Laptop as keyboard and monitor

[squirrellydw]

Is there a way to use a laptop as a keyboard and monitor for unraid?  I know you can buy those KVM things that do the same thing but they are expensive. 

[WeeboTech]

If your motherboard is capable of IPMI and KVM over IPMI, then yes.

 

Another way.

If you have a Supermicro motherboard that supports bios redirection over Serial, then you can do it with a null modem cable over a serial port and a terminal emulation program.

You would then adjust syslinux(or grub) to use the serial port as the console.

 

If you do not have a supermicro board, there is still a way to get syslinux(or grub) to use the serial port as a console once you have gone past the bios part.

[squirrellydw]

I have the same one you do supermicro x7sbe. How would I do this?  The laptop is a bit old Dell 4100, I got it free.  Does the laptop need an os on it?

[WeeboTech]

I have the same one you do supermicro x7sbe. How would I do this?  The laptop is a bit old Dell 4100, I got it free.  Does the laptop need an os on it?

 

You need the IPMI card (as in my sig). That's an $80-$100 investment. (but I think it's worth it for me).

 

Then put an OS on the laptop and install the IPMI View utility or download it from the IPMI card when you connect to it.

 

You can use any modern linux os that has firefox with Java.

[squirrellydw]

Can I use windows or does it have to be Linux?

 

Thanks

[WeeboTech]

Can I use windows or does it have to be Linux?

 

Thanks

 

Any browser that supports Java or install the IPMI Viewer program on the local machine.

Windows or Linux.

 

I mentioned linux because you can download it for free. Ubuntu may be easier then other distros.

[squirrellydw]

Any idea where I can download the windows version?  I have xp on my laptop

[WeeboTech]

Any idea where I can download the windows version?  I have xp on my laptop

 

You can get it from the Supermicro site,  however, it also comes on CD with the IPMI card.

Did you purchase and install the IPMI Card?

You can browse to the Supermicro location for the card, then follow the links for the software.

it work work unless you have the card installed.

[squirrellydw]

No i didn't get the card yet, just wanted to look at the software

 

Thanks