Not sure where did they get this specific trackball. Likely leftover stock, but could be new Shenzhen clone.
I 3D printed that white “brace” plastic piece.
Not sure where did they get this specific trackball. Likely leftover stock, but could be new Shenzhen clone.
I 3D printed that white “brace” plastic piece.
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I found this recently:
https://www.amazon.com/SurnQiee-TrackPoint-Keyboard-ThinkPad-Solutions/dp/B09QM5C1GV
It’s a USB trackpoint. Just the little nubbin on a PCB that’s then adapted to use USB to connect to a computer. Paired with this shim brewed up by another community member that exposes a USB 2.0 port by nixing the fingerprint sensor:
I think it’s possible to actually accomplish a Trackpointed Framework. It’d still require modifying the Input Cover itself (namely… the aluminum and the Keyboard are a little in the way so a hole is in order) but it seems accomplish-able.
Those USB trackpoints are also all over Aliexpress for ~$15 USD but I found it on Amazon first 
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I found more stuff that might be useful to someone looking into making a TrackPoint Input Cover; namely, someone’s old repository that adapted a Lenovo T60 Thinkpad Keyboard to USB, via this Hackaday article from 2014. The version in question with open source firmware does use an Arduino Micro, although his github does contain the documentation for some later revisions, as well as his dormant Tindie store having downloadable firmware for his designs. In theory it should be possible to root around in his work and sideways-reverse-engineer enough to figure it out. I doubt he’ll notice.
There’s also this other GitHub repo that seems to contain a bunch of other projects relating to reusing Thinkpads as USB keyboards but I’ll be honest I haven’t looked around as hard in it.
The board from Amazon linked is clearly not suitable.
You can see that it’s a combination of a trackpoint and an USB carrier board which probably uses something similar to the Arduino based projects you link to make the trackpoint available over USB.
However, the carrier board increases size and thickness of the trackpoint making it less likely to fit anywhere, especially the Framework notebook case. At the same time it places the buttons in a very awkward way.
It would make much more sense to source a trackpoint without a carrier board.
I don’t necessarily deny this but I haven’t found anything like that. If you want to try your hand at google-fu you’re more than welcome to. As far as I can find scouring dead GitHub repositories and obscure Aliexpress listings, there may be a need to model a custom Input Cover to counteract the thickness issue of adding the trackpoint in, or simply shim the Input Connector to USB and then the USB to the Lenovo keyboard and attach that to a completely custom laptop housing.
That one is also USB. Comes with a 1m cable. Read your spec sheets, friend 
Well, it’s Chinese spec. They show the dimensions on picture without USB interface, and 5 of 6 pictures don’t show the USB interface, so it’s likely not present.
As with all Chinese stuff you order something, and they send something most of the time, not necessarily what you ordered.
Note also there are competent sellers that would show consistent product images, and detailed information like pinout or part number but that’s not the case here.
Search ‘Thinkpad keyboard’ on eBay: there are currently at least a dozen replacement keyboards with TrackPoints for less than $25 U.S., skipping included. That’s barely half the price of this TrackPoint-only component on Amazon…
Salvaging the TrackPoint from a keyboard assembly does result in a keyboard surplus to requirements, which is somewhat wasteful. But it’s the cheapest way to get an ‘official’ TrackPoint…
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Alternatively, at that point, just… adapt the entire Thinkpad keyboard? You’d need to custom-manufacture a new Input Cover anyway so why try to salvage a Trackpoint if you can just use the entire keyboard. There’s a couple options limited although we’d need to assemble a current-day production run of the adapter to even try to make it work.
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there are a good number of mods that use (basically the input cover; minus the trackpad; on older versions the palmrest split at a line between the keyboard and trackpad).
Sourcing a few Thinkpad parts as a consumer and mod them to be Wireless/Bluetooth (coupled with 3D printing) is totally doable, but it wouldn’t work at scale.
Our school runs Thinkpad T14s and I would be able to get my hands on (relatively) multiple keyboard (+ Trackpoint)/palmrest assemblies from laptop replacements; salvaging the keyboard shouldn’t be difficult.
But, they start at 14 inch, so …
Trackpoint is indeed a great feature. One of those items why I prefer Thinkpads over Macbooks. This little know makes the whole like lot easier once you get used to it.
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Long time Thinkpad user here who’s been wanting to get a framework laptop. I would despiratly miss my Thinkpads track point but my Thinkpad is getting old. If they announced plans to release a track point keyboard in the future I’d probably just buy a laptop sooner rather than later and upgrade it later on once it was released. The trackpoint is a feature on most business oriented laptops. HP uses them and I can’t remeber if Dell does.
Bring us a trackpoint keyboard please!
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This! I struggle with all sorts of random inputs from the Trackpad. Its especially bad in low humidity.
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I found the link below, a trackpoint module at the Reddit r/TrackPoint_Builders
SurnQiee TrackPoint Keyboard Mouse Red Cap Soft Dome Laptop Pointer for IBM Lenovo ThinkPad Touchpad Keyboard PCBA Solutions - Visit the SurnQiee Store -
The 6th picture has the message "Orders >= 3000 sets support customization. The product in the picture is an example.
So, can someone add it to Framework’s keyboard?
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a trackpoint with three mouse buttons and NO touch pad would make my framework ideal.
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Implementing this for the new Framework 16 form factor may be more feasible.
(Full announcement can be found here. It starts at 26:50, and the portion about the new form factor starts at 39:45).
The new “Input Module System” looks particularly relevant.
Thoughts?
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Im just here to say. Long time framework fan. But never order one due to not having Trackpoint (w thinkpadlike buttons). With that you would get a new loyal user. Thanksss.
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Just here to add my voice. I have been using thinkpads for 20+ years (just installed windows 10 pro on my X60 with IBM-logo, btw) and while they kinda suck now, the trackpoint is still the major sticking point for me. I HAVE HATED TRACKPADS EVER SINCE I FIRST USED A TRACKPOINT. Just the far superior option. PLEASE MAKE TRACKPOINTS FOR FRAMEWORK LAPTOPS!
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