https://espkvm.io/blog/ Engineering notes from building an open-source IP-KVM on the ESP32-P4. en Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 https://espkvm.io/blog/the-demo-is-a-whole-fake-computer/ https://espkvm.io/blog/the-demo-is-a-whole-fake-computer/ Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The interactive demo moved to its own address and stopped being a screenshot: it is the real console, driving a machine that boots, crashes and lets you update its firmware. https://espkvm.io/blog/a-case-somebody-else-printed/ https://espkvm.io/blog/a-case-somebody-else-printed/ Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Colin Hickey printed one for the ESP32-P4-ETH with the C790 inside, and published the model on Printables. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-38-0-the-mouse-jiggler/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-38-0-the-mouse-jiggler/ Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A machine left alone locks its screen, and then what you were watching is behind a password. One pixel, there and back, as often as you like. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-37-0-the-screen-as-two-kilobytes/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-37-0-the-screen-as-two-kilobytes/ Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Work a machine over a phone tether by sending the characters instead of the video, hand a dashboard a view-only token, and go back to any published release. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-36-0-a-panel-that-stays-open/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-36-0-a-panel-that-stays-open/ Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Pin a panel beside the picture instead of over it, and drive a boot menu from a phone that has no arrow keys. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-33-0-rev3-images-for-two-more-boards/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-33-0-rev3-images-for-two-more-boards/ Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The same board can arrive with either family of chip, and the wrong image simply refuses to flash. Both boards now publish both. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-32-0-settings-to-a-file/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-32-0-settings-to-a-file/ Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Save the configuration before you change it, or bring a second device up like the first. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-31-0-updates-that-take-the-first-time/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-31-0-updates-that-take-the-first-time/ Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A chip fault during its own restart made updates look like they reverted themselves. Fixed, along with uploads that died part-way over HTTPS. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-30-0-any-size-of-oled/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-30-0-any-size-of-oled/ Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Not every status panel is 128x64. Six SSD1306 sizes and four SH1106 ones now work, and a shorter panel drops the lines that matter least. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-29-0-watching-an-update-happen/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-29-0-watching-an-update-happen/ Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The console takes over the screen during an update, names the step it is on, and afterwards says which version actually came back. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-28-0-reading-the-screen-as-text/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-28-0-reading-the-screen-as-text/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Select and copy the words off a BIOS screen instead of typing them out, and let the device raise an alert when a phrase you care about appears. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-26-0-poe-and-the-other-silicon/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-26-0-poe-and-the-other-silicon/ Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A build for the PoE board, so a KVM in a rack needs one cable, plus images for rev 3.x silicon beside the existing ones. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-25-0-the-device-keeps-its-own-log/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-25-0-the-device-keeps-its-own-log/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A log that survives a restart, so the boot that failed is still readable after the device has come back on something that works. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-24-0-point-a-phone-at-it/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-24-0-point-a-phone-at-it/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The round LCD shows the rescue hotspot as a QR code, the certificate finally names the address DHCP gave the device, and the reset button shows that it heard you. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-23-0-ipv6/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-23-0-ipv6/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The device answers on IPv6 as well as IPv4, on Ethernet and WiFi, with a certificate that names the address and a network panel that hands it to you. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-22-0-two-slots-and-a-way-back/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-22-0-two-slots-and-a-way-back/ Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The firmware panel shows both slots and can boot the other one, so going back to a build that worked needs no cable. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-21-0-a-little-screen-on-the-box/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-21-0-a-little-screen-on-the-box/ Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Solder on a small OLED or a round colour LCD and the device shows its address, its link and its health without a browser at all. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-20-0-virtual-media-grows-up/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-20-0-virtual-media-grows-up/ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 An ISO is offered as a CD-ROM and everything else as a disk, and the whole microSD card can be handed to the target at once. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-19-0-headscale-and-a-writable-card/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-19-0-headscale-and-a-writable-card/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Point the device's Tailscale client at your own Headscale, and on rev 3.x boards upload images to the microSD card from the console. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-17-0-wifi/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-17-0-wifi/ Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 On boards with an ESP32-C6 the KVM can run over WiFi, put up its own hotspot when the network is gone, and open the console on your phone by itself. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-16-0-tailscale-without-a-gateway/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-16-0-tailscale-without-a-gateway/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The KVM joins your tailnet by itself - no gateway, no VPS, no port forwarding - and the console installs to a phone's home screen. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-15-0-bring-your-own-certificate/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-15-0-bring-your-own-certificate/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Install a certificate from your own CA, or a real public one, so browsers trust the device with nothing to import. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-14-0-wireguard-and-an-api-for-agents/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-14-0-wireguard-and-an-api-for-agents/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Reach the KVM over a WireGuard tunnel without opening a port, and drive the target with plain HTTP calls instead of a binary protocol. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-13-0-home-assistant/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-13-0-home-assistant/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Turn on MQTT and the device is discovered as one Home Assistant device, with sensors for what it sees and buttons for what it can press. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-11-0-the-device-is-its-own-authority/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-11-0-the-device-is-its-own-authority/ Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Import one small certificate once and the browser trusts the device for good - which is also what unlocks H.264 and the keyboard channel. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-9-0-the-power-button/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-9-0-the-power-button/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Two cheap optocoupler modules let the device press the target's power and reset buttons and read its power LED back. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-10-0-phones-and-taking-turns/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-10-0-phones-and-taking-turns/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The screen becomes a trackpad on a phone, and a second person opening the console can see who is driving and ask for the keyboard. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-7-0-a-second-board/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-7-0-a-second-board/ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The Espressif ESP32-P4 Function EV board joins the Waveshare one, and CI now builds and publishes every board separately. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-6-0-the-console-gets-out-of-the-way/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-6-0-the-console-gets-out-of-the-way/ Sat, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The firmware version becomes a badge that shows updates and their progress, diagnostics and media move out of Settings, and the whole button rail can switch sides. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-5-0-macros/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-5-0-macros/ Sat, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Save a named script of key chords, text and delays, and replay it with one click. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-4-0-wake-on-lan-and-a-fixed-address/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-4-0-wake-on-lan-and-a-fixed-address/ Sat, 25 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Power a sleeping machine on without any wiring, and give the KVM a static IP that a typo cannot turn into a brick. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-3-0-it-knows-what-the-target-is/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-3-0-it-knows-what-the-target-is/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The device guesses the target's operating system from how it plugs in, keeps a rescue image in its own flash, and stops undoing updates that were fine. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-2-0-boot-the-target-from-an-image/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-2-0-boot-the-target-from-an-image/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A disk image on the microSD card is handed to the target as a USB drive it can boot from - a rescue system, an installer, a live image. https://espkvm.io/blog/0-1-2-the-first-working-kvm/ https://espkvm.io/blog/0-1-2-the-first-working-kvm/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The first tagged builds. HDMI capture, a keyboard and mouse the target cannot tell from real ones, a web console over HTTPS, and updates over the network.