Pi-KVM - Open and cheap DIY IP-KVM on Raspberry Pi

A very simple and fully functional Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP that you can make with your own hands without any soldering!

This device helps to manage servers or workstations remotely, regardless of the health of the operating system or whether one is installed. You can fix any problem, configure the BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive.

It only costs between $30 and $100 for DIY depending on the features desired. Even the most expensive configuration will be cheaper than a $500 commercial IP-KVM.
We are also made our own HAT for the Raspberry Pi 4.
Watch the video!
This device has all the features of the DIY version, including:
  • HDMI Full HD capture based on the TC358743 chip (extra low latency ~100ms and many features like compression control).
  • OTG Keyboard & mouse; Mass Storage Drive emulation.
  • Ability to simulate "removal and insertion" for USB.
  • Onboard ATX power control.
  • Onboard fan controller.
  • A real-time clock.
  • RJ-45 and USB serial console port (to manage Pi-KVM OS or to connect with the server).
  • Optional AVR-based HID (for some rare and strange motherboards whose BIOS doesn't understand the OTG emulated keyboard).
  • Optional OLED screen to display network status or other desired information.
  • No need for soldering or breadboarding. It's a ready-made, reliable board which you can use yourself or provide to your clients.
  • Continued use of Pi-KVM OS - all the software will be fully open.

Pi-KVM v3 HAT is already on Kickstarter!
Great project review by Novaspirit Tech: YouTube
Boring technical details from us: YouTube
And here some examples from us and our happy users.
Easy and powerful The widest hardware support Production features
Just a few cheap parts and half an hour of assembly and you will have the device that supports Full HD video, Mass Storage Drive, keyboard & mouse, control the ATX power and much more. There are many ways to build a Pi-KVM. Raspberry Pi models 2, 3, 4, or ZeroW may be used. Video capture devices can be attached using the CSI-2 or USB interfaces. Access via Web UI and VNC, IPMI BMC/SoL and Redfish support, Wake-on-LAN server, advanced authorization and HTTPS out of the box. This is just a short list of what Pi-KVM can do out of the box.
DIY Getting Started


Pi-KVM's development is made possible only through
the financial support of its awesome sponsors :)

Fully-featured and modern IP-KVM

  • Easy to build
    A ready-to-use OS images and friendly build environment. The hardware can be made in half an hour and without soldering.
  • Very low video latency
    ~100 milliseconds of video latency. This is the smallest delay of all existing solutions.
  • Extra lightweight Web UI and VNC
    No weird proprietary clients. No ugly applets. Just use your favorite browser to connect to the Pi-KVM. No flash plugins either! Ah, and VNC is also supported.
  • Keyboard & mouse
    Mouse usage works directly in the browser. The keyboard emulator supports displaying the state of the keyboard LEDs.
  • Mass Storage Drive
    On the Raspberry Pi 4 and ZeroW, Pi-KVM can emulate a virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive. A live image can be uploaded to boot the attached server.
  • ATX power management
    With a very simple circuit that can be assembled on a breadboard, the power button of the attached server can be controlled using the ATX button headers on the motherboard.
  • Security
    Pi-KVM can be opened to the Internet and no one will get access without the authorization. SSL is used to protect traffic from being intercepted by third parties.
  • Local monitoring
    Pi-KVM monitors the health of the Raspberry Pi board and will warn you if it's too hot or is not receiving enough power.
  • GPIO management
    You can control GPIO and USB relays via the web interface. The extensible interface allows you to make anything out of it.

Production-ready

  • Linux-based embedded OS
    The Pi-KVM OS is based on Arch Linux ARM and can be customized for any needs. Thousands of pre-built binary packages are at your service and can be updated with a single command!
  • Read-only filesystem
    By default the OS runs in read-only mode, as an embedded system should. This prevents damage to the memory card due to a sudden power outage.
  • VNC server
    The managed server and its BIOS can be accessed using a regular VNC client which supports JPEG compression.
  • IPMI BMC/SoL and Redfish
    Use ipmitool, ipmiutil or any existing network infrastructure that supports IPMI to manage the server's power and access to serial port via LAN. Redfish and redfishtool supported too.
  • Wake-on-LAN
    Pi-KVM can be configured to power up a managed server using WoL. This will be available in the Web menu.
  • Extensible authorization methods
    Multiple Pi-KVMs can be configured to use a common authorization service. PAM and its rich authorization mechanisms can also be used to integrate Pi-KVM into your existing authentication infrastructure.
  • Macro scripts
    If repetitive actions must be performed on the attached server (or on several different servers), a macro can be recorded with keyboard & mouse actions and can be played back mutiple times.

Open Source

  • Open & free
    Pi-KVM is Free and Open Source Software released under the GPLv3.
  • Community & support
    Pi-KVM has a large community. Join the Discord chat if you have any questions.
  • Extensible
    Pi-KVM was designed as a set of microservices with a plug-in architecture. It's very easy to modify and maintain.
  • Comprehensive API
    Everything that can be done via the user interface can also be done via a powerful HTTP API.
  • Know-how
    We created our very own MJPG video server written in C with multi-threading support and GPU video encoding - the fastest streaming solution available to provide the best video quality for Pi-KVM. We also tested a lot of hardware configurations so that you can be sure devices you assemble will work reliably.
Pi-KVM v3 HAT is already on Kickstarter!
DIY Getting Started