[HN Gopher] Framework Laptop Mainboard
___________________________________________________________________
Framework Laptop Mainboard
Author : hecanjog
Score : 156 points
Date : 2022-04-19 21:43 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| ryukafalz wrote:
| This is incredibly cool. Love to see anything that encourages
| repair and reuse of parts that still have some life left in them!
|
| If I hadn't just recently bought a new laptop I'd likely be going
| for a Framework today, and provided they're still around when
| it's time for an upgrade it'll probably be my next laptop. (I
| suspect it'll be a while before I need a new one though.)
| ge96 wrote:
| Side note, I think the STL viewer in github is such a cool
| feature
| TheMagicHorsey wrote:
| Wow, these guys are awesome. Love to see a company take a new,
| and potentially long view towards customers and profitability.
| Most companies in their position would be jealously guarding this
| information and would be paranoid about cheap clones taking away
| their market/customers. But this team is not.
|
| Shows they are confident in their ability to not just rest on
| laurels, but continue to develop a platform, add value, and earn
| their customers business.
|
| Now, if only we could get a lovely M1 Pro chip (or something like
| it) into their deserving hands! At the moment my Mac 16 Pro is
| unbelievably better than all the x86 competition out there ...
| except for the fact that its a totally proprietary and
| unrepairable black box.
|
| I would love to see AMD, Nvidia, or a company like SiFive release
| something like the M1 Pro, and then an integrator like Framework
| put it all into a great package and finally give Apple the
| competition they need.
| noveltyaccount wrote:
| The 3D printable, open-source, case that allows you to use the
| mainboard as a standalone computer is such a nice touch!
| https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/tree/main/Mec...
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Oh, that's cool - so you could use the mainboard as a SBC? Put a
| few of them in a case with a (big) PSU and some I/O (storage,
| probably) and have a cluster-in-a-box?
|
| Or, in the opposite direction, is this material enough to create
| a drop-in replacement board with, say, an ARM (or eventually
| RISC-V) processor that you could put in a Framework Laptop?
| nrp wrote:
| This release is aimed more at the former. We're happy to
| connect with and support anyone who wants to make a serious
| attempt at a drop-in replacement board though, and would use
| that exercise to create more documentation to share publicly.
| Scramblejams wrote:
| I'm looking forward to people putting Steam Deck motherboards
| into Frameworks...
| fernandogrd wrote:
| The blog post has more information:
| https://frame.work/blog/mainboard-availability-and-open-sour...
| bobsmooth wrote:
| Was looking forward to this. Excited to see what people can make
| with an easily available high powered SBC.
| Karsteski wrote:
| I would love to buy one of these and hack it into something
| absurd, if only I had the money to burn!
|
| Love what you're doing Framework, I will purchase one of your
| products in the future for sure :)
| nrp wrote:
| I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has on this. This is an
| initial set of documentation, and we'll prioritize
| writing/creating more based on what is most useful to enable
| Mainboard re-use.
| SSilver2k2 wrote:
| Incredible work.
| thetinguy wrote:
| Can it be used as a single board computer like a latte panda or
| raspberry pi, once you supply thing like memory.
| noveltyaccount wrote:
| Yes, and they open-sourced a 3D-printable case just for that
| purpose :) https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/tre
| e/main/Mec...
| JohnBooty wrote:
| "We designed the Mainboard from the start as a standalone
| module to make upgrades easy in the Framework Laptop and to
| also work great as a high-performance single board computer"
| rubynerd wrote:
| This looks absolutely incredible, and given the supply issues
| with Intel's NUCs, couldn't have come at a better time!
|
| Do you have an estimate of when the Framework Marketplace will
| be available for UK customers? Currently Marketplace links
| redirect to the UK homepage, and is only accessible after
| manually selecting "United States" as a country.
| nrp wrote:
| We're currently setting up the logistics infrastructure for
| the Marketplace for UK and EU. We'll have waitlist
| functionality open sooner so that you can at least browse the
| product catalog though.
| rubynerd wrote:
| Amazing -- thank you!
|
| The experience is a little rough with the redirect, and I'd
| love it if I could put an email somewhere for a reminder
| when it launches. Otherwise though I'm really looking
| forward to ordering soon!
| strohwueste wrote:
| First of all great work! But did you also consider the step
| after re-use? What happens to the components and the materials
| in recycling?
| nrp wrote:
| We hope and expect that many of the re-use use cases can have
| longer lifetimes than a laptop normally would (e.g. a pfsense
| box that happily chugs away in a closet for a decade), but
| past that point, it enters the same disposition stream that
| electronics can safely be recycled through by consumers.
| We're working on making that experience easier by having the
| QR code on each module point to a page that includes local
| certified recyclers in the future.
| bobsmooth wrote:
| Any plans to sell this or other mainboards separately?
| nrp wrote:
| Yep, the Mainboard is available as of today:
| https://frame.work/products/mainboard?v=FRANFG000A
| bobsmooth wrote:
| $400 for a powerful SBC with consumer-level support and
| drivers is a pretty great price.
