The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

  • My badges

    Mastodon

  • Twitter Updates

  • My Flickr Stream

    20140508-Delphi-2007--Project-Options--Cannot-Edit-Application-Title-HelpFile-Icon-Theming20140430-Fiddler-Filter-Actions-Button-Run-Filterset-now20140424-VMware-Fusion-6.0.3.-no-reclaimable
    More Photos

  • Pages

  • All categories

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,835 other subscribers
«

PiKVM with MacMini: Uptimelab hardware hacks by @Merocle

Posted by jpluimers on 2026/08/25

For my link archive:

Related (some are older versions of the above):

  • [Wayback/Archive] merocle/scalable-Mac-mini-stand: Rack-mount stand for Apple Mac mini
  • [Wayback] Mac mini 🍏 KVM stand v2 It came out so well that almost immediately after assembly, it was mounted in a remote data center, and the Macs… | Uptime Lab (@uptime.lab) on Instagram

    v2
    It came out so well that almost immediately after assembly, it was mounted in a remote data center, and the Macs were not configured at all (because that can be done remotely).
    So what is this, and what for?
    It’s a 7U high stand (event 6 if lay the wires tighter) for installation in a server rack. On the shelf is a regular KVM switch with 16 HDMI inputs and USB outputs for connecting to a Mac mini. The HDMI output of this KVM is connected to the PiKVM, a Raspberry Pi with an HDMI capture card. The Raspberry also emulates a keyboard and mouse (more info at the PiKVM project website, great kudos to the authors).
    The KVM switch is also connected to the Raspberry using the rs232 -> USB adapter to be able to switch channels of the KVM.
    Not confused yet?
    A PCA9685 HAT is connected to the Raspberry Pi to control 8 servos, which are responsible for physically pushing a button on the Mac mini.
    To control all this, I wrote some python scripts and added buttons to the PiKVM user interface that call these scripts.
    This way, through a single interface, I can control 16 Mac minis installed on the shelf. A long press of the power button allows me to turn off the Mac if it freezes. Or enter recovery mode to reset the operating system completely.
    The servos are also chosen for a reason. They offer better control than solenoids. And to answer your unasked question: there is NO official software solution.
    At first glance, the mechanics of pressing the button overengineered. But it is a deliberate compromise of complexity and reliability. I can adjust the force on the button and not overload it, thanks to the springs.
    Mac minis themselves will be used by software developers for development and testing tasks.
    And the project is planned as open-source, so hopefully, I will soon share instructions and models for printing. But first, Compute Blades Kickstarter :)
    ⠀
    #pikvm #raspberrypi #hardware #3dprinted #diyelectronics #servers #serverroom

Media

From the above links:

  • KVM Stand for 16 mac minis v.3. ⠀ Now fits exactly in the 6U. ⠀ Assembly in progress, Im posting it more on stories, but want to share with those who missed it. ⠀ Mac minis with full remote control, including the ability to remotely press the power button (its the only option to enter recovery mode). To be able to remotely reconfigure the OS from scratch. ⠀ - Servo drives - PiKVM - Raspberry Pi - 16 port KVM switch - a lot of modeling and 3D printing ⠀ #raspberrypi #3Dprint #raspberrypi4 #kvm #hardware #servers #diyelectronics #3ddruck #3dprinting #rackmount #servers #serverproblems #arduino #linux #pikvm #diyproject
  • uptime.lab

–jeroen

This entry was posted on 2026/08/25 at 12:00 and is filed under Apple, Development, Hardware, Hardware Development, KVM keyboard/video/mouse, Mac, MacMini, PiKVM / Pi-KVM, Power User, Raspberry Pi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

«