Show HN: Provisioner per-board sidecar for serial access, flashing, and bring-up

A scrappy solo dev just dropped Provisioner, a plug‑in “bench buddy” that sits beside your single‑board computers and takes charge when everything else is on fire. It grabs the chatty hardware cable (the serial line), gives you remote access, serves up boot files, and even ships a tiny helper program inside the startup image to flash and report status. Translation: when Wi‑Fi is flaky and storage is half‑baked, this thing claims it’ll still talk to your board and push it across the finish line. GitHub link lives here: github.com/alessandrocarminati/provisioner.

The early commentariat mood? Curious but cost‑conscious. One RISC‑V tinkerer said it would’ve been a lifesaver while wrestling a finicky VisionFive 2 Lite, then immediately wondered if it’s aimed more at labs than hobby budgets. That tension — “lab‑grade magic vs. cheap hacks” — is the opening vibe. Folks chuckled at the post’s self‑aware line that “the serial cable is the only thing telling the truth,” because anyone who’s ever coaxed a tiny board to boot knows that pain.

Meanwhile, the dev insists it’s not trying to replace giant lab systems; it’s “afternoon‑deploy” gear for home labs, bring‑up benches, and shared spaces. With features like multi‑viewer consoles, on‑the‑fly stream filters, and plug‑in power control, readers are split between “finally, less chaos” and “do I really need another box?” The thread is young, but the theme is set: simplicity and price vs. capability and control — and whether this friendly sidecar earns a permanent spot on the bench.