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The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

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Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#31

Post by nrp »

zeta0134 wrote: post #9
nrp wrote: post #2

I'm happy to answer questions anyone has on this product!

Traditional chromebooks are fairly locked down, and make it difficult (and scary) to install an alternate operating system alongside ChromeOS, for users that want a bit more power. What is the situation like on the Framework edition? How open is the bootloader, and how tricky is it to enter (and stay in) developer mode?

The bootloader situation is the same as other Chromebooks. It is totally possible to get into and stay in developer mode to do what you would like with the system. In practice, doing things outside of ChromeOS depends on how robust community-driven development ends up around that.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#32

Post by NoraCodes »

nrp wrote: post #7
ex3ndr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the difference from original?

ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This means it uses coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google's Titan C security chip. There are some other smaller differences. To keep the cost down, the top cover is aluminum-formed instead of CNCed, for compatibility reasons we weren't able to bring our fingerprint module in, and we were able to improve both audio quality and speake…

Interesting - does this mean it'll be possible to create a Coreboot edition of the original Framework motherboard design, or is that capability related to Titan C?

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#34

Post by kilovoltaire »

nrp wrote: post #14
skybrian wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long will Google support ChromeOS on this machine? What alternative OSes will it run? Edit: the article says “receives automatic updates for up to eight years” but an upper bound isn’t so helpful here.

Google is committed to a minimum of 8 years of security updates. We don't have currently have official support for other OS's, but there is an active community of people bringing other OS's to Chromebooks.

sounds like the page should say "at least eight years" then, instead of "up to eight years"

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#35

Post by nrp »

babypuncher wrote: post #22
nrp wrote: post #2

I'm happy to answer questions anyone has on this product!

Is the hardware any different? If not, why sell this as a separate machine instead of providing a ChromeOS image that can be installed to a standard Framework?

Sibling comment got it correct, but worth noting that you can install ChromeOS Flex on a regular Framework Laptop. It won't have the same level of optimization that the Chromebook Edition has, and Google only has functionality like the Android Play Store enabled on Chromebooks. https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/chrome-enterprise/chr...

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#38

Post by leonlag »

nrp wrote: post #7
ex3ndr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the difference from original?

ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This means it uses coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google's Titan C security chip. There are some other smaller differences. To keep the cost down, the top cover is aluminum-formed instead of CNCed, for compatibility reasons we weren't able to bring our fingerprint module in, and we were able to improve both audio quality and speake…

> coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google's Titan C security chip

This is what I was hoping when I got the announcement via email. The question is if this will be locked down to chromeos or if it's possible to install your own keys to load a linux distro while still retaining verified boot capabilities.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#39

Post by CivBase »

slaw wrote: post #23

I am disappointed, there is Chromebook edition, but still no Linux edition only DIY.

I don't think they could win with a "Linux Edition" laptop. What distro would they ship with? Pop!_OS? Ubuntu? Debian? Fedora? Alpine? Manjaro? No matter what they choose, I suspect they'd just get accused of picking sides and the vast majority of users would just re-install with their preferred distro.

Re: The Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition

#40

Post by nrp »

NoraCodes wrote: post #32
nrp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ChromeOS! Specifically, the Mainboard is custom-designed for ChromeOS. This means it uses coreboot instead of a proprietary BIOS and has Google's Titan C security chip. There are some other smaller differences. To keep the cost down, the top cover is aluminum-formed instead of CNCed, for compatibility reasons we weren't able to bring our fingerprint module in, and we were able to improve both audio quality and speake…

Interesting - does this mean it'll be possible to create a Coreboot edition of the original Framework motherboard design, or is that capability related to Titan C?

It is technically possible to, and we've provided development systems to a few coreboot developers. This is something we'll be putting more energy into next year as we grow the Framework team.
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