Touchscreen that can use a stylus (for creative people)

Framework Laptop 13
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I’m often impressed that Dell’s notebooks - particularly their G (eh, displays) and XPS (eh, cost) lines - have a measure of upgradability and even have manuals to support some level of teardown. The problems I have with them however are that they often have engineering oversights (The XPS13’s hinges!), are limited in spec lacking decent displays, or compromise on smaller sizes, such as the XPS13 using LPDDR that can’t be upgraded without a heatgun and gumption. Parts availability is also unclear.

I very nearly sighed and went with an XPS15, even if it wasn’t anything like what I wanted. I didn’t need a gaming-class 15" notebook, coming from a Surface Pro 4. I wanted something with room to grow and repairability, and while Dell nearly delivered, it was just too much to pay for something that didn’t fit my ideal form factor. Even my wish list item of 4K output wasn’t as important as size and repairability (and the ports! And the availability of components! And…)

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I hope framework can get an EMR stylus license from Wacom. EMR passive styluses are way more precise than AES active styluses.
I am currently using a Fujitsu T936 laptop with Wacom Feel It EMR display. I am not sure the pressure level(I guess 1024 levels maximum?) but I can draw a lot of stuff with ease.

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Yea I would pay for this $$$

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If anyone else is interested, I don’t mind helping out in making this little project a reality. It looks like we have two problems:

  1. Finding and connecting screens that support pen input to the framework laptop
  2. Designing and 3D printing a 2in1 laptop chassis.

It would be great if someone who has owns the laptops that @taeyeon has suggested could test if the touchscreen and pen functionality is functional.

I think there are 3/4 screens with the correct aspect ratio and display size.

  1. Acer, Framework, others? Most basic. BOE NE135FBM-N41
  2. Surface Book/Laptop. Touchscreen + Stylus (Ntrig). Panasonic MEI96A2
  3. (a) X1 Titanium Yoga. Touchscreen + stylus (Wacom?). JDI LPM135M467
    (b) Same as 3a. Made by AUO, model unknown.

In terms of the 2in1 laptop casing, we would need a CAD file of the framework laptop case. I don’t believe we would be able to get this file from framework staff but we can always either do it manually or create 3D scans of the laptop case. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do it until my framework arrived in Feb.

Also to show Framework how many users are interested in this hardware I ask you to complete this poll.

If anyone else has more ideas, please hmu.

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I wonder if it is possible to get the Framework Laptop without the parts for the screen? If that is possible I would love to get it and do a BYOS (Bring Your Own Screen). While Framework figures out their touchscreen implementation, there are options:

The following are Active Stylus screens that can be connected via HDMI or USB-C (Requires a different power source which you can power with a powerbank)

  1. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/monitors/office/62a3uar1us
  2. Artist 12 Pro LINE FRIENDS Edition | XP-Pen US Official Store (Linux, Windows and Mac support)

There are those with built-in battery although they are just multi-touch without palm rejection and pen pressure. They are typically 15.6" as well

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It is interesting that Framework uses a capacitive sensor from Goodix for its Fingerprint reader. The same company has a touch screen controller with support for GPP, MPP and USI.

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did anyone ever figure out or get this work i have had the idea with my laptop for a while but never really looked into it i haven’t fully taken the screen apart from my current laptop (Acer Spin 3) but it is touch screen with a styles i have taken the back apart to look at the mother bored and from the looks my screen might be Pcie connect i would like if someone could confirm that for me i could send image if needed i tried to get a better look at the framework motherboard but couldn’t find a clear image to show the board or all its connections

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Surface battery bulged in my case as well. So i unfortunately have to still sometimes use my HP Touchsmart tm2, which had swivelling touch screen with barrelled pen, synaptics ChiralMotion (I know for a fact that i’m not the only one who finds swiping to scroll long documents inprecise and laborious but) & 8h battery life (in 2012!) to use touch for my work flow and it’s pen for filling forms and signing (both by myself and by clients). An updated version of this even if slightly deeper dimension to accommodate the mechanics unfortunately would need to have many more users like me to make strong business case for Framework.

