Product idea: mini keyboard + VGA monitor combo - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Sigmoid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 04:58:04 pm
content: I've found that setting up a headless server is a gigantic PAIN if you don't have a VGA monitor and a keyboard at hand. Even setting up a remote access card (to eschew a monitor and keyboard) requires, guess what, a monitor and a keyboard!So I was wondering, maybe a small, handheld "sysop terminal" could fill a market niche.Take a low-res (640x480) LCD display, and an el cheapo keyboard, put it in a notebook-like case, with a VGA in and a micro USB port.You just walk up to the server, plug it in, and you can get configuring, without having to lug a monitor and a desktop keyboard with you.Do you know of something like this on the market today? Would you buy it?

author: mos6502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 05:04:03 pm
content: I don't see a market for this. Real server mainboards allow you to access the BIOS over the serial port. There's also technologies that allow you to do it over the net (IPMI, Intel AMT), so ... yeah.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 05:12:51 pm
content: How would you configure the IPMI in the first place? (Excluding the few Dells that have the front panel LCD, of course.) I think there's still a good use for a portable terminal, preferably one that could accept DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA, Svideo, and composite, powered from either USB or an internal battery. Make the keyboard an attachment.Such a device would be very useful for those dealing with video systems.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 05:25:17 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on March 12, 2014, 05:12:51 pmMost are set DHCP with a default username/pass, many times ADMIN/ADMIN, just watch for it to hit your server and go!

author: mos6502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 07:43:35 pm
content: Yep, fancy pants implementations of IPMI actually do KVM over the net, so you don't even need to walk over to the server room. You can also power on/off/reset the computer. This is what Intel AMT does as well, which is now integrated in most "business" systems and scary powerful (hello NSA):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology.But again, a laptop with a USB-RS232 dongle will allow you to set up just about any server.

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2014, 08:32:51 pm
content: Quote from: Sigmoid on March 12, 2014, 04:58:04 pmThese things already exist in several forms. hobby price range: laptop + ethernet or serial connection. I have too much money price range: the professional tools that cost far too much for what you get in return.KVM over ethernet. LOM over <fillin/>.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 12:03:31 am
content: None of the cheap motherboards I have seen supported IPMI. Not even the DX79SI, and that's hardly a "cheap" motherboard. Only the really expensive multi CPU boards seem to have it.An interesting use for a USB powered display (that accepts DisplayPort, HDMI, or VGA) is a clip on display to extend the workspace on a laptop. I suppose the market for such a device has shrunk now that tablets are commonplace, but I think there'll still be plenty who want a unified experience.What might be interesting (albeit for a completely different use case) is an affordable Ethernet-connected box that can stream HD video over the network with very low latency. Could be very useful for those who have a high end PC in the lab but sometimes want to use it for gaming on the TV in the living room.

author: Phaedrus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 12:11:20 am
content: You're basically describing a convertible laptop/tablet that can communicate with a server's BIOS.Use USB and seek a software solution.

author: magetoo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 02:25:58 am
content: Quote from: Sigmoid on March 12, 2014, 04:58:04 pmIf you're in a co-lo, don't they usually have a display and keyboard on a cart for this sort of thing? Seems like standing around with a tablet and nowhere to put it down would get uncomfortable pretty quick too.

author: ve7xen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 05:14:31 am
content: Quote from: magetoo on March 13, 2014, 02:25:58 amNowadays you'd probably also have at least one IP KVM port hanging for every cabinet or two.Quote from: NiHaoMike on March 13, 2014, 12:03:31 amCheap, no, but this is a desktop board. Desktops don't need IPMI at any price level. You can get boards with built-in IPMI at fairly reasonable prices, you just need to look in the right place. I recently built a personal server around SuperMicro X10SLM-F which includes onboard IPMI (that has a crappy VNC-but-not-compliant KVM over IP). It was about $200. HP will sell you a whole "Micro Server" with included iLO (BMC) for like $350 (Google 712317-001).

author: ivaylo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 07:24:23 am
content: QuoteSure, and I did buy it. 70 bucks on eBay. It's HDMI and not VGA but the thing was invented.http://liliputing.com/2012/06/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-laptop-with-a-70-motorola-lapdock.html

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:41:34 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on March 13, 2014, 12:03:31 amThats because you're looking at the wrong chipsets.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 07:14:27 pm
content: Quote from: Sigmoid on March 12, 2014, 04:58:04 pmI use an old 19" screen, value 10 euroand an new keyboard and mouse, another 10 euroBoth of them are situated in a 2HU 19" shelf, the cheap one, unretractable.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2014, 08:31:16 pm
content: Quote from: ivaylo on March 13, 2014, 07:24:23 amThere's also the route of using an iPad LCD (it just accepts DisplayPort) and an adapter board.

