KVMs are unreasonably expensive and my work was about to throw this one in the dumpster. I just need to order some console cables first but I’m really pleased.
Now you can hack trains and airplanes and order air strikes!
Finally joined the "work was throwing it out" club
Submitted 8 months ago by mikyopii@programming.dev to selfhosted@lemmy.world
https://programming.dev/pictrs/image/dd279275-f7c4-4400-b846-84131a73fa97.jpeg
Comments
ULS@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
waspentalive@lemmy.one 8 months ago
KVM drawers are cool for homelab racks!
ramble81@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Who the hell removed it from the rack. That ear is at a 45-degree angle
mikyopii@programming.dev 8 months ago
If I had to guess it got damaged when transported in a box with hundreds of pounds of old servers stacked on top of it. Some of the other KVMs I saw were in pieces.
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 8 months ago
GameGod@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Every time I look at this, the value proposition makes no sense to me. The DIY V1 and V2 only have instructions for adding a single HDMI input port (??), and the V3 and V4 are like $350 CAD, which is way more expensive than buying a used KVM on eBay. What am I missing?
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Maybe some enjoy the open-stack in terms of network security… I’d personally use this in front of a port multiplier, so you can have 8x machines going to a switch, the front of the switch toggled by one of the Pi’s GPIO pins.
Part of it is that the prices for the Pi’s themselves have dramatically increased lately.
mosiacmango@lemm.ee 8 months ago
There are knock offs in the $100 range on amazon. Bring your own raspi4 though.
macgyver@federation.red 8 months ago
Geekpi makes a compatible pcie or standalone that gets you everything (with buying a pi) for like $150 or $160
jo3shmoo@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
I’ve been using one for several years now with one of the documented switches that add multiple ports. docs.pikvm.org/ezcoo/#connections First in a DIY and then with the v3 hat Kickstarter I guess total I’m at $270 between the Kickstarter HAT and ezcoo switch plus the cost of a Pi (which I already had) I can reach 4 machines over my Tailnet and jump between them reliably. I can also control power on my primary server. (others are on a network managed PDU and can be forcibly reset that way if needed)
I had an old console from a job but it was so old that it required an ancient version of Java to access through the web interface. I’m sure there may be better options, but for my homelab setup the pikvm has worked well at a price that fit in my budget.
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
Alright. Who bent the rack ears? Own up…
EonNShadow@pawb.social 8 months ago
Free hardware is the best hardware!
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
I wouldn’t say it is the best hardware, but it is definitely the best bang for your buck
RalphFurley@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Is that a massive dildo in the background?
postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Pussy needs to play!
Really_long_toes@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Nice pick up, my boss said I could have a dual xeon server tower with 96 gb of ram and 20 Tb hdd space for a slab… nice little upgrade to my home server haha
laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Your boss is quite generous!
PlexSheep@feddit.de 8 months ago
Very cool and il jealous but I’m curious: how big was the updgrade to your power consumption?
Really_long_toes@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Tbh, I don’t really notice it, it hasn’t got a dedicated gpu and it lives mostly idle, I use it as cloud storage and a media server aswell as other server apps such as teamspeak and I’ll set up a game server every once in a while… I love having it
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
That’s nice! I’ve always wanted a KVM but yeah, they’re always super pricey…
nezbyte@lemmy.world 8 months ago
oof, nearly 3k for that model (assuming B020-U16-19-IP)
mikyopii@programming.dev 8 months ago
I think this model is roughly $1300 brand new. Mine has some cosmetic damage but I still see used KVMs like this on EBay in the high three digit range.
AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 8 months ago
My dad joined that club a while ago. His work was getting rid of a Brother printer and he snagged it. We don’t do much printing around here, but from the praise I hear people give it, it’s a good snag.
Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
I put of grabbing one of these when my work was clearing them out, giving them away for next to nothing.
Now when I actually need one I cant find one for less than the cost of my best damn server. and nobody seems to make a basic cheap one.
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 8 months ago
PiKVM?
iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee 8 months ago
350USD? Yeah not that cheap either…
Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
I have IPMI and web interfaces for most gear, I just don’t want to have to carry a laptop in every-time I need to tinker.
I also have a bunch of AV switchgear and it would be handy to adapt a multiviewer to one of the VGA ports for monitoring that side of things too.
sqw@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
why do these things almost never close properly
wellee@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I thought we shifted away from fullscreen!
EtherWhack@lemmy.world 8 months ago
KVM trays are generally only used for terminal/CLI access where widescreen doesn’t make much sense.
Widescreen ones are available (though not as plentiful) when the user is regularly using GUIs on it.
flubba86@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Nope, were shiftin’ back, bby.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
I’m starting to see a lot of 3:2 displays now. They are not quite fullscreen, but they are a lot better for reading documents than 16:9.
Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
There are a few models available with 1920x1080 displays, but they are mostly still 4:3 screens and VGA inputs.
mikyopii@programming.dev 8 months ago
Image
My cat has claimed it as his own lol
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
I swear I see those 1280x1024 monitors everywhere
mikyopii@programming.dev 8 months ago
Mine came from Craigslist. It’s perfect for server stuff.
MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 8 months ago
Work was throwing it out. Again and again.
promitheas@iusearchlinux.fyi 8 months ago
Lord cat thanks you for your offering and expects more next week
RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
Turn my bum warmer on, peasant!
Bahnd@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Cat.