That isn’t a choice they get to make. It’s a requirement at this point to be competitive. Look at MacBooks, look at Pixel phones, look at Surface laptops, or game consoles. Look at the current iteration of the FW laptop. Users on the forum want Coreboot, the only way that happens is if the company will dev that. I like this community but I wouldn’t trust a community firmware for my laptop. Any new hardware product is going to require custom firmware/software. If off-the-shelf was available, someone would have done this already.
You aren’t. See my first and second posts in this thread. It is critical that FW first smooth out any issues with current products (battery drain from expansion cards/standby battery drain, RTC issues, etc) before even considering branching into new products. If they don’t they will lose so much support from users, myself included for giving continued support and sustainability mere lip-service.
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360 hinge+touch display, so FW could be a convertible.
Also, the thunderbolt dock station with support for fw expansion cards (mentioned above) sounds super rad!
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There’s a difference between a hardware company that makes products with a software layer vs. a software company that sells hardware. Lenovo and Acer make hardware that runs software largely produced by other companies. Apple and Google are software companies that sell hardware - Apple’s always been that, and Google has become that.
If Framework is directly competing with Apple or Google or Microsoft, they have to become a software house… So far that’s not what they’re doing; they’re competing in the hardware space.
To be clear, I’d love an alternative to Android or Apple in the phone or tablet space. But that’s largely about the software, not the hardware, and represents a big departure from Frameworks’ current model.
Hardware is just a brick without software. Look at the atrocious battery life of the FW laptop. Now compare it to any other laptop. Some of that is down to hardware choices but I would argue that every other laptop maker has spent decades refining their firmware, Framework needs to compete with that. Especially Apple, a company that has built it’s entire reputation on hardware and software integration. It isnt enough to merely produce a mainboard and chassis. Look at Valve and the Steam Deck, the project is only viable because of Proton and WINE, in other words, software integration. Every hardware manufacturer, if it wants to continue to exist, must always improve software integration.
Agreed: there’s absolutely room for Framework to improve their firmware, and that should be high priority.
But there’s a big difference between a hardware company writing firmware for their products on the one hand, and software companies like Apple, MS, Google, and Valve producing hardware to run their software on the other hand. Frameworks’ competitors aren’t Apple or Microsoft; they’re competing against Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and other laptop manufacturers.
I’m not saying Framework couldn’t or shouldn’t move into the software space; I’m saying they’re not there now, and getting into software development on that scale requires a much bigger investment. It’s also orthogonal to their company mission of selling hardware that users can maintain and upgrade.
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I think Framework should first expand in multiple smaller areas. Just making an official mini-pc would be a good idea(not just 3d printed case, one that looks more like a project valerie from microsoft)
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My Framework replaced my Thinkpad which replaced a Dell. I didn’t buy any of those computers for software because I was happy to run Ubuntu on all of them. My only requirement is good Ubuntu support, which Framework has.
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A nordic keyboard layout.
A tablet would be nice that you could dual boot Android and a arm and touch base Linux distro. Though I find that the Samsung tablets are (atleast the one i have) is fairly repairable, havn’t looked for parts, and though its screen its glued you can dissaseble it. Though it could be easier. But it would be cool it you could upgrade it.
It would be cool if there where an Linux-tablet. Though i think dual-booting would be an important due to the fact that the linux software isn’t there yet when it comes to tablets.
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there are a few built around sbcs like the raspberry pi.
I haven’t seen any linuxtablet thats in terms of specs and quality as a viable consumer product. The JingPad is the closest i’ve seen. But thats gone now.
It would be cool if a Framephone ever would be done, it would be designed around the Fairphone 4 so that som of the parts where interchangable. Replace the your broken usb-c port on your Framephone with an usb-c port from Fairphone 4 for example. Or battery or screen etc.
I was thinking about some repairable accessories which is commonly required by the same target audience. The first one came to my mind is a portable screen, which can make use of the same panel used in framework laptop. It can also have the same features like swappable I/O like FW laptops.
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Maybe a rollable screen (flexible) that can expand the GUI of a mobile phone.
Low hanging fruit before going after cutting edge stuff. Lead times for laptops are too long, options too few, etc so please address these issues before chasing new shiny things.
I want to sell these laptops to my customers, potentially hundreds per year to medical, government, police forces, etc but I need more than just a small thin and light option that can take months to ship. I need readily available stock with less than 1 week delivery and I need at least a 15 inch screen option and a more rugged design or some sort of rugged case for each size. If you can address these things you could begin to truly change the landscape of laptops toward repairable and upgradeable devices significantly more than a few here and there direct to consumers.
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Hi and welcome to the forum.
Sadly you post is a little misplaced as they are asking for new projects that are not laptop related. There are many topics on feature requests etc. for the laptop.
However there are a few people who agree with and I am definelty not one to say such as you ask isn’t desireable, but effectively such posts are just saying
“what you have done so far isn’t good enough” : not something it’s useful to hear when who could do better and it’s a distarction from the topic title etc.
If I have a bit more head space I’ll update this with topics that cover your concerns.
All the best
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First finish making the best possible laptop, so that FW can jump into the mainstream with it.
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A polycarbonate, ruggedized version of the laptop with space for bigger cylider Li-ion batteries and built-in low-profile mechanical keyboard. This enclosure could be made in the USA. Maybe even farmed out e.g. to a US keyboard maker like Wasd.
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A proper “NUC” standalone computer, based on a lower-end processor e.g. 1235U, with four USB-C (no slots).
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A new motherboard based on an ARM64 processor and with 32GB LPDDR5 RAM.
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A new motherboard based on a 9 watt Intel processor for people who’re concerned about fan noise.
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A robot vacuum kit based on the Raspberry Pi. I’ve seen videos of people making these from spare parts in an afternoon, but a kit would be so much nicer.
More about the vacuum: Every year, people buy robot vacuums. Often it is their 2nd, because the first one was the cheapest, randomizing vacuum. So they upgrade for better software, maybe mopping, maybe LIDAR. What annoys people are the “gotchas” of needing to pay for extra cleaning paraphenalia e.g. for mopping. Some people stop using a robot vacuum because of these hidden costs.
One detail that goes unnoticed though, is that consumers who have technically savvy kids may see a robot vacuum as a dead end: They cannot program the vacuum. Vacuums are just boring unprorarmmable appliances. They are not parent-and-kid projects.
A Pi-based vacuum kit could be an open ended project. If you want to help educate the next generation of AI enthusiasts and roboticists, and facilitate parent-child bonding experiences, I say a robot vacuum kit would be a good way.
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Am I missunderstnading something @Abe_Linkn
You quote the query
Yet it seems you have done the opposite and focused on ‘laptops’
???
The problem seems to be that multiple funded organizations wanted to move in and own Linux on the phone, like prospectors seeking control of some gold in the ground, and each stopped serious work before finishing. Each “flavor” of Linux phone OS is therefore unfinished, buggy, and neglected in various ways.
Yes, I would like to see them complete their primary task of making the best laptops.
That said, they do need to find a new, consistent money-maker. Eventually if they don’t go mainstream (e.g. selling at Costco), they will run out of enthusiasts to sell new laptops to. My guess is that they are already looking at a graph of a decreasing demand. (That is also partly because of the glossy screen. Glossy is becoming less and less popular every year…)
Most of the suggestions so far (printer, earbuds etc.) are not very feasible.
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A USB-PD powered external 3.5 HDD case, so it would work with just one cable plugged in.
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