Can you utilize the native “express-displayport” on the Framework?
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@Xavier_Jiang as it was discussed here: Different battery and display (smaller)? - #17 by next_to_utter_chaos
Most likely not. Almost definitely not with a touchscreen. Although I would personally love that.
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Framework’s eDP connector does support touch signals.
github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/blob/main/Electrical/Pinouts.md
Display Interface
IPEX 20879-040E connector used to interface to an eDP display. Note that there are signals defined for both USB 2.0 and I2C touchscreens.
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Update:
I finally received my display cable that has an L-shaped connector and I am very glad that it fits within the 18mm of space that there is available to the left side of the mainboard.
Also, my friend with 3D printer is not available, so I decided to get my own 3D printer and learn printing, so over past 2 weeks, I have been working on printing, testing, designing and today I am hoping to put together the tablet into a test-case made of PLA. My heat inserts have not arrived yet as well as my screws, so I adjusted the design so that it is held together by plastic pieces that fit into each other and a little duct tape will be needed, but I will definitely update this post if I have a working prototype that is (kinda) assembled.
Still unsolved issues: battery mount (it is in such an awkward position that holding it in place will require some interesting design), strength of the display mount, absence of any wifi, absence of bluetooth, absence of any microphone input (only headphone jack output, no input), that I have hoped to solve with a built-in USB hub that would not only serve for USB inputs but also contain a wifi USB antenna, but with how packed the tablet currently is, I first want to put it together as it is and find out where is still space for adding stuff. I also have yet to choose a keyboard/trackpad combo and a way to connect it.
I don´t care a lot about built in microphone and webcam, so these I am not going to prioritize these, but I may look for a solution for these if there is time and space. I am planning to make something like a base version of the tablet with basic functionality and then upgrade it, add features etc.
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Hello there - good news, everything fits, bad news, touchscreen stopped working.
So after printing the full case for the first time (modified version that holds together without using screws as my heat inserts have not arrived yet AND it is made out of PLA and not ABS or PETG which will be my final choice of materials), I learned many things that have to be altered in the design, but I expect the dimensions to stay within 5% of the current size as everything fits together pretty well. Will have to add cable routes and holders, better mounts for different PCBs and components and most importantly, thickness of the walls and improve the overall body strength. I went from 1mm to 1.2mm and I will probably end up with something like 1.5mm.
Unfortunately, the chinese display controller board now has an issue where if I plug in the touch, one inductor on the board will start coil whining, overheating and display won´t power on at all. It functions OK without touch, so now I can at least test it as a portable computer and try and discover any further design flaws.
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I upgraded my Dell’s screen to a touchscreen, and in addition to the Express DP there is also a 5-pin “touch” cable, which you likely will need to connect to USB or some other connection. Which you might be able to take from the fingerprint reader slot.
The idea is to connect as many things as “natively” as possible and not go through the USB ports, but oh well.
Given the amount of work that is needed however I can see why. If you are going to be making improvements down the line this is probably worth it.
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I apologize for the month without updates, after the touch stopped working, I realized it won’t be resolved anytime soon due to the lunar new year and got burned out and set the project aside. A few days ago, the display manufacturer’s support finally replied issue finally got resolved (faulty cable/connector) and the touchscreen works again. So I quickly went on to print parts and assembled the prototype to start testing daily driving it.
It currently weighs 814g and dimensions are 250x170x20mm.
It definitely requires thicker side walls (maybe 1.6 mm instead of 1.2 mm but will see when I switch from pla to petg), more screws for mounting the display, battery mount, a way to implement wifi and shape adjustments to make edges less sharp and a looot of details.
Interesting note, PLA works better than I expected and even after using it often at max temperatures (I have been using it as a desktop in previous version of the case), the damage to material is not too bad.
Here are a few pictures of what it currently looks like:
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Thanks ajtakrajta, although (maybe I am too sleepy) I am not sure how would that help me?
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For the connection to the display board? That particular board doesn’t pass some of the pins for high speed data. But there are other options along that line.
There are some cables like this which advertise being capable of 20Gbps
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256802596940386.html
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I believe that the L-shaped cable solved all issues with connecting the display board, but it’s pretty late here and maybe I am just not getting something
I’m guessing ajtakrajta’s intent was so the case could be made a less wide. Every centimeter helps.
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Yes, exactly. I was thinking only about case width. Standard L shaped cable is a bit bulky. The ribbon cable in the comment above is great.
