RemoteBoot - WiFi Remote Management Module for PCs; Reduce idle power by 99%

[kindiana]

Access the files and programs on your desktop computer anywhere, any time without leaving it on!

Remoteboot is a hardware remote management console which allows you to monitor the current power state and activity of a desktop computer and to physically turn the computer on or off via a web interface from anywhere.

See: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/658903329/remoteboot-wifi-remote-management-module-for-pcs

This is my project and I am looking for some advice as well as feedback.

[fake-name]

Jeez, they could at least clean their boards before taking images of them.

What a fluxy mess.

[crispy_tofu]

Wow, they made their goal extremely easily! 
But then again, it's only $1500... 

[kindiana]

Jeez, they could at least clean their boards before taking images of them.

What a fluxy mess.

Got a reflow oven to redo the boards, they look much neater now 

[fake-name]

Jeez, they could at least clean their boards before taking images of them.

What a fluxy mess.

Got a reflow oven to redo the boards, they look much neater now 

Or, you know, just take 5 minutes, some cotton swabs, and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol.

[Wilksey]

kindiana,

Are you the creator?  If you are, which it sounds like you might be, you might want to disclose that information in your post.

It's a neat idea, and it seems to be doing well, so congratulations, I shall be taking a closer look at it later.

[tom66]

Looks neat, I think it could be quite useful if it had some way to act as a watchdog for the PC. Perhaps it could be supplemented such that if the ACT light has not flashed for the last 30 seconds then reboot the PC (with software to force a cached read from the disk occasionally.) This could be a useful second use as a remote reboot controller.

[kindiana]

kindiana,

Are you the creator?  If you are, which it sounds like you might be, you might want to disclose that information in your post.

It's a neat idea, and it seems to be doing well, so congratulations, I shall be taking a closer look at it later.

Yes, this is my kickstarter project, and I have edited the post to reflect this. Thanks for reminding me.

[kindiana]

Looks neat, I think it could be quite useful if it had some way to act as a watchdog for the PC. Perhaps it could be supplemented such that if the ACT light has not flashed for the last 30 seconds then reboot the PC (with software to force a cached read from the disk occasionally.) This could be a useful second use as a remote reboot controller.

This could be an interesting feature, and I will include this feature in my production boards.

Thanks for the great idea.

[Mechanical Menace]

A couple of questions:

1) What percentage of modern MoBos don't support WOL?
2) How many people use WiFi instead of the faster, more reliable ethernet with a desktop PC?
3) How exactly is WOL less reliable?
4) If someone can't forward port 0 how will forwarding port 80 be any easier for them?

[kindiana]

A couple of questions:

1) What percentage of modern MoBos don't support WOL?
2) How many people use WiFi instead of the faster, more reliable ethernet with a desktop PC?
3) How exactly is WOL less reliable?
4) If someone can't forward port 0 how will forwarding port 80 be any easier for them?

1) Not sure of the exact percentage, but most modern motherboards do support WOL.
2) Many people rent or live in old places where it is difficult or costly to install ethernet.
3) From my personal experience, as well as reports online, WOL sometime fails to start when the computer enters another powerstate (sleep or hibernation), when the power is lost and then restored or when ethernet is removed then restored.
4) Many routers do not support port forwarding to a *.*.*.255 address, which is required if you have multiple clients.

[Jorpy]

If you added mounting holes, it would be ten times more useful.

[kwass]

Oh and add a reboot router feature, save me getting off my bottom to do it.

Just an idea......

You can use the old and simple X10 devices to reboot your router and boot/reboot your PC.  Use the "telephone responder" to access them so that if the router locks up it can be restarted.  It's no longer made but not that hard to find:  http://www.smarthome.com/x10-phc06-x10-telephone-responder.html .  It works fine with either a POTS line or a VOIP line, but if all you've got is cell phone service well then maybe Ben's board will do the trick.

[nidlaX]

Hi Ben, great idea and project! WoL seems to be pervasive among all classes of motherboards, but implementations differ and reliability is variable.

If you can, please post some more details about the security of your system. Are you developing the firmware directly from the SDK, or are you using a high level platform such as NodeMCU or Arduino?

[kindiana]

Hi Ben, great idea and project! WoL seems to be pervasive among all classes of motherboards, but implementations differ and reliability is variable.

If you can, please post some more details about the security of your system. Are you developing the firmware directly from the SDK, or are you using a high level platform such as NodeMCU or Arduino?

I am developing from the SDK, using esp-ginx as a base. The system will be secured by AES 128 encryption using a custom protocol as the ESP8266 cannot host a HTTPS server (as far as I know).

[Kalidor]

Great idea, I solved this problems with a Energenie power bar, this thing can be controlled by it's internal web server or direct from any PC with a software that looks for all sorts of events (e.g. file in the printer queue -> power on printer etc). But it requires that your PC powers up after a power loss, which can be enabled in the bios on some PCs.