Macropads in lieu of a keyboard?

[MJ1]

Welcome to the forum!

@nicoty

Hi. I was hoping I’d be able to buy a configuration with a (split) columnar-staggered or at least ortholinear keyboard, but that wasn’t an option. Since the macropads that are available are ortholinear, is it possible to instead fit a whole number of macropads (or maybe even with some spacers) on to the laptop? If so, would it be possible to configure the laptop to have macropads instead of a keyboard and have these programmed to act as a keyboard?

Damn, that’s a cool possibility. Surprised no one brought it up before.

After looking at pictures and info on their github, unfortunately it seems it won’t work, at least not with stock unmodified marcopads. And you might need to modify the touchpad module too. From the pictures, the spacing of the connectors isn’t the same all the way across. The middle 3 connectors intended for the touchpad are shifted a bit off from the right side. So an arrangement with 4 macropads (2 on the left, 2 on the right) won’t work

Framework’s github shows an example medium-sized module, such as the macropads, making electrical connection on their left sides. InputModules/Mechanical/Medium/fw_b_size_design_ref_0.pdf at main · FrameworkComputer/InputModules · GitHub

The idea comes so painfully close to being possible with just stock modules.

It’s looks so close to working that I’d try to make it work myself, if I had a Framework-16 on preorder. Modify one macropad to shift its connection points over & reposition or remove some of its magnets. Also remove anything on the touchpad module that might be blocking. I think this might be how we are going to see the first ortholinear split Framework.

~edit~
The 3 middle connectors, which are intended for the touchpad, are different, and they can’t be used for macropads at all. It sounds like they are i2c, instead of usb.

Input Module Placement Qs

The three headers on the left and the two headers on the right are for the Input Modules. All of the interfaces are the same and are documented on GitHub. The three headers in the middle are for the Touchpad and have a different interface.