The ribbon cable looks great, but unless you are planning to dump the battery, you can´t make the tablet much narrower than it is. We are talking 5-7mm at best. Battery is 239mm wide and the tablet (including walls that have to be at least 1.5mm thick and even that might not be enough) is 249mm wide. So you can save 7mm if your battery touches side walls and you can print with such accuracy. Realistically, if you want to keep 1mm tolerance on each side, you can save 5mm. For some it might be a difference between printable and not printable, of course, but not enough difference for me to alter the design. Also, narrowing the tablet by 5mm would mean that I have not enough space for display controller buttons board, so it would either have to be mounted elsewhere or the tablet would have to be thicker so that it fits under the mainboard. But actually, I am thinking of a steamdeck-like project that would not use framework battery but a powerbank instead, and there, the space savings would be more interesting.
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I really do prefer a smaller tablet myself, and this seems pretty nice, BUT I have to say that the placement of the battery worries me. Heat rises, and while the heat pipe and fan will do a good job expelling that heat, there is still residual, etc. Are you not worried that you are prematurely wearing your battery out? Or that you are thermally limiting what the tablet can be used for?
Another question is are you at a point where you feel comfortable sharing the print files? Is that your intention? If it is, I would like to print your case and mess around with building one myself.
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Hi 2disbetter, the placement of the battery worried me too, so I put a 1mm thick layer of insulation material between (in my case compressed cardboard) and I put it under 1hr stress test and then measured the temperature on the bottom surface of the battery and it was 40 degrees celsius on the hottest spots (which were, curiously, on the place where SSD is, not the heatpipe, as there is an air layer between the heatpipe and the battery but SSD comes in direct contact and I use a gen4 one without any cooling). Still, 50 degrees celsius are still within spec so I believe I have a bit of headroom there.
As for the cooling, it can handle 28-32W which is in line with the laptop performance. Battery does cover 90% of the fan on the top side, but the main air intake is from the bottom anyway. It reduces the max cooling capacity by 2-4W as I have never seen the board exceed 35W even if completely out of the case. That 10% of uncovered fan on top side is useful when you put the tablet on a bed. It can still somewhat breathe.
I am sorry that the project takes so long, I ran out of personal time for several weeks multiple times during the project. All files that I created can be made available for anyone, I just did not feel like publishing them when I still use duct tape to hold some pieces together.
Current phase is that after about two weeks of daily driving it I found out that my case needs to be a lot stronger, so I am adding multiple reinforcements to it and also that display requires a much better mounting system, so I have to adjust the current one. If you like, I can send you or post here or somewhere all files that I have had, also of previous concepts that would have worked with battery in a traditional position, but they have never been printed. But it would be an alfa version at this point, while beta is in making.
*I should clarify that framework 11gen mainboard by design cannot sustain more than 28W TDP turbo boost for more than 30-40 seconds in line with intel’s stock turbo behavior and it cannot be altered neither using XTU nor throttlestop, even FW support confirmed that it is not possible, that’s why I am comfortable with cooling that can sustain 28W.
** Also I bear no responsibility in any premature battery wear, if you follow my work it is voluntary and at your own risk, I measured it several times but you might want to do your own measurements as your insulation material may vary
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Thanks @Surja_Knap! I’ll leave that up to you. I would be happy with the files here or in a PM.
I would probably want to wait until you have reinforced your case design and reworked your display mount though.
It would maybe also be beneficial to link all of the materials and parts you used for your project along with the build files. I VERY much want to build one, and would be happy to help you develop it if needed.
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Okay, will keep that in mind, I hope I will finish the design and test print it within a week, if not, I will publish it before that. About the parts list:
Mainboard and battery - framework original
Display (I specifically asked to receive it without case, adapter and type-C cable as neither is used in the tablet): Polcd Wholesale 10.5 Inch Ips Hd Audio Output Aluminum Alloy Metal Touch Portable Monitor - Buy Portable Gaming Monitor,Gaming Display,Industrial Embedded Monitor Product on Alibaba.com
Display cable with L shaped connector that fits the case, albeit with little room to spare, but carries dp signal and enough power: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003478288982.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.11.3e8c1802Z1PCOo
alternatively a few posts above there is a ribbon cable that fits with more room to spare, I already have this cable so I have not tested the other one
M2.5x2mm and M3x3mm heat inserts (not used yet, so I am not sure how will they fit): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004870993068.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.16.3e8c1802Z1PCOo
M2.5x3mm, M3x5mm screws for case: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32547459892.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.3.352ef19cZJmqkz
M2.5x3mm screws for inside: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32810852732.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.7.352ef19cZJmqkz
Plus some type-C portable keyboard folio, type-C to type-A and a tiny wifi dongle that I bought at local store
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Today I had some time, so I started test printing parts out of PETG, also updated case is 95% ready. I am not sure whether to call it alpha or beta, will see after printing and assembly, how many issues it still has. But at that point should it be worthy of at least being called alpha, I will publish the files. Also, screws have not arrived yet, so it will look funny until then (I have some screws from disassembled laptops, so I will frankenstein it together until proper screws arrive).
