Scaling the PiKVM - Using the Raspberry Pi PiKVM with Multiple Machines

The PiKVM is a fantastic device to remote control your Windows, Mac, or Linux machines. It turns a Raspberry Pi into an IP based KVM switch that lets you remote control any machine from anywhere in the world! You can build your own, or buy a pre-assembled PiKVM like I did. In this video we try to scale the PiKVM to 8 devices, but things don't always go as planned.

A HUGE THANKS to Micro Center for sponsoring today's video.

Disclosures:

- I was not paid by PiKVM
- I chose PiKVM and contacted them after researching alternatives

📦 Products in this video 📦

(Affiliate links may be included in this description. I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.)

#PiKVM #RaspberryPi #KVM

00:00 - Intro
01:31 - Micro Center / Free SSD! (Sponsor)
02:49 - PiKVM Hardware
04:14 - PiKVM at Scale
05:05 - The Problems Ahead
07:46 - A New HDMI Switch Enters the Chat
09:21 - Putting it all Together
12:38 - Is the PiKVM Worth It?
14:10 - Stream Highlight - "My nerdy tech heart is full"

Thank you for watching!

[TechnoTim]

What's something you NEED remote access to?

[davidg]

Putting Ventoy on the KVM is one of those "It's so obvious that I can't believe I didn't think of it!" moments. Brilliant and perfect.

[ChAnTi]

The fact that you broke down the costs per remote controlled device is honestly the best take away from the video. Thank you for that.

[GeoffSeeley]

That bootable Ventoy USB trick is pretty sweet...

[gregharder]

I love this! Being able to switch between four machines is exactly what I need, and being able to interact with them before they boot into the OS is a huge boon.

[xx]

I'm shocked because I literally did the exact same setup with PiKVM and Ventoy just a couple of days ago and the exact same mistake where I ordered an incompatible KVM (AIMOS) and then got the EZCOO afterwards, unbelievable to watch your video today! 😂

[eherlitz]

What I like about this types of devices is the ability to standardize remote console access. When you run a heterogenous lab-environment with devices from many manufacturers you may end up with a setup that have remote console access but they are all different types, like vPro, iDrac, ILO etc. Great vid by the way, thanks Tim!

[nmoses]

Hey Tim, Thanks for this. I use the piKVM at our small business. I set up 2 "headless" workstations that are used for Drop-Ins when we have contractors come in. To manage the 2 workstations, I grabbed a 2-port HDMI switch with USB support. Unfortunately, you have to physically hit the button to switch between them, however someone in the office can go in our cabinet and hit the switch if needed. The EZCOO would have been so much cleaner! I may have to invest in that in the future. Thanks again!

[jimconsole]

Well done. Filled in a lot of holes in my understand of the actual use case. The Ventoy bit is over the top! Thanks a lot!

[cliffmathew]

Thank you. You made it very clear how to make Pi KVM useful. I simply did not understand what the excitement is if a single expensive Pi KVM allows only one computer.

[marcogenovesi]

I despise wake on lan (flaky at best on so many devices, also cannot force-poweroff something) so I have a ethernet-enabled (has a web interface) relay board that is connected to power button of all machines. I don't have NUCs so I just connect stuff to the atx front panel header. For NUCs you probably need to hook up those contacts from relay to a servo motor that will move its little arm to push the button

[MasEffect]

@TechnoTim - Any chance on an updated video on with the new version of PiKVM you mentioned in this video?

[NANA.PANPAN]

I have many IP based HDMI switches and some have a feature to select a specific EDID or for it to copy and send source EDID you should check if the TES has a similar setting, hope that helps

[running]

Iceland Calling, Wow, "Mr. Yuck" Poison Control Sticker! That is a old school callback if there every was one!

[chromerims]

Seems like this video should have 10M views and likes 👍

[jonathan.sullivan]

Awaiting the arrival of my Pi-KVM 4 units, loved this project from the start and have implemented multiple versions throughout it's lifespan.

Great video on scaling, Level1 has similar KVM options that you can scale with a single Pi-KVM.

[danielberglv]

New project. Attach another 4 switches to each of the 4 ports on the one you have, and be able to manage 16 devices. If you manage to get the 8 port switch working, doing something similar, you could have up to 64 devices. And that is with just two layers. Think about a 3 layer setup :O

[joshharding]

TechnoTim, AWESOME video and you're timing is insanely good (for me anyway). I've just started investigating a "cost-effective" KVM for remote sites hosting server infrastructure and needing an "Out of Band Mgmt" solution. The PiKVM and Ezcoo KVM looks like an awesome possible solution... however I also would prefer to have an 8-to-1 OoB option. The Ezcoo one shown in your video will be perfect for testing, however, real-world scenarios will more than likely demand more than 4 devices (for myself anyway). An alternative I've been investigating is an Aimos 8-in-1 HDMI KVM switch. This can use a keyboard sequence to change displays. Thanks once again for the excellent video. I'll be ordering a PiKVM and Ezcoo HDMI switcher very soon

[aflawrence]

So i use the same KVM switcher with TinyPilot KVM (which uses the same base code set as PiKVM) . The key to getting this to work for me was needing to install an HDMI Splitter 1 in 2 Out and powering this with USB power. Evidently this setup allows this particular KVM switch to not poison the video signal to the TinyPilot. It might be worth a try to see if adding the splitter in between would work in your setup.

[Knobiks]

Just a side note, Wake on LAN stops working completly when you disconnect the power and reconnect it. Hence i would add a UPS to never lose the "sleep" state of the machines (pci devices like ethernet etc) :)