Why tho?
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Because: Mac 
, Windows 
, Ubuntu 
.
Added into A BALANCE = Good ???
Framework has stated clearly that they won’t be creating an OS or distro.
They are focused on hardware, not software.
When?
Not a product, but a service. Once you get yourself situated, consider a Enterprise-level service to focus on businesses. Repairable laptops that an IT department can handle would be huge. Dell and HP, for example, have dedicated account managers that work with businesses (B2B) on their needs. SLA, repair/service contracts, etc. The real meat for us in the weeds was they were able to apply our custom drive image to the SSD before shipping it out to us or our remote worker DIRECTLY. They even worked with our Service Desk team that isn’t well-versed with WIndows Sysprep and unintended installations (which also includes injecting certs and joining our domain). It made deployment much quicker and easier, and has become a huge value-add to partnering up with a first party vendor (Dell and HP direct, not a 3rd party company).
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some ideas i want to see
Framework 13: Waterproof Toughness Edition
A 100 W power bank meets removable battery
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A secondary screen instead of input modules for Framework 16.
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Tablet and phone.
How about a new OS so we can all dump windows.
Oh I forgot, a fully fledged forum encompassing all manner of topics.
Yknow, with how expensive eGPU enclosures are since they’re all thunderbolt, getting a USB4 one to market would be very nice to go alongside framework products, especially since some people are kinda bummed about the GPU modules on the FW 16 not being hotswappable.
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Hence a lot of folks suggesting Oculink adapters. It’s fast, far less functions, and has a niche use here for eGPUs. Would be really easy to do.
Framework has suggested the community come up with a passive FW16 Oculink expansion bay for connecting to an Oculink eGPU dock. Potentially a one-man job, if you’re an electronics engineer with a manufacturing partner.
Oculink will probably fade back into industrial obscurity when TB5 becomes common, but it’s a low cost solution that fits this use case now.
So agree, a4955 - you and many of us would like to see and seriously consider a dock & bay connector like that.
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For my own part, yeah, I’d like FW to do the external PCIE dock. Because having it modular, with replaceable or BYO ATX power supply and spare parts for sale, would make it easily as maintainable & upgrade-able as the rest of FW’s lineup. Oculink connector may reduce the price further, and many of us have spare PSUs.
Saying that you need a “manufacturing partner” makes it sound harder than it really is these days. Lots of hobbyists and small companies (as small as one person) get custom pcb made and assembled using services like jlcpcb.com, then 3d print cases. You can start off taking orders on places like tindie.com. Learning kicad (to create pcb files) can be done at “Youtube University”. Same with basic electronics.
Take Ploopy co for example, they sell a number of custom-made open source mice & trackballs. Recently they added awesome open source RP2040-powered headphones. They have lots of fans in open-source & repairable communities. All of their products are just 3d printed by them. And I believe their pcbs are manufactured and assembled by jlcpcb, though it’s entirely Ploopy co’s designs.
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I would also like a framework-smartphone.
I know already fairphone, but i think there are 2 major problems of this phone, which makes it actually not sustainable:
-
The hardware of these devices are already outdated, when they are released (escpecially the camera) OR they are just waaaaay more expensiv, than others with same specs (like 2 times).
-
The battery is to small, which means, that you will need a new one earlier. Smartphones need huge batterylife in my opinion. Or at least the option to use a bigger one. You coul offer a bigger battery with a slightly higher back-case, which you can configure like a framework laptop.
Also it would be nice to also get a kit, where you can build it by yourselfe and then you can save a bit of money to maybe compensate the extracost, which will exist because of the repairability and this stuff.
I think this should be the next big Step of framework. I mean it’s the most used device on world i guess. So it would have the biggest possible userbase. And because the framework laptop is so great, i think framework could make it better than fairphone (like actual good).
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Headphones.
Overear, onear (by switching the pads and headband).
Bluetooth, USB-C, 3.5 mm (by using your current expansion cards, a bluetooth one would need to be made).
They could run passively, or actively. Power them with AAA batteries if they are powered (using noise canceling or bluetooth).
Maybe the headband could be switched for different sizes? I dunno.
I’m combining a few pairs of headphones I have now with the expansion cards. Sennheiser has headphones powered by rechargable AAA batteries which recharge on their stand. You can swap the ear pads on them, but the headband really needs different sizes. Sony has headphones with a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5mm port for passive audio, so they still work when the battery’s dead, but they require a 3.5 mm port to plug in to. If devices can pass audio through USB-C, then a USB-C port could be used for wired audio. If the headphones were thick enough, you could have two different ports, or maybe even a port on either side (in case you wamt to plug in on the left or right side).
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If bluetooth isn’t a requirement, look at Ploopy co’s headphones. Completely open source, hardware and firmware. github.com/ploopyco/headphones. They also have a number of mice and trackballs. Again, fully open source, and QMK based.
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