
"He's the one who taught me a lot about technology"
Sons of radio engineers are all going 'Yeah, that's right". I think we all started messing with electronics about the same age Jeff did. :)
This episode was both useful and sweet.
That seemed like it was fun!
Absolutely amazing to meet your dad! Your sister already helps you, soon the channel might be a family affair ;)
re: KVMs I don't like the TinyPilot out of principle, using open source work to sell something with lock-in is a bit antithetical
Yknow if more IT infrastructure used systems like this, the Crowdstrike outage could've been dealt with much quicker
Your dad is hilarious! Good stuff.
Jeff, your dad is awesome. Great video.
why is the big clock in the background updating the text on the minute at the second handle at 30 seconds? - I am used to updates at the full 60 seconds ...
Your best one from the fun side!!!
Interview with dad was awesome also good insight on KVM.
5:00
TechTechPotato 👀
At first I thought your dad in that childhood pic was just you after shaving your beard :D But then I realized actual Jeff wouldn't do that so I took another glimpse. "GG", a.k.a. in this case = Good Genes. __b
You’re on stage 2 of 3 of getting cozy on cam by adding body language but we can’t see it. Frame it up so we can see your hands.
Also I’m really excited to try this lol
Price of around €350-€400 kills this at start. It can control single computer, it's build on unreliable Raspberry Pi with its subpar SD card which is prone to randomly die. At this price range you can get decommissioned real KVM over IP, add cost of three-four of these things (if you have so many servers) and you can easily buy new dedicated KVM with 8-16 ports. This toy here shouldn't cost more than €50, then it would make sense for one-station home lab maybe.
Awesome 👏!! Love the fact that your tech interests started with your dad encouraging you along on your journey. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽😎😎
thanks for saving my bum bum... thank you. will try it soon.
I'm aware that these stuff may not so much used any more - but for me both solutions lack vga input, ps/2 keyboard/mouse and rs232 serial
even having a hdmi out on a server isn't guaranteed - in professional 19" stuff vga and 4:3 resolution is still dominant
One can get a VGA to HDMI adapter for about $10 to $20; requires a USB port to power it ( or wall plug ) . Only servers that I've seen with PS/2 and RS232 ports would be in the OVER 10 years old category. That category is typically bound only for the recycling heap, or as a door stop because one is to lazy to buy a proper door stop.
@@MrPir84free then the only type of servers you've seen in the past decades is the consumer-grade one meant for rental to customers with the more fancy stuff like ipmi (which is basically some sort of embedded kvm)
in the professional world the old analog and serial connectors are often the only ones available - the reason: reliability
although those connections are rather limited for todays standards they're quite solid ones and easy/simple to implement
with something like usb and hdmi one has highly complex stuff with differential signaling which is more complex to get done - multiply this by a scale factor of thousands to millions and you end up with quite a big number for the additional cost
I've just finished building a PI-KVM. It works great for my use case, and I've even added a 4 port KVM switch that will switch device via software right in the PI-KVM browser. Even better is that I designed and printed my own case that's a 1u rack mount. With that addition, the whole thing neat tidy, powerful and can control several machines. Though only one can be have the ATX feature at the moment. I've already suggested a feature to allow one PI KVM to do the ATX thing for several computers! I love the out of the box features, it simply worked without modification, it really isn't anywhere as difficult as the video made it out to be. If you use the PI-KVM like a tiny pilot, it's just as plug and play. The ATX feature was the part that's the most complex, and even then, it's not really that hard.
Plug and play once you have it assembled. It's not a barrier for you or me, but I know many people who just want to deploy a KVM (or ten) would rather spend some extra money so they can pull it out of a box and plug it in, zero assembly required.
Right now that market's served on the $600+ end, but nothing sub-$500. I think that's the niche TinyPilot targets, though I wish TinyPilot had ATX hardware control too.
loved that part with your dad. Hope to see him in future videos.
"A Pi is inexpensive."
Scalpers everywhere: *_*,
"Was" inexpensive 😭
This was one of my favorite videos yet Jeff! It was awesome to meet your father. The two of you look just alike. It's also cool to see he is associated with Covenant Networks. I'm guessing one of the engineers he spoke of being associated at that facility with might be Tim Thompson from JoyFM? Thanks for all the great videos you make and please keep them coming.
