Disclaimer: If you’re using Linux on the machine you’re connecting from, this won’t work, as software is required for kb/m redirection.
Ya heard me, I accidentally discovered something great thanks to SwiftOnSecurity that can be used as a KVM Crash Card adapter for less than $40 and can actually fit in your pocket and I thought that people on the forum would find this very useful.
Demonstration:
How does it work? A $20 wormhole cable and a cheap HDMI capture card from Ali that acts as a camera
Bill of Materials:
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Any $5 HDMI Capture Card looking like this:
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VGA to HDMI adapter, I have only found this one to work - $5
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j5Create JUC400 Wormhole Switch (Avoid JUC100, has issues apparently) - $20
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Any HDMI cable of your choice
No, none of the cheap capture cards are USB 3.0 and all of them use the same chip, the blue one that I use just has HDMI passthrough and line level audio capture, but its the same chip inside.
And now some comparsions to NOTECONS01 StarTech.com KVM Console to USB Crash Cart
Pros:
- Cheap as hell so you don’t have to worry about breaking it, unlike $500+ Startech Crashcart Adapters that always ended with broken USB ports
- Actually allows you to send CTRL+ALT+DEL unlike $500+ Startech Crashcart Adapters
- Slow to switch between resolutions but is very responsive otherwise compared to crash cart adapters I used
- Actually works in BIOS
Cons:
- HDMI Dongle is cheap with questionable QC, some units come with sensitive HDMI. I’d recommend get two different dongles that physically look different but don’t have hardwired cable in them.
- The Wormhole software is Mac and Windows only, and on Windows its super annoying by asking for admin permissions every time you plug the thing in. Also doesn’t work under Wine
- It uses ALT + S key combination to switch keyboard inputs, and it will refuse to switch input if it doesn’t detect power on the other end
- Resolution switching takes around 1 to 2 seconds, I keep missing the boot screen!
- The bright blue LEDs constantly blinking are driving me nuts