Unleash your creativity and engineering skills in the ultimate USB KVM DIY Challenge! Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a curious newbie, this is your chance to showcase your talents and win fantastic prizes. We at TechxArtisan, in partnership with Make: Magazine, Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), and Crowd Supply, challenge you to come up with your own take on the USB KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouser), those incredibly useful tools for managing headless machines.

This challenge was inspired by our own experience developing Openterface Mini-KVM to help tech enthusiasts and IT professionals efficiently manage their daily workflows with headless machines. With over 1,500 backers and a recent OSHWA certification, Openterface Mini-KVM is a great example of the sort of open hardware at the core of Crowd Supply’s mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only tool for the job. We want to see what you come up with. We strongly encourage you to base your KVM on Openterface Mini-KVM’s hardware or software, but you don’t have to - the field is wide open!

Categories, Prizes, and Judging

Openterface Mini-KVM in transparent, silver, and black enclosures

• DIY KVM Hero
  • Number of winners: one (1)
  • Prize: Openterface Mini-KVM Toolkit (transparent edition) AND Pi-Cast KVM AND GameShell
  • Criteria: Best overall execution in terms of utility and originality.
• Hardware Award
  • Number of winners: one (1)
  • Prize: Openterface Mini-KVM Toolkit (transparent edition) AND (Pi-Cast KVM OR GameShell)
  • Criteria: Original new hardware or significant enhancements to existing hardware, including new functionality, improved performance, or innovative design elements.
• Software Award
  • Number of winners: one (1)
  • Prize: Openterface Mini-KVM Toolkit (transparent edition) AND (Pi-Cast KVM OR GameShell)
  • Criteria: Original new software or significant enhancements to existing software, including improved usability or new integrations.
• Creativity Award
  • Number of winners: one (1)
  • Prize: Openterface Mini-KVM Toolkit (silver edition)
  • Criteria: Creative improvements to the user experience, including innovative designs, ease of use, overall aesthetic appeal, and community engagement.
• Community Awards
  • Number of winners: five (5)
  • Prize: Openterface Mini-KVM Toolkit (silver edition)
  • Criteria: Community engagement, comprehensive documentation, and quality of presentation materials such as photos, videos, demos.

Winners will be selected at the sole discretion of the challenge judges, which comprise of one person each from TechxArtisan, Make: Magazine, OSHWA, and Crowd Supply.

Schedule

• Accepting entries starting Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
• Accepting entries through Friday, February 28, 2025 at 23:59 UTC.
• Winners announced Friday, March 21, 2025.

Tips & Ideas for Winning Entries

1. Be creative and original!
2. Join our Discord server to discuss all things KVM and challenge-related.
3. Ensure your project functions well and performs as intended.
4. Take clear and detailed photos or videos of your project.
5. Write an informative project description, including assembly instructions if needed.
6. Engage with the community and gather feedback. Consider what others would find useful or interesting.

Here are some project ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

• Accessibility features
• Macro scripting for task automation
• Remote control over IP
• Target OS status recognition (e.g., detecting blue screens or system errors)
• Support for old PS2 keyboard and mouse emulation
• ATX power control
• Audio bypass from the host to the target computer
• Network bridging from the host to the target computer
• OCR and text copying from the target to the host computer
• Higher-resolution support
• Lower-latency KVM control for a better gaming experience
• Multi-computer control
• Mass storage drive emulation
• Preventing the target computer from sleeping
• Host app support for web, iPadOS, etc.
• Software experience improvement
• Special KVM control scenarios

Rules & Conditions

1. No purchase necessary. Making a purchase will not confer any advantage.
2. All project content must be posted to a GitHub repository. The repo should include:
   • Photos of your implementation
   • Clear circuit schematics
   • Reproducible, functional code
   • An open source license of your choice for all content in the repo
3. Ensure your project is your original creation. Do not repost others' work without building upon it and giving it proper attribution.
4. By entering the contest, you agree to keep your project posted on GitHub until at least the end of the review period. Winning projects must remain on GitHub for at least one year. If any winning projects are removed before the end of the year, we reserve the right to repost them.
5. We reserve the right to terminate or modify the competition's conditions at any time. Violations or attempted fraud will result in disqualification.
6. Submitting entries that do not meet the contest theme will result in disqualification, and repeated offenses may disqualify you from future contests.
7. Exceptional hardware or software features from the DIY challenge may be merged into the official Openterface open source project and included in future Mini-KVM versions, with full credit given to the creator.
8. The judges' decisions are final and at their discretion.
9. Winning entries must submit their contact and shipping details within 30 days of winners being announced or forfeit their prizes.
10. Prizes will be shipped to winners within 60 days of winners being announced.