I would love to be able to use firewire hardware with my framework! But I have also come to the conclusion that it is basically impossible. There are technically combinations of adapters that you can use to make the connection, but due to the unsecured DMA required, they don’t really work. Same as TB 1 devices.
It’s a shame, as there was a ton of audio hardware produced using the standard and much of it was better than the USB hardware at the time.
Maybe it’s not exciting enough for some, but there are probably millions of good mic preamps and mixers that are or are becoming e-waste because they’re trapped in products that are becoming increasingly hard to connect to working computers (and were often finnicky already)
the firewire video capture box I have (canopus/grass valley adc110) is vastly better than my usb2 one (pinnacle moviebox 2) or the pci one (matrox rt.x100). I also have a firewire prosumer camcorder.
I think we can all agree that your fw capture box just happens to be the best out of the three because of its technical qualities, not because it is fw.
The specs of my old fw sound card’s preamps were abysmal compared to some USB interfaces
I don’t have a Framework laptop yet (I am too poor and waiting for the $600 refurb unit to return) but shouldn’t Apple’s adapters work in this scenario?
FireWire device --Apple FW to TB2 adapter–> --Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter–> laptop TB4 port
Yes, it’s a crazy chain, but the same chip in the FW to TB2 adapter should be usable in a custom module if you really want it.
If you search, you’ll find two discussions of AirTag cards. Someone did squeeze one in.
But ultimately, if the desire is to track your laptop in case of theft, it’s not of as much use as you might hope.
Android devices are supposed to alert you of airtags “following” you as well now. link
These types of trackers just have too much potential to be used for stalking, and they have been, especially before apple increased countermeasures. So they, by necessity, have to be nerfed to the point that they aren’t of great use for theft tracking.
Just to bring in a point though, Airtags are also great for when you lose your belongings, say on a train or somewhere you forgot!
It’s sad (although nessecary) that Airtags got nerfed, but it definetly still does have other uses!
Interesting. Though google doesn’t give any source for the “NDB1793SG” module, which seems to be used there. Nothing on aliexpress. Is there any source that ships outside china easily & preferably has an english option? TaoBao seems to want an account to even search. Plus, they don’t seem to have an English option.
I don’t know how useful it would be without the precision of UWB, but if it was cheap and available it would be nice to try.
In searching around, I see there are other efforts to make BLE devices that work with the apple airtag FindMy system. Though apple might block use at some point.
Hello all, does anyone know if it is possible to have an HDMI input module to use the framework display as a portable monitor for gaming consoles or an extra monitor for a pc. I know for a console you can use a capture card but from what I have seen the delay is significant, and for a pc you can use it as a wireless display with some delay. But my proposal would be one more like the HDMI input that the Alienware m17 x r4 has.
In my expected use of the 16" laptop I’ve ordered it will spend a fair bit of time at my desk plugged into my Ethernet, but it would be nice to leave that protruding card at home when I take it elsewhere, however that will leave a big gap in the bottom of the laptop. I could get an extra USB card to fill the gap, but don’t really need any more. Could you make a simple cover, or null expansion card, to slot into the space to fill the gap? Will everyone need 6 functional expansion cards?
I would go for a network to USB-C adapter or a small usb dock and not change the expansion card at all. The expansion cards are simple X->USB-C adapters after all, so there is no advantage of the expansion card to external adapters if you don’t plan to carry them with you laptop
You could also use the 3D model files Framework has available to print your own spacer card to go in the space. If you don’t own a 3D printer yourself there are online services that will 3D print things for you.
Back in the old Commodore Amiga times, there was basically the option to hack your machine optionally with so called Turbo card. What would happen, if we could have a Framework motherboard with PCI-E expansion possibility, where we can buy an single prepared CPU+GPU combo card with some extra memory slots, and when you insert this expansion card, basically disables the old motherboard soldered CPU+GPU, and turns into the old machine into a upgradeable workstation. Of course this change would be significant if Framework motherboard has soldered cheap APU combos by default.
More crazy idea would be the dual usage of both worlds: I mean switching between the two, or combining the motherboard and the expansion card calculation power together.
That’s not possible anymore, but Framework does literally sell easily swappable upgrade motherboards…
It would be pretty neat to have a modern version of Latitude ON though, something like a CM4 in the Expansion Bay using the DP in, but like I mentioned in the lapdock thread I don’t know if it could interface directly with the screen.
At least the expansion bay int the 16 has an edp connection to the screen, the harder part would be getting access to the keyboard and mouse through there.
