+1 for a ortholinar layout. I realy woud be great to have a laptop with such a layout.
4 Likes
I am also a fan of the ortholiner keyboard. As people have a variety of needs for the keyboard such as the number of keys, layout, and size of the specific key, it might be good for Framework to open the CAD file of the keyboard, and let other people create some niche keyboards. It’s like what Framework did for the expansion cards.
6 Likes
Even though I am not a fan of ortholinear in general, I can see some cool use-cases for it, e.g. music controllers for DAWs for example, where ortholinearity makes a lot of sense. As an optional keyboard that is easy enough to swap with the original, that could be very nice!
2 Likes
I am kind of surprised this isn’t a thing with how modular these laptops are…
I could see a “Planck” style 48-key ortholinear fitting easily. Ideally something split+angled. Having an ortho option and/or replacement moving forward would be a benefit to the ortho/ergo community and bring a broader awareness to the subject.
I am a designer/engineer by trade and I would push to make it happen as long as it was a break-even implementation. I feel it would be something that would be innovative in the laptop market and further the awareness of orthlinear keyboards. My current travel setup is a laptop and low profile split 36-key ortholinear that gets placed on top of my laptop keyboard with the trackpad more or less down in the middle.
If I have the time later this year I will be picking up a Framework laptop to see how everything is put together and see if I can come up with my own keyboard for the Framework. PCB’s can be easily designed and printed, and just looking at photos and videos I am sure a proof of concept could be hacked together using what is already available.
I would love to have a discussion with someone at FrameWork about this though; Developing an ortholinear layout, or coming out with a ‘framework’ to build your own.
9 Likes
I’d also like to say that I’m interested in an ortholinear laptop. It would be the deciding factor for me to buy a framework laptop & I’d be happy to “preorder” it with such a keyboard if that helps bring an ortholinear keyboard into existence.
4 Likes
There is a community project about it.
2 Likes
I would love to have an ortholinear keyboard. So much better for hands! Default staggered layout is bad in comparison, skewing hand position from left to right, it’s not symmetric…
3 Likes
We can expect the ortholinear keyboard!
Absolutely! We’ve been chatting with Jack Humbert, and he’s actually been prototyping an ortholinear keyboard module for the Framework Laptop 16. There are likely some photos of it in press articles about the event today.
6 Likes
tl;dr
I am assuming optional split spacebar comes if you decide to add optional staggered keys, right?
When one has become used to custom keybs such as dactyls or whatever that gives you 3+ thumb keys, then it becomes virtually impossible to use a regular laptop keyboard anymore…
2 Likes
Seems unlikely we’ll be getting an ortholinear option for the 13 inch though, right? It seemed like all of the options around input modules were exclusive to the 16 inch. That would be incredible, though.
We’ve been chatting with Jack Humbert, and he’s actually been prototyping an ortholinear keyboard module for the Framework Laptop 16.
3 Likes
For the Framework Laptop 13 with an ortholinear option, perhaps, there is a possibility by another user-driven project in the future. You can check the project below.
4 Likes
There are likely some photos of it in press articles about the event today.
Anyone seen these pop up anywhere yet? I’ve only found this other comment so far:
We were hoping there would be press photos of it, but I haven’t seen any show up yet. We’ll share photos on our social channels later.
That was two days ago though … Didn’t see anything on Twitter or Insta yet.
Having a laptop with an ortho keyboard and QMK would be a dream come true.
4 Likes
Doesn’t have to do with ortholinear keyboards, but with different keyboards in general: What I would love for the Framework 16 is a tenkeyless keyboard over the full width of the laptop.
I don’t need accent panels, LED strips or a Numpad, but I do hate the half-size split Up/Down arrows and the fact that Home/End/PgUp/PgDown doesn’t have a native key. Just give me a keyboard that’s wider than the default one and has real arrows and the typical Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDown a desktop keyboard has.
4 Likes
Can’t we just have a third party make it using frame.work specs? So long as it fits and connects the way the current keyboard(s) connect, a kickstarter or limited preorder of a custom keyboard could be made by a third party, right?
Ortholinear + nipple + 1000ms polling pretty please.
3 Likes
Sure, if you find someone that wants to design and manufacture a niche keyboard for a niche laptop, you could do that. All the ports are documented and I believe they’re simple USB2 with a couple additional pins.
I would love third-party add-ons for the Framework laptop but I don’t have a high confidence that that’ll happen. AFAIK it hasn’t happened with the Expansion cards either - Framework announced that 3rd-parties could sell their cards in the Framework marketplace, but I don’t see any except for the official ones, and I also can’t find anyone manufacturing custom modules on the internet either - except for some people making their own custom modules with a 3D printer.
And making such an expansion module would be way easier than making a custom keyboard, I assume. And the expansion modules could at least in theory be used on other devices as an awkwardly-shaped dongle. The keyboard would basically be useless for other laptops.
2 Likes
Hello. 
I am also very interested in the possibility of integrating an ergonomic keyboard (at least only orthogonal, at best split with staggered columns).
I can’t buy a standard laptop because all models are equipped with a standard non-ergonomic keyboard. If the Framework Laptop 16 offers an ergonomic keyboard model with blank keys, I would certainly be interested in this computer.
3 Likes
Just created an account to mention that such an option would mean an immediate buy for me.
10 Likes
+1 for ortholinear. Currently switching from my custom built ferris-sweep to any other keyboard is very confusing and I hit the wrong keys every other word - primarily because I have no second ortholinear one. Would love to have this option with the framework laptop and as soon as it happens I am buying one.
3 Likes
Seconded. Ortholinear keyboard would be instant buy for me. Also the only way I would by a framework.
3 Likes