author: joelby
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 14, 2014, 11:52:32 pm
content: Many years ago, a place I worked had a briefcase for field techs that had a 15" LCD and a keyboard mounted inside. It was surprisingly good, after having lugged a CRT monitor up twelve flights of stairs to debug something during a power failure.Nowadays this sort of thing is probably not so useful. Unless I was deploying some sort of large cluster where you could afford to lose individual machines for a few days, I would personally never recommend supplying a server that didn't have out of band management access in the form of iDRAC, iLO, or equivalent. It might cost a few hundred dollars extra, but they can and will save you many hours in on site (usually after hours) visits.

author: Nieb
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 21, 2017, 04:48:51 am
content: Yes! Please!I am a field tech and I can't count the number of times I've needed a monitor & keyboard for a task.A VGA monitor with a keyboard in a laptop/netbook form-factor with a rechargeable battery and maybe a USB hub [one or two ports] so you can connect a wireless mouse or what ever else strikes your fancy. I would buy the crap out of this. Might be wise to put it a rugged rubber/metal chassis rather then flimsy plastic though.Indeed the market for such a thing might be really niche. The production costs may well out weigh the profits. Though business customers are used to paying higher prices for such things. Considering a KVM drawer can cost over $1,000 USD, pretty ridiculous.I made an account just to reply to this thread. I apologize if I upset anyone by reviving such an old thread.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 21, 2017, 04:53:05 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on March 13, 2014, 12:03:31 amPretty much all the Supermicro server boards support IPMI and have done for many years. They aren't exactly expensive either. They allow you to do everything as if you were sitting in front of the machine yourself, including mounting floppy disk and CD/DVD images remotely. The only thing it can't do is physical disconnect and move cables around for you.Going back to the original post, yes, I can see a very limited market for it, but it would be one of those products which will come in handy "once in a blue moon" for most sys. admins. 99.9% of the time it would probably sit in the box. That being said, don't limit it to 640x480, that's a terrible idea. My minimum server set up is 1024x768, anything less is a major pain in the arse.If you work in a decent server room/data centre, you'll normally already have LCDs and keyboards in a rack mountable unit and/or a trolley you can push around with everything you need on it, including tools, media, coffee etc... etc...

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2017, 05:13:03 am
content: The original Nexdock was an HDMI screen, keyboard, trackpad and USB port in a notebook form-factor. Exactly for connecting to headless computers of all shapes and sizes.http://nexdock.com/

author: Nieb
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 21, 2017, 05:23:16 am
content: QuoteGood call, I agree.https://www.amazon.com/MONITOR-SCREEN-Portable-Camera-Battery/dp/B00HSPF3UMFound this, it's halfway there!

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2017, 05:30:52 am
content: This would be pretty cool actually. I always struggle with the same thing if I need to access a server that is either non responsive or does not have IPMI, or to actually setup IPMI.That, or a rackmount console that does not cost over a grand. Why are those so expensive anyway? A rackmount console would probably be the best approach here, I can't see why one can't be made for under $200. It's just a monitor, keyboard, and mouse in a sliding tray.I still need to come up with a solution for my server room, it's not very often I need to hookup a monitor/keyboard but any time I do, it's actually easier to unrack the server and just plug it in my workbench, because there's just no room to lug a monitor and keyboard around in the hot aisle and cables arn't long enough to reach the front. At some point I might run a set of longer cables and just let them dangle behind the rack and they can go to a wall mounted monitor/keyboard setup or something. Then I just need to plug them in any machine I want. Of course an actual KVM would be nice too but for the little amount of time I need console access I personally would not bother.

author: Nieb
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 26, 2019, 12:52:44 am
content: I apologize for digging up this thread again, but I just found this:https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/8-LCD-KVM-Mobile-Terminal_173096720.htmlI haven't inquired about the price, I'm not in need of it at the moment.It appears to be more or less a rack kvm without the rails, so I doubt it has a battery. But still, easier to carry this around than a monitor,keyboard,mouse,etc.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2019, 12:21:43 pm
content: Useless without a price though. Don't know why so many sites do that. I skip right over that and move on.Don't really need battery as you could just plug it into the rack's UPS.

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2019, 01:52:36 pm
content: Search for the model number KVM-08USB and you can find presumably the manufacturer athttps://www.sg-norco.com/browse/kvm/LCD+KVM+-+IP65%3B+USB%3B+TOUCH/4since Alibaba says Singapore. The list price is just over 500USD so it isn't cheap but this sort of equipment usually isn't cheap anyway.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2019, 01:32:57 am
content: Ouch yeah, by the time you pay for shipping and exchange and tax etc it's going to be a grand. Don't get why these have to be so expensive. Probably going to end up building my own at some point.