There is probably a mux but it has not been confirmed. However a connection through a mux is pretty much a direct connection if the mux is switched to that input.
Hi all,
New forum user here, I’ve been planning on doing this for a while but haven’t had the time until now. Currently I’m using a Logitech Unifying Receiver, but its sticking out like any other regular receiver. My plan is to take apart an existing USB-A expansion card and Logitech receiver (I have an extra of both) and directly soldering connections together and packaging it back into a flush sitting expansion card. If possible, I’m planning on reusing existing expansion card case instead of 3D printing a new one. Though I’m concerned about signal interference and if using the metal case would affect it negatively.
My question to the community: Has anyone else done this? I’ve briefly searched the forums and haven’t found anything on this. If so, any tips and tricks for a fellow community member?
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Literally found this just as I posted lol
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One great option would be if you could both hide a Logitech Unifying Receiver and still have some sort of useful USB port passthrough/daisy/hub out the side, so you are not losing a port.
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I personally prefer a number pad while working with spreadsheets and would happily pay for an expansion card number pad that could be docked on the right side of my laptop. Using an expansion slot would have the benefit of blending in with the keyboard and chassis, it could even plug into both slots for added stability. Yes, I know this could be done with a wired or wireless number pad, but I think swapping the cards as needed would be more convenient and esthetically pleasing, any thoughts? Am I alone here?
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Someone has made a mockup of this in the post below.
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I wonder why it didn’t appear in my search results when I searched the forums for “number pad”, perhaps I simply overlooked it.
would a bluetooth wireless solution be better? less likely to snap off, and there are already a few on the market.
I recently remembered that these type of hubs exist, and while they wouldn’t be usable with the Framework, they did give me an idea.
I am imagining this kind of “dongle” hanging off the side of the laptop, but supported by expansion card prongs. This seems like something I wouldn’t mind leaving plugged into the laptop all the time, and opens up a lot of space for those port-consuming devices, like in my case, a mouse receiver, a YubiKey Nano, and an SD card slot.
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Hey, I‘m already working on this. The big problem is charging and DP. There‘s no cheap silicon for this…
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One way around expensive silicon is to cheat and not put any in. 
One designed for the right hand side could be made with the rear port directed 90 degrees toward the rear (straight passthrough, like the current USB-C module) with a simple USB 2.0 hub connected to the front port broken out into say, 4 ports? This would allow for a display or power to be connected at an angle away from the mouse hand, while having room for several dongles.
So my idea is pretty simple and straightforward a modified only usbc dock for the framework expansion cards which you could also use on non framework laptops like your tower pc and there could be a usb a version with a usbc expansion card module so it could look like it’s in the laptop like one of the expansions card
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It’s nice to have ideas, but better to perform a quick forum search before opening a new topic about an already existing idea…:
I’m not an engineer so I wouldn’t know where to begin to develop a cad for this but I am wondering about whether anyone has thought of designing a mini power bank that uses two expansion card slots (I presume one expansion slot would be too small) or a qi charging adapter to use in tandem with portable qi charging power banks? I don’t mind if it extends outside the chassis. It would be so useful if it could support even just half charge of the device when going from place to place. I’m constantly looking for an outlet to keep my laptop from draining during lectures and my peers keep tripping on my long charging cables. Also on flights when there isn’t an outlet to charge my device, I don’t want to tangle with cords while using a USB-C power bank. If it could at least sustains half the charge would be amazing.
I had thought before they fully released specs that they would have a battery option for the video card spot, cause that just makes sense, you have a big slot, so the plain cooling one should in my mind include some battery in there, that would be the ideal setup imo, and would solve your case I believe.
The FW 16 might have a battery bank in the expansion slot in the future.
For the FW13 there have been ideas to make a second bottom, that slots into expansion slots on both sides (one for mechanical stability), but I guess that market is just to small for anyone to do it.
Hi,
I think it would be great to have an adapter that combines an audio/mic jack with usb C or A. I feel that filling an Expansion card with only an audio port is a waste.
Not an expert on how and if its possible to do
Just an idea from someone who’s tired of the wireless world
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You’d need to basically embed a USB hub into it, so while it’s possible, I suspect most folks won’t want to bother. Especially since you’d probably want one to handle the USB 3.2 gen 2 at a minimum, if not USB4. There’s also pretty limited space inside the modules, so would need a pretty custom board probably, if you’re going to have much of any kind of DAC in there.
while going through some topic here, i had a idea. Why not make a expansion card connected to a small solar panel, it would be interesting for people working directly outside in the nature or family who live in a camping car. we can also make a small one next to the laptop 16 keyboard. (note that i don’t know anything about pc except building one) What do you think?
Given that laptops don’t like heat/sun and solar panels need it, you would need to have a longer cable so that your laptop can stay in the cold while the panel is charging your device.
Especially the Framework 16 won’t make much sense to me: Depending on the workload it will probably eat up to twice as much energy as the Framework 13 (I’m just guessing) and I really don’t see myself gaming in the wild using a solar panel.
What high-CPU+GPU-intensive tasks can you do outside which make sense to have a solar charger?
I would instead go the powerbank route: There are good solutions for quick-charge big powerbanks that will last days on your laptop. You won’t have the hassle of clouds and alike as well.
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