| moondev wrote:
| Does the mainboard require the keyboard and screen modules
| to function?
|
| Or could one fully use it "standalone" providing they
| supply their own usb-c power, memory, storage + external
| keyboard+monitor?
|
| _edit_ - looks like it can. the 3d printable case is
| slick, wish it was sold in the store:
| https://frame.work/blog/mainboard-availability-and-open-
| sour...
| nrp wrote:
| It works fully standalone. Technically the only required
| items beyond the Mainboard itself are DRAM and a power
| source (USB-C or a Framework Laptop Battery).
| delusional wrote:
| When you select the different models of mainboard the order
| of the "Included", "Specs", and "Additional Information"
| options switch places. Just a minor UI thing.
| gary_0 wrote:
| > All you need to do is insert memory, plug in a USB-C power
| adapter, and hit the tiny power button on-board, and you've got
| a powered-up computer.
|
| That's brilliant. Do you see potential for this becoming
| popular as a "Raspberry Pi on steroids"? Any future plans to
| encourage that kind of ecosystem?
| nrp wrote:
| We certainly hope so. As we look at the ~5 year view of this
| and have a substantial number of Mainboards in the wild that
| have been upgraded out of Framework Laptops, we want to do
| everything we can to foster an ecosystem of methods to re-use
| them. We actually announced a giveaway of 100 Mainboards to
| developers as part of the release today to help bootstrap
| this: https://forms.gle/RegGHe6R4H5cEstH9
| goodpoint wrote:
| Are all schematics, BoM, PCBs released with open licenses?
|
| Is anything patented?
|
| Would you welcome other companies making compatible components?
| heavyset_go wrote:
| I like the idea of x86 SBCs because of ARM SBC issues with lack
| of SBSA, while x86 computers ship with ACPI support.
|
| Now when are the AMD mainboards coming? ;)
| ncmncm wrote:
| Yes, I am waiting for the AMD version, as well. No doubt a
| lot of us are.
|
| Gotta say I was disappointed when the first ones out were
| Intel.
| gtvwill wrote:
| Just want to chime in with some appreciation. Phenomenal work
| your doing for tech with ethics.
| lowbloodsugar wrote:
| Oh. Intel, huh?
| byefruit wrote:
| My current laptop needs to be replaced really soon, I'm hoping
| Framework will announce either a recent AMD Ryzen or Intel's
| Alder Lake. The difference between the 11th and 12th gen Intel is
| big enough I don't want to spend the next three years regretting
| it.
|
| Unfortunately Lenovo or Dell might get my budget if it looks like
| that's not going to happen for a while. This laptop has had a few
| too many drops off of my bike (which is why repairability would
| be great!).
| noveltyaccount wrote:
| Or for that matter, high end ARM chips :)
| [deleted]
| pizza234 wrote:
| > The difference between the 11th and 12th gen Intel is big
| enough I don't want to spend the next three years regretting
| it.
|
| With the Framework though, the CPU (motherboard) is intended to
| be replaceable. There will likely be (assuming there isn't one
| already) a secondary market of individual parts.
| babypuncher wrote:
| When I buy a laptop with an upgrade path in mind, the hope is
| that I will do so in 2-3 years, not next week. Otherwise I am
| just spending a bunch of money on hardware that I will not
| actually use for very long.
|
| Alder Lake and Zen 3 have been out for a while now, so I do
| not think it is unreasonable to expect a brand new laptop to
| ship with either of them.
| ouEight12 wrote:
| > I do not think it is unreasonable to expect a brand new
| laptop to ship with either of them.
|
| For a Dell, HP, or other multinational conglomerate who
| gets new chipsets in advance from Intel and always has a
| dozen or more models on the never ending merry-go-round of
| 'hype the new, dump last seasons at Costco on the people
| who don't know any better', no, it's not unreasonable.
|
| For a small batch manufacturer who's been shipping laptops
| less then a year and is still effectively on their first
| model release? All in the middle of a pandemic induced
| supply chain fiasco?
|
| It kind of is.
| babypuncher wrote:
| Maybe for Alder Lake, but Zen 3 has been around for an
| eternity, and is already on the cusp of being succeeded
| by Zen 4. Zen 3 is also _so much better_ than 11th gen
| Intel that I struggle to understand why any manufacturer
| would have chosen Intel for their new flagship laptop in
| 2021.
| wmf wrote:
| Buying an obsolete laptop now and upgrading it in a few
| months is not a good use of money though.
| delusional wrote:
| It's also not a good use of the earths resources, which i
| think is part of the ethos of framework.
| idealmedtech wrote:
| Lenovo P series has great repairability! Will definitely be
| getting a framework next, though.
| thelazydogsback wrote:
| Great stuff! Can't wait for an old-man version that's 15.6", 16"
| or 17" :)
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-04-19 23:00 UTC)