I don’t see any updates for the 13th gen intel core Framework 13 on LVFS.
Are there any updates for 13th gen that just haven’t yet been uploaded to LVFS? (I didn’t find a place for them when looking at the main corporate site.)
Is LVFS now considered a first class mechanism for delivering firmware updates?
It appears that Framework simply hasn’t released any BIOS update for 13th gen, yet:
FWIW, you can get there via: BIOS and Drivers Downloads
They can’t distribute all the Intel proprietary blobs through lvfs right now and that is because of LVFS
And? This doesn’t change the fact that Framework hasn’t released any BIOS update for the 13th generation Intel Framework Laptop 13, as of today. (source: the article I linked in my last answer)
This contrasts the situation we have with the 12th generation Intel Framework Laptop, where Framework has released a BIOS update: Framework Laptop BIOS and Driver Releases (12th Gen Intel® Core™)
That update just wasn’t made available through LVFS, for whatever reason.
However, this isn’t really relevant to Michael’s question, I answered.
@inffy can you provide a reference for your “because of lvfs” assertion? I was pretty sure that I’d installed plenty of Intel-proprietary blob firmware updates on a thinkpad via LVFS, but first I asked Richard Hughes, who created LVFS, and he confirmed my understanding:
If you have a reference for “because of lvfs” to share here, that might help clear up confusion.
Thank you. That mostly answers the second half of my question: For some reason, it appears that despite having an LVFS vendor account, Framework does not consider LVFS a first class mechanism for delivering firmware updates. That makes Linux users second-class users of Framework machines, in my opinion. I was kind of hoping that someone from Framework would state formally, that as a matter of policy, Framework will be providing at least future firmware releases via LVFS among any other mechanisms. Even small hobby hardware projects manage that; it doesn’t seem like a burden to get a free CDN and firmware update tool to help out users.
I’ve read the articles about how Framework has trouble shipping firmware updates at all, and I get it. All I’m suggesting is that when they can ship new firmware updates, LVFS is really sine qua non for first-class Linux support. And it’s free. And was designed with active feedback and participation from multiple vendors to reduce their effort.
I just got an email that firmware has been released with the 13th gen intel systems, and a visit to the LVFS shows that it was not uploaded there.
The page here: Framework Laptop BIOS and Driver Releases (11th Gen Intel® Core™)
Claims: “Please note that for this platform LVFS will not update the CSME firmware. so we only recommend updating using the EFI updater. This is a limitation of LVFS which does not ship the binary blobs from Intel necessary to update the CSME.”
I just updated my Ubuntu system with the EFI shell and it worked ok, but the progress bar is microsoft style, it will move to the end and just sit there, making you think it’d frozen. Eventually it will finish and reboot itself.
See above Richard Hughes saying that LVFS refusing to ship intel binary blobs isn’t true.
Don’t shoot the messenger. I just am reposting what Framework claimed.
Not shooting, just pointing out for reference. 
Arjan van de Ven at Intel has volunteered to help.