[SOLVED] Paspberry Pis and KVMs

Argh! Make that "Raspberry Pis"

I'm looking to replace some larger (noisy, power hungry) systems with Raspberry Pis in the future and I'm wondering how to get them connected to something like a KVM. With no PS2-style keyboard and mouse connectors and only HDMI as a decent video connector, they really don't seem to be usable with any traditional KVMs without resorting to some crazy collection of PS2-to-USB and HDMI-to-VGA adapters that would probably cost more than all of the Pis put together. At the moment, it seems like to only cost effective way to deal with a small "farm" of Pis would be to temporarily physically connect them to a monitor and a dedicated wireless mouse/keyboard for configuration and then hang them off the network and do everything remotely via ssh and X11.

Is anybody out there running several Pis and, if so, how are you getting them connected to monitors, mice, and keyboards?

TIA...

I have used an HDMI switch box in the past to connect mine to a monitor I also used for my desktop and a Kindle Fire Stick. They're fairly cheap and easy to find. Then you could hook up a normal USB KVM of some kind. That's assuming, of course, that KVMs with HDMI aren't available but I'm not sure about that.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Linux - Embedded & Single-board computer> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

A quick search on Amazon turns up a few KVMs with USB and HDMI, so they are certainly available. I've three RasPis at home although they are running as "servers" so I only need SSH access to them so they run headless.

Originally Posted by TenTenths A quick search on Amazon turns up a few KVMs with USB and HDMI, so they are certainly available.

Interesting. It seems that there are more options since I last looked. Most of what I saw not too long ago was aimed at switching inputs to TVs; not what I was looking for especially since they had no provision for a keyboard or mouse at all. Now I notice some 5-port KVMs. I'll keep checking Amazon as it appears new gear is coming out. Frankly, they're not the first place I go to for computer-related hardware. Looks like I'll have to add them to my regular list of HW sites.

I've three RasPis at home although they are running as "servers" so I only need SSH access to them so they run headless.

Except for the one hanging off my A/V receiver (to stream music files from the 'net and the NFS server in the basement), that's my intended use as well and for the time being, they'll be sharing a monitor with the KVM that I use to access the bigger systems. I suspect I'm stuck with two keyboards for a while: one for the Pis and other for the big systems.

Thanks for the pointer.