Not a big update, just letting everybody know I am still alive as well as the project.
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Release of the files!
So the prints turned out pretty well, I adjusted a few minor issues and did not address one - as it is now, putting the mainboard in is a bit painful, because you first need to plug in the L-shaped cable for the display and then insert it, but at that point it doesn´t fit in. You just need to slightly bend the left side of the case and once I figured out how to do it, I was able to put it in and out 3-4 times pretty quickly. It is just the first try that is painful. The reason I did not address this is that I don´t want to compromise the structure and it is possible to install the mainboard as it is.
Second known issue is that I haven´t figured out a correct length of the power “button”.
I am not sure what is the standard format for exporting such stuff as I personally had problems with step files, so I exported it in shapr3d, stl, stp and prusa file formats.
I don´t have photo tutorial to assembly it yet as this is more like beta version than final version of the case.
Parts list is in a comment above, I assume you are using the same parts as I am. The way to assemble it:
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First print the case and the display bracket, clean them, do any post processing of the material you might prefer. Tested - PLA does not indeed hold its shape when heated up by the tablet, PETG seems fine so far, ABS not tested. You may want to use supports for holes around 1cm and wider, you don´t need supports for most of the constructions inside, just for the ones that clearly have no way to be printed without support (the cable holder, power button holder and case closed sensor disabler holder and I think bottom right battery holder).
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Install all heat inserts - M2.5 for the mainboard and display bracket and M3 for the 4 holes in each corner that hold the display bracket from the top.
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Put inside the display components - speakers use the 2 holes on the bottom and are held inside by duct tape, the control board with audio jack has holes dedicated on the bottom left side, it holds well without using any adhesive and the main display board goes in between the speakers, it is held by the mainboard and the cable, doesn´t require any tape. Might add mounts for these components later. Plug them all into each other, display remains unplugged on the display side.
3.5 - put inside the small bottom start button - into the hole under the mainboard. You need to do it before you install the mainboard, afterwards it is painfull to put inside.
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Plug the L-shaped type-C cable into the mainboard bottom left type-C port and install the mainboard with a bit of struggle, screw it in using the silver M2.5x3mm screws. Run the display cable around - to the right, then bend it and along the bottom wall, under the cable holder, bend again and into the display board. There are pictures in comments above that can help you figure it out, but should be pretty intuitive.
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Use display glue to install the display into the display bracket, you might want to add some strong duct tape from the bottom as a safety in case the display glue wasn´t good enough. There is nothing holding the display from the top, it seems to hold well enough based on about a month of testing (the previous version of the case).
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Dry install the battery, just to see how it will go inside and then apply layer of thermally insulating material on the part of the battery that will touch the SSD / heatpipes/RAM, use double sided tape to stick it to the battery. Also pre-bend the cable as needed.
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Install the battery between the 4 holding points and maybe use some extra duct tape to hold it in, but at this point it might not be needed. Plug in the battery conector with care.
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Plug in the display and touch connectors on the display side and fix them using duct tape to the back of the display to protect the connectors if you forget about them being plugged in.
8.5 Install the power button and case sensor disabler into their respective holes - their length I haven´t figured out yet, they should be between 10-12.5 mm long, 3mm wide and 3mm tall - long enough that if you press the top right corner of the tablet and the power button from the bottom, tablet will turn on, but not so long that it turns on by itself for example inside your backpack.
- Install the display bracket with the display. Will upload the files and edit this post to add the download links.
Edit: I don´t like how many times I used the word duct tape 
Also, I did not find a way to implement wifi yet, mainly because I got used to carrying a small type-C to type-A adapter with a type-A wifi adapter plugged in. I bought an iGet s10c keyboard and I am planning to transform it into a folio case with USB hub and wifi, rather than implementing these directly into the tablet. For use cases when the tablet is outside the case, I want to increase the hole on the left size so that it can accomodate the wifi dongle, providing it some support.
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