Wholesome episode. Didn't know your sis is also involved. Is she into technology too? )
Yep! She's often helping with cameras, and with all the live streams.
@@JeffGeerling What a wonderful sis!
I built one a while back. They work GREAT, even if you just use a HDMI USB stick.
I'm ordering a KVM hat for my Pi as am watching this video.
From the thumbnail, I was fully expecting this guy to be British.
It's just a remote controller, not a KVM. It needs to support multiple of HDMI and USB, with a direct connection to local display/kb/mouse, plus flawless switching, to be called a useful KVM.
IIRC, Wendal at Level1Techs has a lot of KVM experience and may even sell his own off their store. It'd be interesting talking to him about it
13:44 - methinks Katie was unfairly maligned! I hope she gets justice, some way.
P.S. 17:13 - oooooh, cool clock idea!! I dig it!!
Great video!
@JeffGeerling
QUIRK ALERT!
The TV clock in your interview segment with your dad. @12:28.
The text reads “Eleven minutes past seven”, then @12:30, as the (red) second hand hits “6 o’clock”, the text changes to “Twelve minute past seven”.
Now I’m in the antipodes, but I don’t think THAT explains it….? 😂
I'm a huge fan of your channel, Jeff, as well as big into RF and software defined radio. I was really happy to learn that your dad is a BIG radio guy! Awesome!
EDIT: Are you at all into radio related stuff? I'd love to see you do a pi project involving software defined radio or something!
I've messed around with my RTL-SDR sometimes. I actually used it for HD Radio decoding so I could listen to baseball games since the MLB blacks them out if you try streaming the audio online! www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/hospital-stay-and-mlb-blackouts-led-me-rtl-sdr-radio
Would love to do more RF projects though.
@@JeffGeerling Cool! I'll def be reading that! Thanks. And ya, I would love to see a video on an RF project - any RF project haha
Intel ME works ok, I’m sure this has its niche utility too.
Built one a few months back for the Rpi3 it was kinda a struggle as I have to compile one for myself as there where no precompiled version for my Pi and I still a noob, but it was fun and learned a lot. Can't wait to build one again as now I have a Rpi4.
So cool to what father/son on utube.
Synergy is what I used to use to join 2 PCs
Well......... @ $150 a computer ill be walking around my table.
@1:57 why walk?...... Just power cycle the POE port if you have it powered via POE :P.... you can even script this with ansible if you want :P That is... just for resetting it....
I've worked with many IP KVMs. On top of their usual lack of features (hdmi is rare, many don't even do USB) they tend to suck. Java based interfaces, mouse doesn't always work. The fact that this works even on your phone makes it better than pretty much everything else out there.
Amen, the amount of times I have had to go into a data centre just to reset a KVM…….
have you use Raritan KVM? or know about it>>
@@yudhavidian102 I've used them from time to time. I see they finally have switches with HTML. Still stupidly expensive though.
My prediction is that we will see an overall price drop as a flood of Chinese manufacturers start skinning PiKVM and start producing equipment the same way openWRT caused a price drop/better flexibility in the Wifi Market.
@@pkf4124 Can't you use a KVM to control the KVM?
@DOOM GRIFTER raritan kvm now does not use java... free java...i know cuz i use it full UST+KVM and CCSG..
I would love to see some RTL-SDR stuff. Even just showing how cheap the radio is and the basic stuff you can do with it.
It shall be done!
@@JeffGeerling Also some RPi Outernet aka Othernet stuff pls..
4:00 _'Setup was a little more difficult because it comes as a kit and you have to assemble all the parts yourself.'_
For some, that's a bug. For others, that's a feature.
In my case, I accidentally pinched the 5v fan wire in the GPIO pins... and the first time I turned it on some smoke started coming out.
I thought I fried the whole thing, but luckily it was just some burning insulation on the fan wire.
@@JeffGeerling Ouch! Maybe I should send you some wire splicing materials to get that all fixed up ;)
Please say that's in the bloopers.
@@MarcoGPUtuber Unfortunately of all the assembly process, I forgot to record "first boot".
I should learn by now that's the shot that has the most potential for excitement!
@@JeffGeerling Exactly! Same with the 2.5G Card. We missed the magic smoke and had to settle on a re-enactment.
It's also not the case anymore, because of the kickstarter you can get a PIKVM in a metal case.
