I own 3 JetKVMs, of which two of them stopped working, one of which doesn't boot at all and the other that never connects to network. The third I took out of service because the keyboard wouldn't send input when it was connected for more than a couple months. I'm sure the newer hardware is better, but I'm very unhappy with my JetKVMs.
I have two and one stopped working, but they were great and sent me a replacement motherboard and a toolkit to swap it over. Did you try reaching out to them?
I've had good experiences with mine, only thing is that wifi and ethernet claims the same IP which causes my Unifi controller to freak out and send alerts
It is really hard to find on the site what kvm stands for. Guess people going there knows what it stands for but think it could be spelled out once at least.
It not exactly a KVM switch, which allows you to have one set of keyboard, mouse, monitor connected to multiple PCs and switch between them. This is an IP KVM, which lets you send keyboard and mouse inputs and view display output remotely over the network.
I have an ATEN KVM [1] that gets a solid "it does the job" from me. Occasionally a connected computer won't pick up the K, V, or M, and I'll have to reconnect a few times.
I use it to switch between my work laptop and my personal PC, and for this situation 4K is a must have. That, and the choice of HDMI instead of DisplayPort, and things that would keep me from getting a JetKVM.
Meh. The challenge is 4k+ at high display frequency that doesn't cost the same as a small boat. There are gazillions of KVM switches that do 1080. That's easy.
Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works.
I looked at making a solution myself, but for some reason, simulating a USB client device in software is extremely annoying, and requires specialized hardware that is also very expensive. So at that point, why not just get a KVM...
I frequently switch between 1080p and 4K for gaming since I don't like resampling artifacts. Never found a KVM that can handle 4K properly even for productivity. The mistake can be as basic as assuming a 100% scale factor.
The part where I want wired ethernet to that SBC, not some funky proprietary wireless chip as in ESP32. I almost found a solution, but I've been unable to get my picoprobe to properly flash and reset the board for some reason, so I haven't been able to use it for development. I'll have to troubleshoot that again sometime if I enter another bout of caring.
The practical answer for right now is that I don't want software screen capture, but it also does not do any of the things I wanted to be able to do by having remote inputs directed to the hardware rather than simulated in software. Namely it requires software installation on the server, which means OS support becomes a thing, you can't use it in BIOS/firmware, etc.
I don't really understand your setup, but if you throw enough money at ATEN they will be happy to give you a KVM that handles 4K @ 240Hz. Supporting high refresh rates is the main thing that would keep me from using most KVMs for gaming.
Ah, I neglected to mention that my keyboard isn't separate hardware. I'm using the built-in keyboard and display of my laptop, and would like to continue doing so. So hardware switches that depend on dumb monitors and keyboards don't work for me (and that's why I said KVM, not switch).
Most KVMs that fail at 4K get the EDID wrong. They either send their own fixed one (often maxing out at 1080p or 4K30), or they reconnect the display on every switch, so the OS thinks it's a new monitor and resets your scaling. Look for one with EDID emulation.
For high refresh 4K you also need HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort with DSC support, and a lot of "4K" KVMs don't have it.
Also, 1080p divides evenly into 4K, so turn on integer scaling in the Nvidia or AMD settings and 1080p will look sharp instead of blurry.
I do use integer scaling. That's what makes 1080p bearable on my 4K display, and not other resolutions that don't divide evenly into 4K.
An annoying quirk is that I have to use the Nvidia control panel specifically to get Windows to send a 1080p signal as otherwise, it will just upscale 1080p to a 4K signal. It makes no fucking sense to me why that would be the default but whatever.
Can't you do the same thing in Windows' own Advanced Display Settings, by toggling the resolution in list of modes? (I might be remembering the naming wrong). That seems to work to change the "Active Signal Resolution" or whatever it is. But perhaps the Nvidia method is faster.
I agree that it's insane it works this way though.
I own 3 JetKVMs, of which two of them stopped working, one of which doesn't boot at all and the other that never connects to network. The third I took out of service because the keyboard wouldn't send input when it was connected for more than a couple months. I'm sure the newer hardware is better, but I'm very unhappy with my JetKVMs.
I have two and one stopped working, but they were great and sent me a replacement motherboard and a toolkit to swap it over. Did you try reaching out to them?
At least you got them. I'm still at the "We will send you an email to do a final shipment confirmation once ready" stage.
I've had good experiences with mine, only thing is that wifi and ethernet claims the same IP which causes my Unifi controller to freak out and send alerts
It is really hard to find on the site what kvm stands for. Guess people going there knows what it stands for but think it could be spelled out once at least.
[delayed]
The original one is shaped weirdly and hard to use in my unordered stack of machines and wires. I like the new shape here better.
