What should we build next?

I wouln’t mind a high spec upgradeable Framework OpenWrt router. OpenWrt One exists, but the follow up release OpenWrt Two seams to drag on.

Or a portable repairable speaker, Shiftphone has one but its only for the german market.

5 Likes

Do you know the Teufel MYND ?

Imagine if you will a program where Framework buys back your old 11th or 12th gen FW mainboard. Flash a new BIOS tuned for efficiency with standalone operation expected. Throw in some of the new 10Gbps expansion cards and an expansion case that has good antennae for the WiFi card (that has a good AP mode) and suddenly you have a good router/AP that requires minimal hardware investment and relies on your existing customer base to supply you with mainboards while incentivizing upgrades.

I have literally talked about this for years. Framework, I promise I won’t sue if you rip this idea off. I genuinely don’t understand why you don’t do this.

Instead of 10Gbps ports you could even more 2.5Gbps even for those that require more than 4 ports. Perhaps via some kind of daughter board that replaces the 10Gbps expansion card.

It’ll cost in software development but that cost falls as more units sell. And they would sell. I figure $200-300 isn’t an unreasonable figure, what do you think?

1 Like

People want an affordable option. Not a speaker with a 3000% markup on price.

Sorry if that has been named already, but browser search does not seem to work.

Stretching the definition of “consumer” a bit: network “appliances”. Or maybe this is not so much of the stretch, virtually everyone has some combined switch/router/uplink at home. Virtually all of them come with some their own firmware, often closed, but definitely without any way to run your favorite distro.

If you want some rack mount appliance, you could either take any of the monoliths, or you could build it from standardized components which are not efficient in either space or power consumption. At least, to my current understanding. So I would very much like some board in a 1U case with 2 rows for expansion cards in the front and a few in the back, maybe even so that you can chose which side is which, and a few new expansion cards to go with it:

  • dual ethernet
  • DSL modems
  • BaseX

That would open up a bunch of possibilities for both that and the laptops. Expansion cards that are too niche for one market but have mass appeal on the other would still be an option for the former. The existing 250GB card could turn a switch into a great server for home use, for example. Maybe you would a temporary display and keyboard.

I really have to wonder why Framework built a desktop instead. That was really a step backwards in terms of modularity, compared to most competition. Most Mini-ITX boards have at least one 16x physical (albeit often only 4x electrical) PCIE slot, and they could use expansion cards as well, just not attached to the case, which matters much less for a desktop.

This has been said already but I’ll add my vote:

A touchscreen 360° hinge laptop, or x86 tablet, good enough for drawing on it. For artists.

I’m talking about a serious touchscreen and pen input, with no delay or wobbliness. Using ERM or a similar technology that’s made for drawing and precision. 120hz or more. Not a general touchscreen for notetaking with your usual universal protocol.

With the introduction of the Framework 12 and 13 Pro we’re slowly getting there. The key ingredient that’s missing is a damn good pen and touch input precision.
Lenovo nailed it with their ERM technology in the Ideapad laptop line. But they have a partnership with Wacom, so, ofc they’re good.
Also the Microsoft Surface devices have a pretty good pen input too, but yeah, Microsoft. They’re a nightmare even just to install linux on it, just image repair one of those.

Other true x86 devices with these kind of characteristic there are only specialized drawing tablets made by drawing tablets brands, which are costly, often bulky, and not multi-use and portable like a normal 360 hinge laptop or tablet.
Or, you need to go ARM: with iPad reign supreme, followed by Samsung, and the latest Surfaces.

The thing about x86 is because of the available software ofc. If all professional drawing and modeling softwares where on Android, I’d switch to tablet no problem, but they ain’t.
Heck, you’re VERY lucky if they even run on linux. Often you’re stuck with Windows.. or a Mac.

Having a repairable, x86, drawing laptop/tablet made for artists would be, THE dream. And it’s a huuuuuuge gap in the market waiting to be filled in.

2 Likes

I don’t know if it’s already been said, it’s nothing incredible, but maybe it would be nice to be able to choose the color of your charger and the cables of this one

1 Like

I’d be very interested in an upgradable AR/VR headset. Imagine instead of watching movies on a tiny screen in a cramped airliner seat, you slip on the Framework rig and you’re at a drive-in on the Moon instead, watching movies on a screen that’s effectively the size of a skyscraper.

I’d want colorways for the rig and face foam, and swappable components for everything…processors, accelerometers, displays, compact storage, battery, passthrough optics, audio amp/drivers…even room sensors if it isn’t standalone.

Bonus points if it’s a hybrid that you can “dock” while playing at home (share compute and power from your PC) and “undock” to take it with you, with standalone ops being at lower fidelity and dependent on battery life.

It will still take time for the tech to mature and “resolve” into some kind of standard, but when it does, I don’t want to spend $1,500 every time I want the next generational upgrade…if that happens, we’re just “doing consoles” again. :confused:

2 Likes

I’d still pay decent money for a Framework™️ speaker. Especially to enhance the range of the timy boiz inside my FW12.

