EVERYONE! It’s finally happening. An Ethernet Expansion Card is being developed, schematic is halfway done with capabilities for gigabit!
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Expect the schematic to be completed tomorrow, fair few components suggested for this silicon are EOL so hopefully, all goes well.
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Great!
For those who lament the lack of 10 GbE or multigig: Sonnettech got you covered, with single and dual 10GbE (and ditto SFP+) thunderbolt adapters.
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Although that option exists, would be awesome if framework module was 2.5gigabit, for actual future proofing. With present day file sizes, it’s not hard to find power users that need more than gigabit.
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+1 to this! 2.5 GbE controllers are designed as drop-in replacements for gigabit controllers and don’t cost much more. Fully compatible with gigabit too.
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I second 2.5 port might as well future proof it. However they are modular so we can just swap them out.
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We can just swap them out, but what’s the market for a used bulky usb c gigabit Ethernet port with pointy corners?
If they’re not good enough to keep, they’re destined to be ewaste. Modules should be designed to be worth keeping.
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To help with upgradability I will use a 10 gig capable port and magnetics!
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I will make a 2.5GBe but will complete the gigabit version as I will have to pretty well delete the whole schematic, if I was using a Realtek chip I may have been able to do a drop in replacement but I’m using a Cypress chip.
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Schematic is done! Now onto the murky waters (pcb)
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A little confused–is the “official” one being developed by @Josh_Cook or is this an independent effort?
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The one I am making is my own design with no affiliation with framework.
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How about 10GBe? 
I could be directly connected to my NAS at full speed!
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PLEASE STOP. I CANNOT. I cannot go over 2.5GBe without having my own silicon.
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Does everyone not know that 10g makes a ton of heat and would be impossible in the volume of these modules? Even 2.5 is going to be pretty interesting without overheating and throttling making it pointless.
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Well it’s a few weeks away as gigabit needs to be done before any more development takes place.
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I didn’t think about that, but I wouldn’t mind having a module that is bigger in size than the module slot to be able to add some heat dissipation to the module if it helps. I’m just thinking out loud with no expertise in the matter, but if the concept is feasible it could certainly be adapted for other module ideas.
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from a practicality standpoint, gigabit and 2.5gbe are the most feasible, with some pcb designs almost being drop-in capable of a 2.5gbe upgrade.
5gbe and 10gbe significantly add to cost, power consumption, and heat generation.
They also require different designs.
personally, I feel that if you need 10gbe on your laptop, you’re probably running a workstation / gaming class laptop, and not an ultraportable, or it’s worth using a dongle.
For perspective, this is a slim looking 10gbe product. If this was in a module, it would probably need to have vents, and use forced airflow leeched from inside the laptop.
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The gigabit module is about 1.5-2x longer to comfortably fit all the components in.
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