Does anyone have a solution for a cheap remote KVM? All the solutions I've found are around $100 and I don't want to spend that much.

I might even settle for a portable KVM if it's really cheap.

I have a laptop and an Android tablet that I could repurpose, if that helps at all.

Does it need to be a hardware KVM? or could you use RDP?

I'm in the same boat and I'm currently waiting for https://jetkvm.com/products/jetkvm-mini-w to release.
It's supposed to cost around 40$.
I'll wait for a couple reviews, but the listing sounds promising.

You could use a NanoKVM together with tailscale: https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/kvm/NanoKVM/network/tailscale.html

These cost around 60€ (don't know the dollar price) on Aliexpress (I remember them being a lot cheaper in the past....).

You do not need to use tailscale on the NanoKVM. You could use whatever VPN tooling your router supports to connect to your network and then to the NanoKVM.

P.S. There was fuzz in the past about them including a small microphone that was not documented. Make of that what you want.

I can vouch for the JetKVM. I have one from the very first kickstarter campaign, and it really is a nice piece of technology. With the new version with that low price you cannot go wrong.

Not exactly sure of your use case, but maybe this cpuld work for you. I have a testbed workstation that i crash sometimes. I put the power on a shelly plug, bios set to power on after ac loss.

Problem is- how do I enter the disk encyption password remotely? And more importantly, how do i do it cheaply?

https://github.com/tobiaas/esp32-web-keyboard

I just adjusted the wifi config to join my network instead of broadcasting an AP.

It needs to be available when the os doesn't boot. So definitely some sort of external device.

Keeping my eye on this one. Thanks!

That's neat. But it's keyboard only, no video? So not great for troubleshooting boot issues, but great for expected password prompts?

In that case, unless you're willing to plug some excessively shady AliExpress hardware into your system, I'd say something like a comet, JetKVM, or PiKVM is your best bet, and all those will set you back around $100.

Does it support vPro or whatever the AMD equivalent is? I know it exists, but I've never set them up or used them.

Geerling had a vid about a bunch of these. It's worth a watch: https://youtu.be/4wYxgPfQAjM

I have one from Evatek, (Taiwanese company) that was less expensive but has lasted for my home PC and work laptop dock, but it seems they are no longer making anything, not sure if they finally died off or what, but even the photo on the Amazon page of the device I have shows different branding (Greathtek) though the particular one I have is out of stock. Not sure if Greathtek, which seems to be a Chinese company, bought their KVM product business or what but seems that's all they make and the company seems to be deeply connected with Amazon somehow. So I'm definitely not convinced the quality will have transfered over.

I've got whatever their first one is. Its worked great, my only gripe is their cloud service requires google login. But it served its job which was to give me remote KVM when I was learning how to setup reliable RDP.

Its now attached to a box I use as a relays at a friends who has fiber. That box has a startup warning that I could never quite get to go away that requires one hit literally any key to finish boot. So I paid $70 for that...

Here’s the secret that KVM makers Don’t Want You To Know: Nowadays KVMs are almost always redundant if you have a monitor with multiple inputs. A simple USB KM switch plus a script that can call https://www.ddcutil.com/ will take care of almost all use cases.

https://docs.pikvm.org/v2/

Exactly, and esp dev boards are super cheap which seemed like one of your goals

I had a good experience with these as well

You're thinking of a desktop KVM for connecting multiple computers to one set of devices. This post is asking about network attached KVMs for providing remote access to virtually a keyboard, monitor, mouse plugged directly into a machine. This allows out of band access to things outside of the operating system - e.g. bios/efi, entering full disk encryption passwords, even pressing power/reset buttons via jumpers to motherboard headers. This type of KVM is equivalent to Lights Out Managers like LOM/DRAC in the server world.

I have one of these on my backup Server. But about 2 out of 5 times the HDMI signal is not detected (after the Backup Server was running for a couple days) and I need to restart the Backupserver to get it working. restarting the JetKVM does not work.
In comparison I had none of these issues with a NanoKVM. I don't know if it is a problem of the JetKVM or the Backup machine.

I am using a GLiNET ip kvm. Small, great software. Has HDMI and USB, can be powered from USB itself too.

You can plug in files over the web interface like they are USB drives too. Can install tails ale and more plugins, can fake any monitor resolution you need...

Very pleased for the price tag. Never let me down.

Ahh, I see. I missed that part and was thinking of a KVM that could be controlled via a remote or ssh. Cary on then.

In 4 days JetKVM is about to release their new light models. It's roughly $40usd if bought in a 3 pack. One is ethernet based, one is wifi based. I did the math and I can't even build an a equivalent product for that plus postage from parts.

This looks like it'll do the job. That's crazy timing.

I understand financial constraints, but I would be worried with providing some Chinese tech basically root access to any of my devices.

The only ones I would consider are much more expensive. PiKVM and TinyPilot Voyager 3.

Alternatively, you might be able to do something with your laptop: https://www.hackster.io/techxartisan/openterface-mini-kvm-turning-laptop-into-a-kvm-console-cf0792

Wouldn't those devices also be manufactured in China?

The TinyPilot is made in Vietnam where the PiKVM is built on a Pi which is made in the UK, so no.

Probably they have Chinese components, but the important bit is not made in China (which wasn’t really my point).