So I’ve seen various posts about expansion cards and what you can create with them. But I was thinking coming from a business perspective or from a protective parent perspective, a blank expansion card module could be used to fill in all of the expansion slots either on a framework 13 or 16 for security purposes. I know a lot of companies now use software to block anything that’s plugged into the usva OR usb-c ports on a laptop or desktop. I was also thinking if you give a framework to a child, you could fill it full of blanks so that they couldn’t stick the wrong things in them in short them out or cause damage or possibly hurt themselves. And when you need to charge it, you would just take it from them put one USBC module in it to plug it in for charging and when it’s done change it back out for the blank and give it back to the child. Something like that. You already have it, the storage modules are basically perfect you just don’t put anything inside it. And sell it for around $4.99. US dollars.
If you really need blank expansion cards, you could buy Snack drawers, or 3d print some.
Personally, Frameworks are much too expensive to give to a child so small & / or irresponsible to need that. But maybe I’m just not rich enough. Really though, for a child that small, consider that if they discover that the bezel magnetically attaches, they’ll be breaking that in short order.
I child with enough intelligence to use a USC C or other port would be able to remove the expansion card and plug into the main board directly.
As far as security goes, grown adults or children you can have the expansion ports disabled and even a second account for children so they can’t access the admin.
That was exactly what I was thinking about too and glad you already mentioned that before me.
Blank Expansion Cards would especially be really handy for paranoid people like me who’re always afraid of some unauthorized person with physical access inserting a usb stick containing some malware and causing damage or stealing data on that way.
I always wanted to hide or “make ports dysfunctional” to prevent any access from outside the device. Even though a person could still unplug those Expansion Cards and transmit anything via USB-C (as the ECs connect via USB-C) it still would slow down the process of causing software damage and decreasing the chance of it.
And I don’t consider it a working alternative by simply connecting 4 Memory Expansion Cards to fill each slot.
As the proud owner of several snack drawers (Thanks @XenoCow !)
I endorse getting some with the captive pin in them, they only open so far and it is probably a distraction enough for how small you could actually fit something in them.
Alternatively, gluing them with some hot glue or epoxy would make a really inexpensive “blank”. Plus you would be supporting a local small business in the process!
A better option if the poster wanted to go this route would be to either print or purchase the Lite drawer (just an empty shell that cannot slide out). The files are free for download since they are not moddified very much from the reference design.