Replace the Windows key with a Linux one or at least a generic "super" one

+1 for the Framework logo.

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RE: above post regarding the acrylic paint over windows key (update):

After a few days of use it actually looks a little better. It’s still not a perfect solution. If you get the light just right, you can definitely tell this key is different from the rest. It’d be awesome to have just a blank key there, same finish as the rest, but no icon/logo on it at all… Here’s what it looks like now, when I get the light to shine just right, to make it look as bad/different from the rest of the keys as possible:

And it does not look great when the backlight is on. Here it is at full-brightness:

But most of the time, this is what it looks like:

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Now I want a little circle and slash sticker to put over that logo, as a more active protest …

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I’m with @bmstrong and all the others - +1 for the Framework logo.

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I wonder if there’s a kick-back from Micro$oft for putting the Windows logo on it? If that’s the case I resent that is the state of the universe but I’m happy to put up with it, even though I run Linux on mine, just to increase the chance Framework succeeds by 0.0024%.

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I remember reading that it’s mandatory if the laptop manufacturer wants OEM discounts for Windows licenses.

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Could Framework provide an adhesive sticker the same size and shape as the keys, and made from the same material as the actual key caps to cover the extortion-required logo key?

They probably have other priorities right now, but this would sound like a nice community DIY project!

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Relatively expensive solution, but I got around this by ordering the blank keyboard from the marketplace. No logos when there’s no legend.

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Further update on above-described attempt to paint the super key:

I’d hoped that by using exterior-strength acrylic it’d hold up for a long time, but tonight it all just suddenly flaked-off. Luckily it wasn’t messy, just a black dust, and the Windows logo rose like a Phoenix from the ashes…

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Has anyone tried sanding it off? Thinking a very fine grit would remove the silkscreened logo, and leave a little texture, without changing the look too much. Mask off the area as best as possible first, and try to keep any grit and/or plastic out of the machine (maybe do it upside-down?).

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The logo is not printed on top of the black key surface; the black key surface is printed with the logo masked out of it. That’s how it remains transmissive for the keyboard backlight.

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Well… File that under “D” for “duh.” :slight_smile: Should have realized that before asking the question. Haven’t used my Framework in the dark enough yet to have thought much about the backlight.

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So not a big problem, some matt black nail varnish and then scratch a personal icon.

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Hey, since FW includes a little slip of stickers with its new DIY machines, including several FW logos, perhaps they could include a sticker that could fit onto its windows key. Just sayin’.

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The best solution for now is probably to buy a blank keyboard and use its blank letter keycaps as donors for a few dozen keyboards (if the latch and mechanism matches).

People living in big cities can crowdsource and order one blank keyboard to be distributed among them.

Also nice idea to be done during a Framework fest somewhere :slight_smile:

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And furthermore…
The F12 key has a FW logo (on the US english keyboard) so why cannot the super key also have the FW logo? Would that hurt?

Windows have conditions if you want to sell there software on the cheap.

Hopefully Framework decides to stay away from CPUs with Pluton then because, according to a recent Phoronix article:

Starting in 2022 for Secured-core PCs it is a Microsoft requirement for the 3rd Party Certificate to be disabled by default.

…and for reference, 3rd party certificates are required in order to boot Linux.

Source:

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The fact that the UEFI secure boot store doesn’t include the “sometimes Linux bootloaders are signed by this certificate” certificate by default is unrelated to Pluton. That could have been made true of any machine manufactured after 2010.

It is not Pluton that manages the UEFI db. :slight_smile: