Openterface Mini-KVM

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The Openterface Mini-KVM is an open source gadget that turns your laptop into a virtual KVM (Keyboard Video and Mouse) for any other HDMI and USB device. If you find yourself frequently debugging or setting up SBCs, servers and the like then I think you'll find this very appealing.

A photo of the device in use. The target is connected via USB and HDMI, and the host via USB.

In datacenters etc you'd often see a monitor, mouse and keyboard on wheels (also known as a "crash cart") and it's cool that this totally replaces that using the laptop you'd already have with you!

I found a link to the Crowdsupply somewhere on Fedi a while back, and got shipped the unit in late 2024. It works great! It also has programmable pins and a USB type A port that's switchable between the Host and Target devices which is a really nice touch.

In action: the host app on Linux showing htop running on a raspberry pi

/things-that-computer/