1 Like

That sounds like an awesome idea. However, it would need to have a lot of thought put into the frame/platform. VR has a ton of different parts that are continuing to advance; screen resolution, processing power, optics, battery, wireless, weight, etc. Cool idea though.

1 Like

Considering Nirav came from Oculus, that’s actually something he would have experience with.

2 Likes

I would love that so much…imagine a VR headset that cares about repairability AND privacy. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Honestly I want to see an AMD board fly the FW13 Pro that includes LPCAMM2 RAM. I’d love to see AMD take a crack at the design and try to best Intel in the power efficiency.

Maybe we’ll be able to see the Pro be affordable after the RAM and storage crisis settles down. I really would like to build one up.

For me, i’d love a frameworks take on a higher performance raspberry pi.
I’ve seen lots of hobbist porjects that add sata ports for Pi NAS devices or Pi being used as NVRs or image recognition etc but the devices are a bit too limited to really excel at those applications.

A semi modular approach to this feels like it could work really well but also the ability to upgrade parts over time.

I think the big thing missing for me is not a product, but an ecosystem. The vision and products are amazon, but the community marketplace feels like a second-class citizen - just a repurposed forum category. I also have to just through these seemingly arbitrary, non-trivial hoops just to be able to sell a real Framework product which I purchased first-hand.

Being able to sell and purchase parts seems like a major part of Framework’s vision, so I think Framework should build an enhanced community marketplace.

  • If I bought products X, Y, and Z from Framework directly, then I shouldn’t need to jump through any verification hoops - I should be able to log in to the account I purchased them with, select them from a dropdown list, and have it auto-post for sale immediately.
  • After selling, Framework can remove them from my account’s “inventory”, at which point it’s a less trusted sale. This might require some kind of verification that you’re not a bot / scammer.
  • If customer A buys product X, then sells it to customer B, now the “account inventory” of X has been moved to customer B’s account. Now customer B can sell product X without verification.

Just a couple examples of what I mean. Make a Framework-compatible eBay (but actually nice to use). Allow third party products.

I don’t even care if you charge fees for postings to make some revenue on the platform.

Creating an ecosystem of trading, as well as validating compatibility before purchase, would help a ton!

3 Likes

Ebay, is a Framework-compatible eBay.

Verifying that you actually possess the item you are selling is not the hard part. It’s dealing with conflicts and providing trust, ideally for both sides.

Buyer says an item arrived with issues or non-functional, did they just get buyers remorse? Did the seller know there were issues, hoped they could pass off a problematic item? Did shipping handle the package too rough? Just no way to know, and no answer that makes everyone happy. Is it the best move for Framework to be in the center of the bad blood, when ebay and tindie already exist? Before anyone says that Framework could test the items, the costs for that would be too high.

1 Like

eBay has features that can tell you if a part you’re purchasing is compatible with your Framework laptop?

Verifying that you actually possess the item you are selling is not the hard part.

Really? I’d expect the most eBay could provide is a photo that someone may or may not have taken, which doesn’t really prove anything, and doesn’t track inventory.

If this is not hard, then what’s the purpose of the validation rules I linked to regarding forum trust level? Will the number of likes I make on random forum posts help prove that I won’t be selling a broken item?

I assumed these verification steps were more to weed out bots trying to scam people.

It’s dealing with conflicts and providing trust, ideally for both sides.

That isn’t what I’m suggesting Framework get into the business of. They currently don’t get involved with this, and they shouldn’t.

Reconsidered, was a poor choice

A seller sending a box of rocks is not something buyers need to worry about with ebay. Ebay will refund the buyer directly. Ebay has millions upon millions of buyers and sellers, and they track the reputations, text and pictures of every item for sale, and buyer/seller communications for everyone. At their size, I’d expect they have enough statistics to run risk analysis on everyone from their past history or lack of history.

Buy on the Framework forum, Craigslist, or reddit. There is no refund if you get a box of rocks. And cops in most places sure do not care about low-value person-to-person sales. Can be hard to get them to act at times even if you have video of a crime.

Are you arguing to lower the requirements or increase them? If anything, there is more of an argument to increase requirements.

This is already pretty easy. You go to the Framework shop, select your device & it shows you compatible parts.

What they should do is add an option to give you a text list of compatible items which you can more easily copy.

I get that having a box you could select in ebay to do it for you would be even easier. They do have that for car parts. Maybe when Framework becomes a big enough player it could be added for them too.

Actually, I should apologize. You didn’t ask for opinions on your suggestion! And this is supposed to be a thread for suggestions.

Plus it was your first post on the forum as well. Sorry, that was far from the best welcome.

2 Likes

Very few mentions of this here:

Completely open source, offline-capable smart home things would be interesting. Add magnets to things so you could attach and power accessories or something. Like adding motion sensor or/and a lamp to a camera without additional cables.

Ideally, no batteries. Maybe as an accessory you could add a battery pack (for low-power devices - AA/AAAs, for higher power - something standardized).

1 Like