Right - people scoff at Realtek, but their 2.5 GbE RTL8125 is affordable and designed to be a drop-in replacement for any PCBs designed for a gigabit controller.
It works perfectly for me, I have two of them.
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Yup, the RealTek 2.5 Gbps chip is great. Also have two of them as USB adaptors. But you need a Linux kernel at or newer than 5.11, otherwise thereās a bug that spams the sys journal with connect/disconnect messages.
Have one of those too, thatās the Realtek RTL8156. Works perfectly and is also affordable. Itāll probably be what Iāll use as Iām setting up the Framework Laptop if I canāt get WiFi working right away.
Off topic: the 8125 has worked well for me since at least kernel 5.4 something. Initially I had to use this: https://github.com/gesangtome/rtl8125-dkms but after a while it just worked without me doing much.
It was the same for the AX200 (unofficial means at first then native and improving support) and Iām sure it will be the same for the AX210.
Another proponent for gpio similar to pi/arduino/other microcontroller
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@Keith_J_Brett alright no problem. Iām get similar to what @jeshikat measured for the rubber āfeetā
Which means the clearance under the expansion cards translates to 2.8-3.0mm. On mine the left side cards seems a hair higher than the right.
Like my cheap gage pins? 
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Those wanting an expansion card with dual USB-A ports on it, due to size constraints i am not so sure it can be done for USB 3.0 Gen1/2, but What if we could do it with dual USB 2.0 ports? I know, USB 2.0 is slow at this point, but would that be something the community is interested in? I keep tinkering with the idea of learning PCBs by trying to do something similar to the NanoUSB 2-port hub which is super tiny, and just convert the USB-C over to the 4 wire input side, and dual USB-A ports. Still might not be enough room, but if it was a completely custom PCB, maybe?
Note: I also have not received my DIY kit yet. Batch 4 soon! haha. Iāve not yet done any actual measurements as to whether the modules are even wide enough for two side by side USB-A ports.
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Why just Gigabit Ethernet, letās go 2.5 or, even, 5 Gbps!
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I would assume the goal is to get whatever we possibly can. If itās five GB, 2.5 GB, or 1 GB. Whatever the best thing is, we should go that route if it will fit.
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Gigabit is the max for easily available USB-C to Ethernet bridges, if you want over that I hope you would like to spend 250$+
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since the Frameworkās ports are ātechnicallyā USB4/Thunderbolt 4 and not just USB-C (aka USB 3.1 gen 2), you probably could find and use a dock that has 10Gig onboard.
A USB 2.0 port is much better than no USB port 
. Also, realistically, half my cables are USB 2.0 only, anyway. (Plus, I always have a mouse plugged in; that certainly doesnāt need 3.0ā¦)
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It might have been answered before but I do not know if two USB type A (either 3.0 or 2.0) will fit on one card. the PCBās stick out wider than the ports a bit. maybe if one was inverted you could get them closer together.
I donāt suppose anyone knows where they get the chips for these CantLinks from?
Iām thinking that as a double sided pcb they might fit in the frameworkās form factor, enabling HDMI capture without a dongle.
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Microcontroller all the way! Iām actually surprised this isnāt #1, seeing as though there really is nothing like that outside of an arduino/pi setup, which isnāt even close to the same thing. (But of course, correct me if Iām wrong.) That being said, Iām a former Mac user, so of course Iām used to limited ports 
I would like to see a two port numpad/macro extention where one port is passed through to the other side as a USB hub.
I just found out about mesh networking LoRa projects last night (specifically Meshtastic, but there are others) and have been exploring that as a standalone project for myself. But it occurs to me that if the laptop is doing all the grunt work, a hardware LoRa radio as an expansion module for the framework laptop would be potentially very neat.
Obviously youāre not going to get high bandwidth data through it, but it would be fun. Most of these projects seem to use an android phone as the user interface, using wifi or bluetooth LE to connect to the LoRa device. Communicating over USB would work instead. Space might be a bit tight, though.
Iām not sure if itās been mentioned and it may be a niche area, however I would love to see HDMI Input (or bi directional HDMI ports) and/or (very niche) SDI Input (or bi directional).
It would be great to be able to quickly switch up the Laptop ready for a live broadcast really quickly. I donāt know if thereās any other live stream/broadcast peeps who feel this. I also have no idea on the technicality/possibility of doing this, but even if itās just HDMI Input ports, I think that would be really cool!
Damnā¦Thereās so many connectors that just arenāt feasible because of size constraints in this thing. I know it was a balance between an eye-catching slim and sleek machine that can sell a lot more units, or larger modules that would allow more DIY options, and for a small startup company they went with the slim and sleek design. I get it, I understand, and I accept that this is the reality. But it also equally sucks that I wouldnāt be able to have a 1/4" TRS input.
I see another of your posts about plugging in a guitar and violin.
How about this:
Professional Wireless Audio Mixer Sound Board-4 Channel Digital Bluetooth Computer Compatible Input DJ Controller Sound Mixer 48V Phantom Power Microphone in,Headphone Jack Stereo DJ Streaming (M4C) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093PT7RG4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_D8QXFD094KVENYFSMQ55?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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I appreciate the suggestion. Thereās a good reason why interfaces can cost a lot of money. I actually have a decent one myself that is fully powered off USB. The problem is portability. Most interfaces arenāt exactly compact enough to fit in your pocket. I had in my mind a module that could accept 1/4" which would be amazing for roadies. Unfortunately it seems like the physical length of the module is too small to fit the male connector, let alone the internal port. I was more bemoaning the impossibility of my idea than anything else.
Unless someone wants to make an extended 1/4" TRS module?