POE Framework??
cool concept but the circuitry is quite large, since POE is effectively 48V/24V AC.
POE is also very inefficient
2 Likes
Heyyyy PS/2 to USB adapter anyone
- 1 PS/2 (duplex)
- 2 PS/2
- 2 PS/2 + 1 AT
- 1 PS/2 + AT
0 voters
This post is just to put a few things out there as they say. It would be a good thing if we see expansion cards with dual port capabilities. For example, there can be expansion cards of:
Dual USB A
Full size SDcard; dont know if possible but i’ve even seen docks with a microSD atop a full sized SD slot…
More display options like DisplayPort and its mini variants; maybe even dual mini DP or even HDMI.
How about even make a capture card expansion? For example i have an hdmi to USB capture card for my camera for broadcasting, and it gives me basically 0ms latency since is not doing any processing and the thing about that device is that its small. I dont know the intricacies of the requirements as per space but again, im just putting it out there… oh, here is such device:
https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/pop/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_pop?_encoding=UTF8&gen=canonical&lineItemId=nprgtxmomlntwny&orderId=112-8902874-2892246&packageId=1&returnSummaryId=&returnUnitIndices=&returnUnitMappingId=&shipmentId=TkTlSxBL0
And lastly, how about expansion cards with different connectors for power delivery/charging. Like barrel connectors, lenovo connectors, maybe even some proprietary connectors like the Apple PCs (that is unless its legaly viable…)
What do you guys think of these ideas?
Dual USB-A is… almost impossible to do because of the size of the cards and even if you pull that off it would only ever fit 1 plug. even 2 USB-C sockets would probably interfere with each other so it makes no sense to have a HUB in there.
Personally I would like a USB-A/USB-C combination card that lets you use either one or the other but not at the same time.
4 Likes
Like every other multi-this expansion card idea it misses the target. Do we not understand how important it is that the possibility to have 4 usb-c connectors outweighs the well there are only four ports and one is used for power. One can be used for power and everything else. With two thunderbolt controllers I could conceivably add at least 5 donwstream devices on each, each with multiple devices attached. Get a small portable hub for all the corner case needs. One connector to rule them all and in the thunder bind them. Get with the program.
Please search. This has been discussed many times
https://community.frame.work/search?q=Expansion%20card
Especially
etc. etc.
It becomes difficult following ideas when people post them across separate threads
3 Likes
Has been said before, but another vote for dual usb-c. Honestly this is such an obvious need that I’m a little surprised it wasn’t considered in the sizing of the expansion slots.
Other nice to haves… combo usb-a/usb-c, (or a microsd + usb-a), minipcie, additional WiFi.
Did you see?
Although I note you mention resizing the actual expansion card may have been an idea, but I’m sure that was considered too.
I suddenly wonder if an expansion card that converts thunderbolt USB-C to an NVMe connector would work.
So the ADT-R43SG can plug directly in as a hacky/janky solution.
Although I note you mention resizing the actual expansion card may have been an idea, but I’m sure that was considered too.
I did see that. One alternative idea (possibly not backwards compatible?) would be to make the expansion slots directly side by side), so you could have either 1 larger expansion module or 2 smaller ones.
Similar to how single/double stack PCMCIA cards worked (except side by side). This would give a bit more flexibility for expansions with larger modules but preserve variety if only smaller modules were used. I imagine you could pull in more power as well since you’d have 2x thunderbolt ports (1 for data, and another for supplemental power). Some of my spectrum analyzers work this way.
I guess my main critique of the current expansion approach - is it’s so small that it’s only useful for things like swapping ports. While PCMCIA cards were not perfect - at least you could add (especially at the time) what was considered meaningful utility/expansion of functionality (versus just additional ports).
So in my mind, framework laptops would be much more useful if the slots were larger (perhaps with the 2-in-1 or 1-in-1 approach I describe above) and allowed meaningful additions. Such as SDRs, satellite modems, FPGAs, etc…
As it is, they essentially act as a more streamlined alternative to IO expansion pigtails - I understand how this is useful - it’s just not particularly useful for me.
I suggested elsewhere that for a 15" computer, if the current mainboard were kept over toward the right to use existing expansion cards, it should be possible to design it to have both the current expansion card space plus a symmetric 1-9/16"x1-9/16" physical space to work with for the two slots on the left, which would be big enough for at least two of most ports in each.
A blank card that would take the current cards should also be feasible, though it might suffer minor performance issues for maxing out USB-C. A large USB-C passthrough could be done, however, and no need to do so for a single A port, as bandwidth is so low. I’d ideally see enough additional thickness for ethernet to fit properly inside the card.
I imagine the current spacing is to add strength to the sides, which of course would be far weaker if they wear closer or ‘side by side’
Hey hey everyone, just letting everyone know what I’m working on.
HDMI Capture card, Optoisolater (3.75 and 5.75kV) ,LTE 4G adapter, microSD card with push push mechanism, DC input expansion card, USB 2 and 3 hub, protected USB-C without D+/-, RP2040 universal adapter which will be able to output UART, RS232, RS485, RS422, CAN, i2c, i2s, dip switch , volume controller, microcontroller board with standard neopixels and Stemma QT port, logic analyser, LED matrix. Keep in mind that these will have interchangeable boards and do let me know if you can think of anything else.
Since I now have a PnP and a mostly up-and-working assembly line I can work on more complex boards and do let me know which one you want to see first.
3 Likes
well theres full size SD and an ethernet card powered by something other than realtek. But you seem to have a lot on your plate already.
Trackball/stick might be cool as well, for people that dont like touchpads.
Of that list, the RS232/etc. looks the most useful to me. A nice, convenient way to handle consoling in to whatever random equipment I find myself in front of. Bonus points if I can break it out to an 8p8c keystone, use any random Cat5e cable, and tell it what pinout I need.
Will there Mini-Display port, Card Readers, Charging Port, Display Port, Mini HDMI, Mini-DVI, Micro DVI, Digital Video Interface (DVI), expansion card?
For me, top priority would be rp2040 adaptater and STEMMA QT daughter board
I think you are misunderstanding what I said relating to the RP2040 card, the RP2040 is the “motherboard” and the STEMMA QT board for example is the “daughterboard”
1 Like
A concern for me is port quantity. Charging, keyboard, and mouse is already three slots. That can be solved with splitters or hubs, but it’d be nice to have enough ports on the machine itself. The keyboard and mouse aren’t very demanding, so connecting them to the same expansion card to free up more ports would be ideal.
I really liked the idea of an expansion card with internal USB slots to keep small dongles out of the way.
1 Like
I’ve gotta say. Reading through these comments is hell. I wish replies to these posts were more like reddit, where replies sort of get grouped together and you can roll them up. It would be a lot easier to see all of the different ideas.
9 Likes