Getting started

This is the build guide: from boards on the desk to a working console in the browser. It covers both supported builds, the kit carrier and the standalone adapter. If you have not read the hardware page, at least read the section on the two USB-C ports before you start.

What you need

• The kit: Luckfox Aura, carrier board, pre-flashed microSD. On the adapter build: the Aura, a 22-pin HDMI to CSI Adapter, one 22-pin FPC cable, and a microSD flashed with the WarpKVM image.
• An HDMI cable to the machine you want to control.
• A USB-C cable from the kit to that same machine, for keyboard, mouse, and mass storage.
• Power: a 5 V 3 A supply for the Standard kit, or a PoE switch or injector for the PoE kit.
• A network cable. The kit is wired-first; Wi-Fi is not configured by the image today.

1. Seat the CSI cables

Do this first, with everything unpowered. The bridge is configured once at power-on, so a cable seated on a live board is not detected until a full power cycle.

Kit carrier: two 22-pin FPC cables link the carrier to the Aura, one to CSI0 and one to CSI1. Standalone adapter: one cable, into the Aura's CSI0.

For each cable: open the connector latch, slide the cable in fully and squarely, and close the latch. At the Aura end the contacts face toward the Ethernet port. Give each cable a gentle tug to confirm it is held.

2. Wire it up

1. HDMI from the target machine into the board's HDMI input.
2. USB-C from the target port (the Aura's OTG port) to any USB port on the target machine. This cable is what makes the kit a keyboard and mouse.
3. Optional, kit carrier only: a local monitor on the HDMI output. It shows the captured source at 1080p 60.
4. Ethernet to your switch or router.
5. Insert the microSD card.

3. Power on

Connect power last: 5 V into the power port on the Standard kit, or just the Ethernet cable from a PoE switch on the PoE kit. Do not power the kit through the target port; the kit will not start from it.

The card boots straight into the WarpKVM daemon. Give it a moment on first boot; the image generates its own keys and certificates the first time it starts.

4. Find the device

The kit requests an address over DHCP on Ethernet. Find it in your router's client list. Discovery by hostname, so that a bookmark survives an address change, is planned but not in the image today; until then a DHCP reservation in your router is the practical fix.

5. Create your account

Browse to https://<the-device-ip>:8443.

Two things happen on the first visit:

• The browser warns about the certificate. The device serves a certificate it generated itself on first boot, and your browser has no reason to trust it yet, so the warning is expected on a fresh device. Proceed past it. The console's guided Tailscale setup, planned for a later daemon release, replaces it with a certificate browsers trust.
• You land on the setup page. The device ships with no default credentials; the first visitor creates the administrator account. Pick a password of at least 8 characters. The setup page only exists while the device has no accounts; once yours is created it is gone.

If you have used the Luckfox images before: their published default logins do not exist on the WarpKVM image. There is no account until you create one, and nothing to log into but the console.

After setup you land in the session view, looking at your target's screen. Sign-ins last 7 days per browser, and five failed attempts pause sign-in from that address for 30 seconds. A forgotten password is covered in troubleshooting.

6. First things to try

• Open the target's BIOS. Reboot the machine from its own OS and press the setup key in the console as it restarts; control at firmware level is the point of the product.
• Switch operating points. The kit defaults to the low-latency 1080p mode where the source allows it; try the 4K30 mode and the 1080p high-detail mode from the console. See Capture modes and EDID for what each is for.
• Measure your own latency. The console ships the same probe we publish numbers from.