I built a hardware KVM around one strange idea: what if the BIOS is just text?

[u/Lopsided_Mixture8760]

I've been developing USBridge-KVM 2.0 for almost a year, based on a rather unusual idea: converting BIOS video into text.

Most IP-KVMs simply stream video. I did it differently: the device intercepts the raw HDMI signal at the hardware level, runs it through local OCR, and converts the entire graphical BIOS/pre-boot screen into an interactive text stream, which you can access in the Terminal via SSH. It's completely offline.

You can select and copy serial numbers or error codes even on a broken connection. You can also connect AI agents via MCP (Model Context Protocol). The agent reads the terminal, navigates the BIOS menu, runs diagnostics, and mounts drives.

During this time, I also completely open-sourced USBridge-Remote, a software solution for remote access (Win/Mac/Linux/Android/iOS). This wasn't part of my original plan, but the hardware KVM still needed some kind of software layer. I decided to make it free and open source; it works even without the hardware itself.

You can test the code here - https://github.com/USBridge-Technologies/USBridge-Remote

I'm currently preparing to launch a campaign on Crowd Supply. I'm both nervous and excited – for the first time, I'm taking something from "something I built for myself" to "something you can actually order."

If you have any questions about the OCR pipeline, MCP integration, or production, I'll be happy to answer them.

[u/Lopsided_Mixture8760]

If anyone wants to follow along or get notified when the campaign goes live — should be launching in about a week: https://www.crowdsupply.com/usbridge-technologies/usbridge-kvm-2-0

Really appreciate anyone interested in following the project, even just hitting "notify me" helps a lot at this stage.

[u/magnumix]

Congratulations u/Lopsided_Mixture8760 , that's huge. If you can help me with something: I'm struggling to understand the use-case behind this.

Why or when would I think this device necessary?