Last I looked, Fairphone didn’t have the correct bands for US carriers. Has that changed? I mean a phones primary purpose should work.
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Sorry I don’t live in the US. Fairphone 5 seems to support only some US 5G bands, which is fine to me.
Right, so my point is, Framework being a US company, making a phone that works in the US “like” the fairphone would be perfect.
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Partly inspired by the discussion in this thread:
FW16 keyboard module (numpad form factor) version/derivative of the Precursor security token/subsystem, by bunnie et al.
What i would really like is a modular smart watch, similar to this:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106691934/blocks-the-worlds-first-modular-smartwatch/posts
Apart from that, a all-in-one (like an iMac) might be a good place to go, many of those face the same challenges as a laptop w.r.t. repair-ability, and it could even work with existing expansion options, including the gpu expansion bay.
Similar to that, a monitor or TV with docking options for the expansion cards would be great, so that you can connect your framework 13 or 16 to the monitor.
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Ouch, looking at the kickstarter comments, it was another project run by scammers who squandered the backers money without leaving any behind to actually make product. Framework should buy any patents they still have and produce that product. Looks like not a bad watch…as long as the battery is replaceable.
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An Android phone with repairable parts and replaceable (without major disassembly) battery. Something like my current Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro 6, but with Framework/FairFone parts availability
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One relatively simple thing: a modular dock that’s compatible with the expansion cards. I’ve tried finding a fitting USB-C hub to build my own but so far I haven’t found one that supports display out but doesn’t come with the HDMI port preassembled.
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I remember in the 90’s a coworker found a laptop tossed in the dump that had (i presume a thermal) printer built-in. I think the paper went in bottom, maybe like a printing calculator or fax type print.
A LTO tape unit, or at least LTO interfacing. I have to run old Linux or windows in a tower, with fan blasting on HP interface cards.
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I mean if you are doing a dock with full featured ports you may as well expose them directly instead of putting them behind expansion cards, that seams kind of inefficient and wasteful.
A sas card in an egpu enclosure would probably do most of that.
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You could say the same about modular ports on the laptop itself. So far I haven’t found a dock that matches my needs, except maybe some 15 port monster that costs 300 bucks. I would love to be able to configure a dock with exactly what I need and change it up when my needs change. Maybe I want to switch from HDMI outputs to DP, maybe I don’t need 2.5Gbit/s ethernet anymore and can free up that port for something else, maybe someone finally builds a decent digital audio out expansion card that I can put in there once it’s ready.
Not really, no. On the laptop you already do got the full featured ports and you can break out their capabilities however you want. On a dock you would have to have hardware to get the full featured ports and the reduce them.
You could get one of those 4 port tb4 hubs to do most of what you want there but using a full blown tb4 port for a mouse just kinda feels wasteful.
There is the in-between solution where you make one with a bunch of usb ports that take expansion cards and an mst hub that takes display expansion cards you would get that but not every slot work with every card and the cost of the expansion cards adds up too.
The more reasonable option would be just something that has a bunch of usb, maybe networking and a bunch of display-ports (you can adapt to hdmi if you really need to). But turns out that’s what most comercial docks allready do.
I’d like Framework to build more things that add synergistic value to their existing platforms, rather than creating yet another platform ecosystem that isn’t interoperable like the FW13 and FW16.
For example, build a NAS platform sharing the FW13 mainboard that allows standard SFX or Flex power supplies, front panel connections for power, reset and USB. Or build a router platform using the FW13 mainboard.
Basically rather than building new platforms, build new products using the existing platforms.
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I would like to Capacitive Touchscreens or at least a capacitive touch digitizer overlay option for the displays.
Other than that, what would be interesting to see a Framework Version of GPDs Mini PCs, so 7 inch customizable laptop!
I actually got one of the Blocks smart watches. Still have it, but it won’t turn on. From a consumer standpoint, it was a fantastic idea, but the battery life on the watch was miserable (about 3 - 5 hours I think). I’d love to see a more mature organization try to make a modular/repairable smartwatch.
How was that acceptable? I think even 24 hours is unacceptable in a watch.
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I would like to see a modular NAS from Framework. As a (typically) always on device, it should be ARM based for lowest power consumption. Running something open source (TrueNAS?). There would be a control module that houses the CPU and no built in storage but an external connector carrying PCIe and power. A storage module attaches to the control module and repeats the external connector so you can stack additional modules. You could have different 3.5", 2.5" & M.2 storage modules that all stack on the same connector system. The 3.5" & 2.5" modules would also have internal SATA/PCIe conversion. Stack up the number of modules you want like a loaf of sliced bread. Start with a single drive and expand capacity/RAID levels as your need grows. You could also have more advanced networking (2.5G / mini-switch) as a separate module.
Producing a separate ARM device would also allow FW to cut their teeth on an ARM development separate from the hassles of supporting multiple OS while Windows on ARM matures.
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I suggested this further up the thread, using the CPU from the FL16, and adding extra M.2 drives in the PCIe ports exposed for the dGPU, as they already have a proof of concept PCB design for that. Using 8TB drives that would give a potential capacity of 3x8 + 2 = 26TB. Doing it this way requires minimal amount of new design, mainly mechanical for the case.
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