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I’ve long been a stylus user. I have used Wacoms for 20+ years (I currently have 5, including a Cintiq), and have used systems with in built in since the early Penabled PCs. After the last two I had ended up with issues I couldn’t take care of (including a bulged battery), I’d LOVE an option for using a stylus. I normally want a 15" for regular laptops (main reason I haven’t gone framework yet), but if there was a penabled option for the current size I’d jump onboard in a heartbeat.

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Borrowing this word for later use :slight_smile:

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+1 My remote/hybrid async business work requires lots of markup to screenshots, whiteboarding, etc even for non-creative professionals :slight_smile:

It is a lot easier for me to explain an issue or architecture by marking up a screenshot or gif/video (yes drawing on video/gif recordings is super easy with gnome, see: Draw On Your Screen 2 - GNOME Shell Extensions). I can cut down on several back+forth async communication with the help of a pen.

My quick exploration shows varying support for pressure and tilt sensitivity in linux apps, so there are already applications waiting for a framework 2in1:

Krita: https://krita.org/en/download/krita-desktop/
Xournal: https://xournalpp.github.io/
Write: https://www.styluslabs.com/

My target is a ~2.5lb 2in1 laptop that fully supports linux, and I believe the only one that meets that is the Lenovo X13 line (Certified laptops | Ubuntu) so that’s what I’ll likely grab for now. Would love to support framework in the future (I posted the same message on System76 issue tracker too :slight_smile: )

I suppose with the framework system, the existing frame would need a new 360 capable hinge or a new frame (model) altogether.

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The Dell Latitude 5300 Chromebook and the identical Windows model have excellent Linux compatibility though they are older 8th gen CPUs the RAM and storage is easy to upgrade. They even support mobile broadband if that’s important to you.

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I have a surface that’s been running fedora 36. It amazingly has great support due to the open-source linux-surface kernel project. One major downside is that multi-touch support on my model (Pro 7) isn’t working just yet. Which means no zooming in, no GNOME workspace changing with three fingers and typing on the on screen keyboard is a nightmare.

If Framework brings out a touch screen skew, please keep multi-touch in mind for us linux users :orange_heart:

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I picked up a pair of these to test because I’d kill for a Framework Chromebook Pixel LS successor.

On the plus side it is pin compatible with the Framework LCD and is the same resolution, on the negative side the pin connector is slightly offset from where it is on the Framework LCD so slightly more cable needs pulled out for it to fit within the Framework LCD cover, and the other negative is the touch screen digitizer requires an additional four or five pin cable not currently present in the Framework so someone would need to do some trickery with a USB hub and maybe pull the pins used for the fingerprint reader or webcam and utilize them for the touchscreen/stylus functionality.

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Please keep us up to date, it sounds like a good start!

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Well with the announcement of new Framework Models & Modules. Any new info’s on this Idea. Im ready to buy a Framework the moment I know that it at least is coming in the future & that old models can be upgraded.

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There is a matte screen available, which is a great option.

A 2 in 1 solution with a touchscreen plus god pen would make me purchasing a 13" Framework machine…

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Just came here to co-sign the interest for a digitizer pen display.

Either baked into a model or a potential module since the announcement of the 3rd-party market. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s 4096 pressure levels or 100, textured or the most slipper surface, or how extreme the parallax is. Just any class of pen-display would be THE selling-point for me or any Wacom stand-alone or Surface product. So Framework or a savior on the 3rd-Party market :saluting_face: :

PLEASE give me the final push/excuse to make the purchase

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1+ I have been looking for a good touchscreen laptop and if Framework released one I wouldn’t look at the price before buying it.

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I’m already planning to replace my current laptop with a Framework 16 when they are available, but it didn’t even occur to me how much I would want stylus support too. I’d gladly pay whatever the extra cost to add this.

Preferrably not Wacom though. Maybe USI stylus support?