I’ve been working on a DIY mod for the mainboard, putting it inside a mechanical keyboard with eGPU etc, and I’ve come across a few things I wish I had to make my job a little easier/make my result a little more interesting.
Consider this a wishlist, I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to make these and sell them at a decent markup, even if there isn’t a huge demand for volume.
Breakout board for keyboard connector
power button
USB connection on this port
Breakout for eDP connector
Micro HDMI output.
Controls for a monitor on pins?
3D Models of the framework mainboard and accessories components.
hahaha the GPU is external to the main structure, the framework is in the keyboard, and thus rather portable (all you need is a monitor, but that might be the next step lol).
The SteamDeck is actually a really decent option in any form. I have a framework, though xD
The power of the framework (and future revisions) is important to me, as this operates as my desktop computer (lightroom, solidworks, games, chrome etc) and it mostly serves as a docked compute unit. I LOVE having quad TB4, and lots and lots of RAM.
Biggest issue I see is that the Steam Deck’s display connector is MIPI DSI. eDP is on the board, but there’s a chip to convert it to CSI, so you’d need to hard mod the board or use DP alt mode off the single USB-C. Either result would be a bodge, not a product.
I like the idea of mechanical keyboard on one side, steam deck on the other.
I think the steamdeck internal graphics outperforms the Framework, so I don’t know how the performance would be on serious games (even at low resolutions). I’m running an 11th gen, so perhaps performance would improve on 12th or 13.
If my memory serves, Steam Deck uses a Zen 2 processor with RDNA2 graphics which will be soon featured in Zen 4 desktop. That’s loads more powerful than the Iris XE LPG Framework is having (for 11, 12, 13th gens), which is comparable with AMD’s old VEGA graphics.
So I believe the the Framework Intel 12th gen CPU is faster but GPU performance would be lacking. Maybe one day we can get Intel ARC mobile graphics instead.
ajtakrajta Thank you for the links! I’ve already purchased a few breakouts from you; I have a few of the connectors on my desk and was dreading soldering them down to a breakout.
I am interested in the eDP breakout because it’s there, I think. If I don’t have to use one of the USBC for a monitor, I don’t want to. At the end of the day, though, you’re probably right.
Breakout eDP is something I’d be very interested in. Currently using a USB-HDMI converter cable and rather cumbersome for my small space requirements.
Supposedly there are eDP-to-HDMI cables/converters, but they appear to be far less common than the reverse, HDMI-to-eDP, which makes it a hassle to search exactly what you want in any online stores.
You could do an easy-peasy conversion to regular size DP, then use an active DP to HDMI converter (passive ones won’t work, they require a DP++ port i.e. one that can carry DisplayPort).
I’m working on an epaper integration for the back panel, but one of my friends actually had a great idea and recommended using AR glasses (just recently released from NRreal): Amazon.com
Could be cool to not need a monitor at all. Waiting for the battery to be available from the framework store, and there’s a proper mechanical keyboard cyberdeck.
