Partial success here. My plan was to install both a logitech bolt and a jabra link 380. The link does fit physically, so it feels tantalisingly possible, but it’s longer than the logitech, and getting it and the connecting wires I needed to fit was beyond my skill. After a bunch of tries in different orientations I gave up. The logitech bolt works perfectly of course. I have it connected on the bottom. I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has managed to get a jabra link installed.
My casing was white and I honestly almost couldn’t tell it apart from my normal silver ones at a glance. Looks great. Money well spent.
I haven’t posted in this topic yet, but have been following it. I’m a bit hardware-illiterate but I really appreciate this community + the projects, so I wanted to try something a bit more adventurous. I ordered from Josh’s website and received the donglehider+ about a week and a half ago. My donglehider+ came in white. I have no complaints other than the locking mechanisms of the laptop do not “catch” onto the donglehider+ very well, so it is very easy to pull out the donglehider+ when removing a USB-A cord.
I only had time to solder in my logitech bolt today and do some testing on my Framework 16 (donglehider+ plugged into slot 6).
USB-A items that work so far for me:
- USB-A cords to charge external items, such as a laptop fan and the logitech mouse/keyboard
- Crucial X90 External SSD (USB-A to USB-C connector)
- BOLT dongle operates as expected! Allows connection of mouse and keyboard.
USB-A items that do not work so far (all confirmed to work on regular USB-A port):
- Samsung S7 External SSD (USB-A to USB-C connector, same cord used for the Crucial SSD above; connects and reconnects in quick succession)
- Sandisk Extreme Portable External SSD (USB-A to USB-C connector, same cord used for the Crucial SSD above; does not recognize at all)
- Three Sandisk USB-A thumbdrives (does not recognize at all)
- USB-A cord to HP Envy 4500 printer (does not recognize at all)
Unfortunately, I only tested with the Crucial SSD and the laptop fan prior to soldering so I’m not sure if the others items did not work with the USB-A port of the donglehider+ to begin with or if I introduced some chaos during the soldering process. I’d love to hear what people think though (or if anyone has noticed similar items not working); this is a learning experience for me and was my first time soldering! If it is my error (which it 900% probably is), I may try again with another donglehider+ and my backup bolt dongle.
Whatever the case, I’ll keep the donglehider+ installed; not having a dongle sticking out is great, and I rarely need a USB-A port other than to charge my keyboard/mouse/laptop fan anyways. I’ll keep by original USB-A port as a back-up for those rare times I have to print something.
Thanks for the donglehider+, Josh! Very nifty and useful!
I have just received photos for validation of the 2nd batch, these should be shipped tomorrow, so I’m expecting orders to be shipped either late this week or next week.
Mine latches in solid, easier to pull out when pressing the button, but it’s secure. I’d talk to josh, you may have an issue with the 3D print. I have used three different USB sticks in mine and they’ve all worked. I’ve also flashed a couple of arduboys with no issue. I can understand external drives not working, there might not be enough power supplied, and you may need to use external power as it’s sharing with the inbuilt dongle. I’d check and make sure your data wires aren’t bridged or loose from soldering, does the crucial x90 still work?.
I kind of doubt your garden variety dongle uses enough power to make a noticeable difference.
Is it possible the dongle hider requests too little power from the port to begin with?
The Crucial SSD still works with no issue, and there’s no issue with it and the dongle operating at the same time. The other SSDs don’t work for some reason, nor do the old thumbsticks. I don’t really use data-storage on the USB-A port anyways —usually use the USB-C ports; just wanted to test with what I had on hand. I’m most perplexed about the printer cord to be honest. That was the primary cord I wanted to connect to the donglehider+’s USB-A port.
Here’s a photo I took before soldering. I figured the latching had trouble since the USB-C end was a little curved and the card is thinner than the slot, leading to a small gap on the latch side. It was printed very flat though, so no issues with it lying flush with the bottom of the laptop once in the slot!
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do you think it might have gotten hot and warped in the mail?
To my eyes, it looks like it’s been crushed or melted on the side walls, bowing out on either end. Even the USB port end is warped. Where are you located?
Northern California. Long way from Australia, so maybe it got a bit of rough handling in the mail, it sounds like?
How was it packaged? Im a bit worried now, I live in Ohio.
If you have any photos of the packaging, send me an email or PM and I might get something figured out if you want a new unit or enclosure.
I think the enclosure got hot enough to melt/soften the plastic, not too sure what I can do other than send you a new enclosure, so if you either want the STL or I can ship you a new one.
It’s in an antistatic ziploc looking packet surrounded by honeycomb packing paper inside a cardboard box I believe.
I’ve gone ahead and put a new order in. It sounds like I got the bad luck of the draw with shipping and, even then, it still kind of works? I don’t want to put you out of any money due to something out of your control so happy to pay for the replacement. I put a comment on the order saying it’s a replacement for the melted one in case you need to identify it.
The packaging was as the other poster described with the inside being honeycomb paper wrapped around a plastic casing containing the card. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of that.
Thanks for being responsive and helping troubleshoot everyone + Josh!
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My dongle broke (100% my fault) and I wanted to buy another.
Free shipping no more? I get 21,23$ to Italy…
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Yep, free shipping has ended due to rate increases, I am currently in the process of negotiating rates with a new courier, which should reduce shipping prices, but not nearly as close as to what I was getting with FedEx originally.
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Oh I’m unlucky then… 
I broke off the USB-C male part of the dongle while trying to fit it inside a OEM Framework USB-A Expansion card… The project ended well, the card fits with some modifications to the original enclosure, but unfortunately my dongle is no more
As far as I’m aware, the PCB outlines are different between the 2 so it wouldn’t fit.
Some “destructive” NON-REVERSIBLE mods needed to the original enclosure.
The PCB holes line up perfectly.
A screw hole and a guide rail need to go (exacto-knife needed to do a clean job), but the cover holds well with only one screw and one rail. I now need to buy another donglehider+ to do the proper tests, since mine is now “headless” lol.
AFAIK no mods to the donglehider needed, just don’t break it.
I’ll keep you posted.
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Would people be interested in other colours for the enclosure?