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Show HN: TinyPilot – Build a KVM over IP using a Raspberry Pi

(mtlynch.io)
756 points mtlynch | 1 comments | 23 Jul 20 13:56 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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mtlynch ◴[23 Jul 20 14:11 UTC] No.23927535[source]▶
Author here. Happy to answer any questions or take any feedback about this post.
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wojciii ◴[23 Jul 20 15:07 UTC] No.23928108[source]▶
Cool project, but what about power management? What happens if the PC being controlled crashes and does not let you reboot it using keyboard shortcut?

I'm might be damaged by testing and working with embedded development.

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mtlynch ◴[23 Jul 20 15:37 UTC] No.23928441[source]▶
Thanks for reading!

>Cool project, but what about power management? What happens if the PC being controlled crashes and does not let you reboot it using keyboard shortcut?

Yeah, that's one of the limitations. TinyPilot can't control power for the target computer.

I don't know of any way to manage power without connecting the Pi to the target machine's motherboard, but that increases complexity significantly. I'm using this for a homelab, so it's easy for me to walk over and cycle power if that ever comes up, but for this to support more remote scenarios, I'd need to address this.

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1. Nexxxeh ◴[23 Jul 20 21:40 UTC] No.23932602[source]▶
A horrible way would be to set the target to power on after power loss. Plug the target into a WiFi-controlled smart plug, like the Belkin Wemo. In the event of catastrophic hard lock, power cycle it at the wall.

A better way would be a relay and microcontroller, which you could also potentially use for the USB HID stuff too.

In theory, you could have a HDMI switch, a single Pi and HDMI grabber, and just a microcontroller board for each target machine that could have power button control, keyboard emulation etc built in.