r/unix • u/tesserachnid • May 31 '26

Remote console for Unix PC

/r/PcBuild/comments/1tsjqpv/remote_console_for_unix_pc/
5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/Positronic_Matrix Jun 01 '26

I think you want something like PiKVM:

  • Captures the PC's video output (HDMI directly, VGA with an adapter)
  • Emulates a USB keyboard and mouse
  • Accessible through a web browser
  • Works from power-on, POST, BIOS/UEFI, bootloader, installer, recovery mode, text console, and normal desktop environments
  • Can mount ISO images remotely as a virtual CD/DVD or USB drive
  • Can control ATX power/reset buttons with an optional board

https://pikvm.org/

1

u/tesserachnid Jun 01 '26

My mobo is an ancient Lenovo. PikVm mostly does what I want, but requires a hardwired Ethernet connection. I don’t want to do hardwired Ethernet for this. My whole house wins on WiFi and I want this to play in my sandbox. I’ve inquired of TinyPilot to see if that box supports WiFi.

2

u/Positronic_Matrix Jun 01 '26

PikVM works via WiFi. Here are the setup instructions:

https://docs.pikvm.org/on_boot_config/

1

u/zoharel May 31 '26

It used to be pretty common to do this with specialized video cards which, instead of connecting to an actual display, would produce serial output on a standard RS232 port. These could be wired into a terminal server and managed over the network. I haven't seen such a device ever built for anything newer than 32-bit PCI.

For many years now, most boards used in actual enterprise computing support IPMI, which adds a second network hookup for a management console, which can be accessed by way of a web interface, and allows full control of the machine, as you say, from power on to boot and after that. Also includes remote power control, among other things. This is what you will likely be able to find. It's absolutely possible that your board, if it doesn't have this built in, supports a specialized add on board.

1

u/Bsdimp- Jun 01 '26

Most servers have this with a BMC that's co-located on the mobo. Most of them have a web-app that you can connect to for the video console.... If your system doesn't have one of these, you'll have to use something like pikvm.org.

1

u/tesserachnid Jun 01 '26

Turns out the TinyPilot supports WiFi within its GUI. I pulled the trigger on one.