I’m interested in knowing what technology framework are using for the pen technology, whether it’s Wacom, or another product. The store page doesn’t have a lot of inforamtion at the moment on this device.
I would like to know this as well. In addition, will the digitizer be replaceable separately from the screen? I imagine this might only be possible if it’s EMR. I believe every other technology requires integration with the touchscreen controller.
Ideally, it would be great if there were different digitizer/screen modules available for the different technologies, that way you can pick which one you prefer.
Very excited about active stylus support!
1 Like
Very most likely its NOT emr.
Heck, so dissapointing.
Seems like a charging port. The pen tip also does not look like Wacom’s. Likely an active pen : (
Also its not housed, also thicker- imo if it was Wacom Emr it would be a missed opportunity not to make it housed like in Samsung’s devices. Mostly for Emr laptops I would see thinner stick styluses.
Unless you know the charging port might be for bluetooth capabilities like with Samsung’s styluses… but I’m coping here.
Oh also… EMR usually costs way more. I doubt they got a license from Wacom just for stylus technology? If they did imo they would mention it? (do you need one for EMR tech even? Its pretty old by now)
Just some completely ignorant observations from someone who does not understand a thing about tech but wants to have it.
1 Like
Agreed, EMR technology does not require powered styluses. The USB port on the side suggests it can’t be.
BTW, “Active pen” is an umbrella term for all styluses (styli?) that have pressure-sensitivity, palm-rejection etc. This includes EMR. While Wacom’s patent for EMR has expired so a license is unnecessary, they are still an industry lead so companies like Samsung still partner with them.
My uneducated guess is that the FW12 pen would use Universal Stylus Initiative (USI).
- It’s aiming to be a universal standard that’s cross-compatible across different brands, whereas EMR is tied down to a specific device/brand.
Currently, there are a lot of stylus manufacturers such as Logitech, J5Create, HP, Lenovo and Penoval. However, laptop manufacturers are more reluctant to adopt it due to lack of support from Apple and Microsoft (it’s almost exclusively supported by Chromebooks and some Android tablets). I think Framework would most likely choose a universal standard over other proprietary technologies.
- It has all the features that EMR has that an artist would look for (precision, pressure sensitivity etc.) though often not as performant as other more mature technologies.
The standard sets minimum performance requirements but manufacturers can choose to make upgrades such as adding more pressure and tilt sensitivity levels. It’s hard to make an apples to oranges comparison but at the moment, it seems that EMR is generally better. USI is still constantly being developed and improved. However, unlike EMR where you need to upgrade the screen/laptop, USI can be upgraded with a new pen (and drivers, firmware etc.). It makes a lot more sense for Framework to choose this.
- USI puts more computation into the pen while EMR puts more into the screen.
EMR pens are really simple and cheap while the screens are more complicated to repair and expensive to replace. USI moves the cost and complexity away from the screen and into the pen. This means upgrades are cheaper because you only have to replace the pen and not the screen/laptop. I can’t and didn’t do the analysis for screen repair but I imagine it’s easier and cheaper to repair/replace a broken pen than a broken EMR screen.
- USI is backwards and forwards* compatible
Newer USI pens work with all USI displays and older pens work with almost all new displays. When they changed the standard from 1.0 to 2.0, they introduced support for in-cell displays. *Not all USI 2.0 laptops used in-cell and were compatible with 1.0 pens, but 2.0 laptops with in-cell didn’t work with 1.0 pens. EMR pens aim for broad compatibility but is not guaranteed while USI guarantees backwards compatibility. Another reason why Framework would choose this.
As an aside, I would really like to know
what specs they picked for the included pen?
8 Likes
I did a bit more research into artist reviews on Chromebooks and USI and here are common complaints:
- Wobbly lines
- Parallax
- Latency (from software smoothing out wobbly lines)
Apparently the newer styluses are better in these areas, but most artists recommend buying something else instead. However as the FW12 is aimed at students, I don’t think Framework would choose another pen technology to cater to people doing professional work.
4 Likes
@Neru_l Great job spotting the charging port. In that case I agree with both you and @TheBlindDemon that it’s very likely not EMR (unless there’s also integrated Bluetooth features as you said).
@TheBlindDemon I was going to provide the same definition of “active pen”. Thanks for that.
I appreciate your analysis. However, one reason it may not be USI is the fact that FW12 supports Windows (and I’m unsure whether it supports ChromeOS). Obviously that doesn’t mean it can’t be USI, but I’m not aware of any Windows devices that support USI yet.
Also, I don’t think I agree with your analysis that with USI there’s more computation in the pen than the screen. I do agree that the pen can have different features as you described (tilt, etc), but that’s the same with EMR. In fact, with EMR the digitizer is a separate layer behind the screen that (in theory) could be replaced independently from the screen. At least that’s how it was 10+ years ago. It’s likely possible that these are integrated more closely now in order to achieve the desired thin-ness. However, based on my understanding of USI (and AES for that matter), the digitizer technology is integrated into the touchscreen itself and therefore it’s part of the screen module.
Even with USI, there could be reasons to want to upgrade the screen module, such as to support a newer version with improvements or additional functionality (such as USI 1.0 vs 2.0).
Another possibility is that it’s AES. There have been Windows, Linux, and ChromeOS devices with AES pens. It’s probably not MPP (I haven’t looked at what the support is for Linux).
On a side note, regardless of the pen protocol, it would be great if there were modules that could support docking the pen to the device and chargering it as well (assuming that’s required). Also, having a module that supports a garaged pen would be amazing, but there’s probably not enough room.
3 Likes
Active Electrostatic (AES) is a derivative of EMR owned by Wacom. If that’s what FW12 is using, then Framework has to licence it from Wacom and maybe that’s what they did.
I agree it’s probably not Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) though.
And I also agree with the pen docking situation. Can’t be sure they didn’t do this already but the pen might magnetically attach the device like Surface laptops?
5 Likes
@TheBlindDemon Just saw your edits to your post and follow up post while writing my reply 
I agree, from my experience USI has not met the quality that EMR has. I’ve experienced all the things you mentioned. Hopefully it will keep improving.
Personally, I prefer to not have to charge my pen (as well as the accuracy and precision of EMR). Unfortunately, I think Wacom’s control over EMR forced these other protocols that require the pen to house the power source to be developed.
I actually hope Framework went with USI over AES as that should continue to push USI to improve and also have better support.
Thanks for spelling out the acronyms. 
I should have done that.
1 Like
I think the MPP acronym was especially relevant for the context. Microsoft really wants to have a closed ecosystem like Apple.
1 Like
According to a Framework tweet reply: “It’s dual-mode USI and MPP.”
For art purposes the EMR seems to be the superior one. MPP is either hit or miss. It produces wobbly lines when drawing slow and in diagonal. But I have not a heard of a dual-mode, what does this imply?
I was hoping for EMR but hopefully one day they’ll release one.
3 Likes
That’s very interesting! Can you post a link to the tweet?
I’m curious if they’re referring to the laptop, the pen, or both.
Dual-mode just means it works with both protocols. More often I’ve seen pens that are dual-mode, so they’ll work with more devices. However, if the laptop digitizer is actually dual-mode USI and MPP, then you’ll be able to use either a USI pen or an MPP pen with it, which would be very useful!
1 Like
Yeah it’s interesting. Here is the link to the tweet:
4 Likes
Eyyy my theory was 1/2 correct (probably should’ve started with digging through their tweets)
1 Like