Absolutely brilliant production guys, what a brilliant family team. I was here for the details of the KVMs. I didn't expect such a superbly produced, informative and entertaining production. Respect!
I have seen lot of reviews over past years, but this is the first one that tell a tale of personal experience. Great work Jeff, I find inspiration in things you do.
You are a spitting image of your dad. The picture of him when he is younger looks a lot like you do now, if you didn't have facial hair. Uncanny! Great video and very helpful, thank you both!
But but if a kvm crashes what do you need? A kvm for the kvm?
But if the kvm for the kvm crash?
Do you need a kvm for the kvm for the kvm?
But if the kvm for the .....
"Why are there 100 Raspberry Pis attached to this computer?"
@@JeffGeerling "reasons"😂
gotta do a triple pi with a redundant switch for the perfrerials, Kubernetes, and putting this software in a pod to run on them
Even better also include another interconnect to the other PIs so you could update and manage the other PIs ...
You get in the car and drive over to reboot it, or call someone nearby to do it. IT 101, except now you only need to do it every few years or so.
@@JeffGeerling It's just the PI Pyramid Paradox
You've inspired me to go bug my boss to put this functionality in the NAS. Boy will the developers be happy to see me tomorrow.
You'll get some NASty stares tomorrow.
Is this a time to get a NAS included a KVM function?
Would love that feature!
@@JeffGeerling I don't care. Gotta make it easy for the customer and compete!
@@ASUSTOR_YT If that follows through I can go bug my boss to look at purchasing one of those!
Funny how things change! During my brief stint in radio in the mid-90s, we were still using carts (more or less 8 track tapes) for commercials, background music during traffic reports, etc... I wonder how many people in radio today have *ever* grabbed a cart to play a commercial? :) We, as individual DJs, were just starting to bring our laptops in to play random sound effects at the time. It was a novelty.
I remember my first job in radio was helping decommission the cart machines; they were upgrading to CD players instead, so for a while there were 3 cart machines and 3 CD players with the CDs installed in 'carts' of their own. The wall of the studio was basically like a video store, with hundreds of carts and CDs for all the music and commercials the station would play.
Back then disc jockeys were actually that-half their job was grabbing the programming binder and making sure to line up all the carts and CDs in the right order, then hit the button for each and every one (at least until basic automation was in place so the console could switch between them itself).
A project soon after that was installing 'RCS' PCs for each studio, which involved importing thousands of reels, carts, and CDs into the system so the computer could play all the audio.
I had to make an ad and dub it to a cart for a radio course I took in college. Now you can just make an mp3 file or whatever audio format you like and push a button. No carts that jam.
@@JeffGeerling My first job in radio was helping move WIOD studio into new building sometime in 2000 - 2001 when I was a highschool kid. Then almost 20 years later I helped dismantle it all and replace it with modern IP audio tech but this time as a full time employee.
Can't wait to control Jeff's Mac Mini with a Raspberry Pi!
Thanks for watching!😊 Don't forget to hit the subscribe button! Text me on What sApp for more info and guardians🇱🇷❤️.. here is the number ⬇️
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Jeff, Jeff's cousin, Jeff's dad, Jeff's sister., Jeff's red shirted twin... I love that Jeff's family is willing to help him with his great videos.
It's always amazing to find open source projects like the PiKVM that are both better and cheaper than existing solutions. Thanks for reviewing these products
A RPI Compute Module 4 IO Board for PiKVM ua-cam.com/video/aehOawHklGE/v-deo.html
PiKVM with RPi zero w - total win for supporting parent's notebook when it does not connect to internet due to "some error" :)
This is so cool, I was planning to make something like this w/ RPi but I didn't know it is called KVM, I guess Internet gods heard me and helped me to find this video.
Also on a tight budget just go with a "Pi Zero 2" and an HDMI-CSI adapter. You will just have wifi to connect to it, but for adhocc problem solvings it would be great. And if you pair it with a smart plug you can have it dormant till you need it. Dont forget about tailscale if you want to reach it from anywhere no port forwards needed and it goes out on any firewall 99.9999% (but to draw the screen and also push it over VPN with tailscale it will realy limit the fps of your grabbing. In my test to 1-3fps over tailscale and) without vpn it shows about 15-25fps whch is enough if you trouble shoot a critical error remotely. Maybe some OverClocking can solve this just make sure to cool the little guy enough for it. Nice little tool for people on a budget This Is The Way.
