231–240 of 404 posts
Honestly, this article ended up being more of an endorsement for the Tuxedo Pulse 14 laptop than for Framework, at least to me. The price difference between the two is noticeable (more than the 5% geometric mean result) and Tuxedo as a company officially supports Linux in their machines, as opposed to Framework which don't. Yes I know about Framework laptops working with Linux installed, and about Framework drivers e…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I wish I could get a 4K screen, an eInk screen, a touchscreen, a Dvorak keyboard, a OLED keyboard, an IMU/GPS/barometer expansion module, a pico projector expansion module, a software-defined-radio expansion module, a larger aperture webcam module, an IR webcam module, a depth camera webcam module, an Arduino expansion module, an IR emitter expansion module that controls TVs, etc etc etc. > But nobody seems interes…
> I'm a mechanical engineer with some electrical/electronics knowledge, and I could likely make a half-decent module if I had the time/money/reason/ethusiasm for it. I consider myself to be a decent software engineer. But I am inexperienced in the area of creating my own hardware. I guess a lot of things are just knowing how to stick together pre-made components like "panels, SDRs, IMUs & sensors"? But how important…
For most of the sensors mentioned in the initial comment, I would assume there are already commercial USB/eDP/PCIE sensors/components, and at least for framework these connectors on the motherboard are clearly exposed. I'd imagine it's possible to have some RJ-xxx sensor needing a RJ-USB converter too, but with the sensor+converter I think it is as easy as "design a box, throw them in".
HOWEVER - ESD is something I've heard can be pretty nasty and show up where you least expect it to. Proper grounding design would help. Beyond that, I am not aware of any "major" issues (there's also general environmental/power noise but ground could help with some of those issues like the "wonky touchscreen when charging". Also stuff like debouncing and pullup/down resistors if using buttons).
My personal knowledge of circuit design isn't very good, I studied it till high school and had an intro to EE class in uni (which actually wasn't bad, learnt the basics of opamp circuits etc) but I don't remember much of those now.
> There are a lot of unknown unknowns. And it is not clear what a good learning path would be to get started with hardware hacking as a hobbyist.
I think if you want to get started, the most "comprehensive" way would be by looking at syllabus of undergraduate EE programs (or MechE for the physical side), and perhaps going through the relevant/interesting chapters.
However the "easiest" will be by just building basic circuits - using an arduino, or making a hand-wired mechanical keyboard. Googling issues like "arduino button changes on its own" will give results like https://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/186/button-state... which talk about floating pins.
This is as much as I know on this topic (I have "tried learning more esp. in high speed designs but that's vast), if anyone else has helpful suggestions I'll be happy to learn :)
I'll chime in and say that I love my FW13. It's a great machine. I got the DIY kit and had my 7yo put it together. It was straightforward with a little help from dad (even installing Ubuntu!). Now we fight over who gets to use it.
How are the thermals and fan noise?
The battery time is also several hours longer than compareable laptops of the same size.
Honestly, this article ended up being more of an endorsement for the Tuxedo Pulse 14 laptop than for Framework, at least to me. The price difference between the two is noticeable (more than the 5% geometric mean result) and Tuxedo as a company officially supports Linux in their machines, as opposed to Framework which don't. Yes I know about Framework laptops working with Linux installed, and about Framework drivers e…
No modular GPU makes Tuxedo Pulse 14 a pretty different product?
I'm judging the two as a replacement for my current laptop, and the GPU does not really affect that. The soldered RAM on the Tuxedo Pulse 14 laptop does indeed give me doubts, I'm not saying it's flawless, only that, at least to me, it provides a better overall justification for the purchase.
I have the DIY FW13 Intel 11th Gen with Fedora. I've had an overall positive experience and have enjoyed tinkering with it. My only negative with it has been the issue specific to 11th gens where the CMOS drains and eventually dies if the laptop is left unplugged for days-to-weeks at a time. On the whole Framework handled the issue well, there was no permanent fix without soldering or replacing the board. The company…
I'm happy to answer any questions folks have on this product.
Are there any plans to offer larger batteries and/or improve battery efficiency? From what I've read battery life is still an issue many seem to be having. With the greatest respect it's 2024, a laptop should be capable of 8 hours at the very minimum for a mid range model but I'm seeing a lot of people getting sub 2 hours. The 16 ticks all the boxes for me but I've held off for now as having the possibility of worse…
I now make sure to save my work and shut the laptop off completely at the end of a session.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We've seen Microcontroller, SDR, and IR Expansion Cards from the community! We'd definitely love to see some of the even more complex ones though, and expect that as the community continues to mature and grow, some will make it through: https://community.frame.work/c/developer-program/85
Yes, I've seen those though unfortunately I'm not a hardware engineer and would have a hard time reproducing them. Even if I could figure out how to get a PCB made from a KiCAD file I wouldn't be able to do the surface-mount soldering without botching everything. I'd love to be able to just pay for them and buy them and then get rolling with software :)
For what it's worth, some places like JLCPCB can source and solder SMT components to your designed boards as long as you pick from their available parts library.
For a customizable/modular laptop, it’s a pity that we can’t have full-height cursor and function keys, or even a ThinkPad-style seventh row.
it was this: http://xahlee.info/kbd/i/Microsoft_Natural_Keyboard_Gen1-s.j...
vs this: https://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/ProductImage/23-109-...
I'm pretty sure it was still the 90's when I developed this special hate for changing the arrow keys.
