Got my Framework Desktop up and running (woohoo!) and I’m now painfully adjusting to a new keyboard. I would love love love for Framework to provide an external keyboard that matched the keyboard from my Framework 13 laptop, so that my muscle memory translated between devices.
This is the first desktop I’ve had for a decade, because I don’t like the disruption of moving between keyboards in my work. A keyboard that matched exactly the one on my laptop would be amazing.
That would be a medium effort diy project if you really wanted to do that.
I don’t have access to a 3d printer or any fabrication equipment. Is there an option to achieve this that doesn’t require cutting/welding?
Probably not easily.
How do you feel about the fw 16 keyboard? That one would be almost trivial to use as an external keyboard.
Hmm, the UK layout looks very similar to my FW13 keyboard. That might work actually… any tips?
You are going to need an adapter board that converts the connector to usable usb (it is allready electrically usb but doesn’t use a usb connector) and maybe something to prop it up but it is certainly easier to turn into an external keyboard (as it is already a weirdly shaped usb keyboard) than the keyboard in the 13 (which is a naked matrix that is interpreted by the ec).
I think someone here made an adapter for that at some point.
Have you looked at those thinkpad usb keyboards, they are also laptop keyboard with an usb connector but you can buy them off the shelve (and they imo feel quite a bit better than the fw keyboard)
Ah, thanks, but I am more on the consumer side of things. That sounds well beyond me. I’d gladly pay well for a custom part like this.
That was what gave me the idea! The goal for me is to have parity when switching between desktop/laptop work, so I’d need the external keyboard to match my framework.
It isn’t that different is it? One of those is the most likely thing you’ll be able to just buy.
Turning a laptop keyboard into an external one isn’t that hard it’s just a ton of work, I did that to a t480s keyboard at the beginning of this year (not for layout compatibility reasons but because I wanted something extremely compact and didn’t find anything available to buy). Using the fw16 keyboard would be a lot easier than that though (I wonder why I never though of doing that instead, probably cause framework doesn’t actually ship to me and I did have the keyboard already laying around).
Isn’t this true only for Laptop 16? Laptop 13’s keyboard is something else because its Fn key combos are defined in EC firmware and are not changeable the way Laptop 16 keyboard’s are.
Isn’t this what I said?
Ah, yes, I skipped your prior post, sorry 