Hi,
I heard that ortholinear keyboard has been announced and will become available eventually but not yet. Right now is just the right time for me to buy a framework laptop. So I wonder if I get a normal keyboard now can I buy the ortholinear keyboard later and switch to that? Thought it best to be sure about this.
And also, is there any kind of estimate for when the ortholinear keyboard will be available to buy?
Welcome to the forum.
I might be having a brain glitch, but I don’t think Framework has actually officially announced that they will sell an ortholinear (if I’m glitching, somebody help me here!).
In this youtube video, they did show a proof of concept for an ortholinear keyboard as a demonstration of the single key modules they are working on. But it wasn’t actually confirmed that they would be selling the ortholinear keyboard.
Time-link to 14:26
This could remain a demonstration proof of concept. Framework might only release example design files for a PCB circuit board to create that keyboard using their single-key modules. Leaving the part of actually building it (ordering the PCB, the componets and soldering) up to the community. If there is demand, and I certainly think there will be, a 3rd-party could sell ready-to-use ortholinear keyboards (or any other key arrangment). But when that will happen and the cost, remains to be seen. The page for the modules can be found here: frame.work/products/one-key-module. As of this time the GitHub repository with more documentation that they mention there hasn’t been created or released yet.
Now as long as you get a Framework Laptop 16, you can change the keyboard to any that becomes available, any Frameworks sells or any that a 3rd-party might create that is compatible.
You’re not glitching. Framework announced the single-key module for keyboard builders to be able to build custom keyboards in the height envelope that Framework Laptop 16 supports, not any first-party ortholinear keyboard.
There was no firm release date for the module given by Framework. They said they’ll provide those modules in some keyboard building communities in the middle of the year, and make it fully purchasable later down the line. It’s hard to predict what this would mean. Maybe you’d be able to buy an ortholiner keyboard for Laptop 16 by the end of the year, maybe nothing will come of it for years to come - depends solely on third-parties involved in developing those keyboards and how much support Framework gives them. Seeing how past community projects went here, I’d not get my hopes up too much.
Edit: here you can watch the announcement by Framework CEO: https://www.youtube.com/live/-8k7jTF_JCg?t=1778 (link is timestamped to start at the Laptop 16 announcement) Seems like I came up with some timeline details by myself as he only says that they’re working with someone already and will be doing more with it/releasing the module “later this year”.
Thanks a lot to both of you!