I’m looking to take my Framework modifications to the next level and convert my laptop into a personal cyberdeck, inspired by someone else who had made one that’s utterly gorgeous. Quick synopsis of the goals for the project:
- Custom 3D printed chassis to replace the magnesium alloy one
- Full size keyboard
- Display can switch between “laptop” style and “tablet” style
- Swappable side attachments (e.g. handlebars for tablet mode, dice tray for tabletop gaming, mouse pad)
- Larger speakers/speaker upgrade. Not really that important to me, but I figured why not.
- Swappable compute. I intende the actual computer to be swappable, allowing me to run the device from a FW board, raspi, steam deck, or whatever.
- I intend to use a portable monitor via HDMI + USB C power rather than the FW 16 display
- Get better cooling to the rest of the chassis so that certain spots (e.g. ram/battery) do not get so hot.
The question I have for the community is if there are any unexpected FW 16 behaviors I should be aware of, and if I’ll need to be in standalone mode to do this. Some of the things I’m not certain about are:
- Do I need to be in standalone mode to boot without the internal display, keyboard, or other input modules attached?
- Does the battery still work in standalone mode?
- If the device is plugged in and the battery removed, will it shutdown? E.g., if I build a custom chassis, I’m wondering if I’d be able to hot-swap batteries without shutting down if I’m plugged in.
- Do I need a 180/240W adapter for gaming in standalone mode, or can I use a 100W adapter and have the hardware scale itself down accordingly?
- Are there any other behavioral differences in standalone mode that I should be aware of?
Yes, I can test all these things myself to get answers… but I thought it’d be a fun conversation.
Some rough sketches of what I’m thinking
The inpsiration:
Credit: I built a modular cyberdeck!