How cool is that! Interview Dad! No wonder you are such a great nerd and teacher. You guys are a blessing. Thank you so much for such a great video!
The part with your dad is just so wholesome!
“Gone are the days of walking to my basement to restart a locked Pi”
Umm, you’re using a Pi to ensure you don’t have to physically restart a locked Pi? So are you going to put another Pi in front of that one, then another in front of that one, then another in front of that one, then…
100-300ms latency on a gig local network? That’s awful. Are there any solutions like this for x86 mini PCs that have some actual power?
I love the look of pride Mr Geerling had on being interviewed by his son the video personality! You both look alike at around that age. He seems the perfect dad that every kid might wish for and a great role model. Hopefully he will start his own channel or a joint channel. Loved the inside view on radio support.
Great feedback on the device use experience and pros & cons.
I like the definition of latency and the adjustments. The criteria for selection was really helpful.
Well done Jeff! Superb video.
Jeff, please make something on RTLSDR (or better yet, DVB dongles as we are broke) and pi. It's a fascinating topic I (and many else) think :D
It is on my list now. I'm going to do it. Probably in a couple months, maybe sooner :)
I've already done a couple projects, but I figure it was fun enough for me to do, might as well share it more with the world!
@@JeffGeerling that's more like it. I would wait for that. :D
I have boards with IPMI, but many of them are like: "If I'd known this particular IPMI was going to suck *this much*, I would've gone with a different board." But then, I'll bet they *all* suck in *different ways!* For example, Asrock X570D4U.... the framebuffer is 800x600 (not even 1024x768), and the serial-over-lan is wired up in hardware but not in BIOS.
This is the first time I watched one of your UA-cam videos. If I can make a suggestion. At the beginning of your video, please briefly explain the technology. I know it's hard to believe, but there are people who have no idea what KVM means. I looked it up. Keyboard, Video, Mouse.
Good point-I sometimes forget that the 'older' tech I talk about sometimes, especially if it's something only a smaller part of the industry still uses, are less known these days. I try to always at least add some explanatory text when I introduce a new acronym, but I forgot to do that in this video!
You can get away with just the Pi hardware + USB HDMI capture card + USB-C cable, though I'd recommend the tiny pilot usb/power adapter if you intend on keeping the Pi running over a host reboot then just image the Pi with Pi-KVM and it works fine.
As a father of two young boys, the picture of you using the computer as a baby contrasted with where you are today is very touching. Your father must be very proud. All the best to you both.
Your father looks like he hasn't aged a single day only his hair color has changed over time
13:43 I love the way he described the latency is 😂
Thank you for review, I just ordered a PiKVM, which if it works well, I plan to deploy at each of my
Clients' Offices with servers. Really enjoyed getting to see you hang out with your dad on this one. A
little jealous, TBH. Enjoy the time you have together as much as possible. I can't even begin to
express what it is like to lose that.
Don, I fully echo those sentiments, I too have been in that position of losing my dad's companionship...
For a special project, perhaps. otherwise, I'd concentrate on RDP, remote management, powershell, etc first, and save the money for more useful endeavors.
@@MrPir84free RDP, Remote Utilities, and VPN are all deployed, but there are times, i just need to see the HDMI output and send HID. This is especially the case when dealing with hardware RAID, which seems to be interfaced with prior to the OS booting. This is especially true with my clients that have dell R720 servers in their office. But usually my go-to is RDP ove a VPN.
I always assumed he was Ned Flanders son.
Great interview! Mr Geerling ia very funny and charismatic! Congrats for the great relationship you have with your father.
Call it OCD, but I'm can't stop looking at the clock behind the two of you. For some reason the text display of the time, along the bottom of the clock, is 30 seconds behind the time displayed by the second hand. For example, at 7:10:29 it still reads "Nine minutes past Seven", but at 7:1:30 it changes to "Ten minutes past Seven".
The whole video i was thinking WTF do they mean Kernel Virtual Machine? - what are they virtualizing? near end of video i realize keyboard video mouse LUL
7:54 Pro tip: 9.9999% is still five-nines of uptime!
BOTH projects missed the opportunity to name themselves Pi-PMI or IPM-Pi
Heh. Or 0.99999%!
99.999%? I like IPM-Pi.
or 9999.9 and 999.99 🤷♂️