It may be worth noting that this is not _that_ KVM, but this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch
I learnt this first myself from HN, a few months ago.
It not exactly a KVM switch, which allows you to have one set of keyboard, mouse, monitor connected to multiple PCs and switch between them. This is an IP KVM, which lets you send keyboard and mouse inputs and view display output remotely over the network.
Right, I was confused when it has the wifi/ethernet port
My first thought was “ah, this must be a JVM for Kotlin by the creators of Kotlin (Jetbrains)!”
What KVM were you thinking of, the virtualization?
Probably Kernel-based Virtual Machine, yeah.
Yes
I am amazed that there is an ESP that can handle this and with just 32MB of RAM:
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-dev-kits/en/latest/e...
[delayed]
looks nice but seems to be rather expensive
or make one yourself: https://github.com/espkvm/espkvm
I have an ATEN KVM [1] that gets a solid "it does the job" from me. Occasionally a connected computer won't pick up the K, V, or M, and I'll have to reconnect a few times.
I use it to switch between my work laptop and my personal PC, and for this situation 4K is a must have. That, and the choice of HDMI instead of DisplayPort, and things that would keep me from getting a JetKVM.
[1]: https://www.aten.com/gb/en/products/kvm/desktop-kvm-switches...
Meh. The challenge is 4k+ at high display frequency that doesn't cost the same as a small boat. There are gazillions of KVM switches that do 1080. That's easy.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zepan/nanokvm-go-worlds...
Not high frequency though, tops out at 45Hz
Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works.
I looked at making a solution myself, but for some reason, simulating a USB client device in software is extremely annoying, and requires specialized hardware that is also very expensive. So at that point, why not just get a KVM...
I frequently switch between 1080p and 4K for gaming since I don't like resampling artifacts. Never found a KVM that can handle 4K properly even for productivity. The mistake can be as basic as assuming a 100% scale factor.
> simulating a USB client device ... requires specialized hardware that is also very expensive
Pretty much any off-the-shelf SBC can present itself as a USB HID device like a keyboard. You can buy a very capable rp2040-based board for <$5.
What part of this equation requires expensive hardware?
The part where I want wired ethernet to that SBC, not some funky proprietary wireless chip as in ESP32. I almost found a solution, but I've been unable to get my picoprobe to properly flash and reset the board for some reason, so I haven't been able to use it for development. I'll have to troubleshoot that again sometime if I enter another bout of caring.
> The part where I want wired ethernet to that SBC,
In that case the path of least resistance becomes something like a $22 NanoPi NEO (has onboard ethernet, widely used in PiKVM setups)
Oh, you were talking about SBC, not embedded. I even echoed it, should've noticed. Whoops.
Maybe I'll look into that, wouldn't require messing around with the picoprobe. Thanks!
Why do you need to use a KVM rather than Sunshine+Moonlight? That's pretty much the gold standard for remote gaming.
The practical answer for right now is that I don't want software screen capture, but it also does not do any of the things I wanted to be able to do by having remote inputs directed to the hardware rather than simulated in software. Namely it requires software installation on the server, which means OS support becomes a thing, you can't use it in BIOS/firmware, etc.
I don't really understand your setup, but if you throw enough money at ATEN they will be happy to give you a KVM that handles 4K @ 240Hz. Supporting high refresh rates is the main thing that would keep me from using most KVMs for gaming.
Ah, I neglected to mention that my keyboard isn't separate hardware. I'm using the built-in keyboard and display of my laptop, and would like to continue doing so. So hardware switches that depend on dumb monitors and keyboards don't work for me (and that's why I said KVM, not switch).
Most KVMs that fail at 4K get the EDID wrong. They either send their own fixed one (often maxing out at 1080p or 4K30), or they reconnect the display on every switch, so the OS thinks it's a new monitor and resets your scaling. Look for one with EDID emulation.
For high refresh 4K you also need HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort with DSC support, and a lot of "4K" KVMs don't have it.
Also, 1080p divides evenly into 4K, so turn on integer scaling in the Nvidia or AMD settings and 1080p will look sharp instead of blurry.
I do use integer scaling. That's what makes 1080p bearable on my 4K display, and not other resolutions that don't divide evenly into 4K.
An annoying quirk is that I have to use the Nvidia control panel specifically to get Windows to send a 1080p signal as otherwise, it will just upscale 1080p to a 4K signal. It makes no fucking sense to me why that would be the default but whatever.
Can't you do the same thing in Windows' own Advanced Display Settings, by toggling the resolution in list of modes? (I might be remembering the naming wrong). That seems to work to change the "Active Signal Resolution" or whatever it is. But perhaps the Nvidia method is faster.
I agree that it's insane it works this way though.