Bottom Row Modules

[Henry_Stalemer1]

I was looking over FW16 accessories, and I noticed there’s nothing available for the bottom row aside from spacers. It looks like the current layout prioritizes top row connectivity aside from the trackpad.
Is there a chance for a future revision to allow more flexibility for bottom row connections & accessories? Or even a trackpad that supports side module connections?
I’m sure something like this isn’t a priority, but it’d be useful for those of us that want a numpad in addition to other modules, or just something nicer next to the trackpad than plain spacers. And yes, I’m aware the rows are different sizes making modules incompatible between them.

[TheWebMachine]

You aren’t the first to think of this. Unfortunately, the issue is three-fold:

1. Top row modules are often blocking the pogo pins, either by using them themselves (keyboard, led matrix, spacers-to hold them down), or extra magnets to secure the module in place securely (num and macro pads). The link below actually proposes a solution to this problem using flex PCBs

2. Actual available space on the bottom row. If you look at the midplane plate, there are glides and latching mechanisms consuming most of the space at the ends of the bottom row. There isn’t much you could fit down there. Even the trackpad keeps all of its hardware as centered as possible so you can position it to the left with the keyboard+num/macro combo on the top row.

3. Beyond the touchpad, the bottom row is a wrist rest. There isn’t much you could put on the bottom row that wouldn’t then be constantly messed with by your palms and wrists as you type, spare maybe a screen, but you run into issue #2 again

So, I wouldn’t expect Framework to even spend any resources looking into this, but it’s certainly possible someone in the community could come up with a creative solution to add something…capacitive sliders or something, to the ends of the bottom row.

There even a discussion here of something someone has thought up:

E-Paper module to replace spacers in palm rest

This is very much work-in-progress but maybe it is already interesting for some of you. [grafik] The design files are here but there are some errata, e.g. SPI pinout is wrong on the flex PCB: In short: We sneak a flex PCB below the macro pad to connect to the 2nd set of pogo pins. The flex PCB has pads for an RP2040-tiny board and it has the important parts of Waveshare’s adapter board for their 3.7’’ ePaper. We add a resistive touch screen and maybe an APDS-9960 gesture sensor. On the sof…

So, perhaps think up some other possible uses for the extra space, but it will take the community to bring it to life.

[HardHat_Media]

I think it would be really cool if the touchpad module was less unnecessarily wide to increase flexibility. I also think it would be really cool if there were software tailored input boards (like one for da vinci resolve color). That would really take framework laptops to the next level tbh.

[Henry_Stalemer1]

@TheWebMachine

3. Beyond the touchpad, the bottom row is a wrist rest. There isn’t much you could put on the bottom row that wouldn’t then be constantly messed with by your palms and wrists as you type, spare maybe a screen, but you run into issue #2 again

I’d argue only the only portion of the bottom row that’s really a wrist rest is near the trackpad itself or directly under the keyboard. If the bottom row did have proper space or connections for modules, that would still leave space on the side that isn’t blocked by the palms to use them. Even a partially visible screen might still be useful to some.

@HardHat_Media

I think it would be really cool if the touchpad module was less unnecessarily wide to increase flexibility.

I never even thought about that, but I’m guessing the current trackpad design had laptop or keyboard centering in mind, and reducing the amount of spacers needed to fill gaps.

[HardHat_Media]

a solution to large amounts of spacers: wide spacers