Framework

We’ve been hinting that this year is going to be huge, and we’re ready to share why… in two weeks on Feb 25th, at our Framework (2nd Gen) Event! We’re holding this launch event live in San Francisco and streaming to our YouTube channel at 10:30am Pacific that day. You can sign up now to get notified when the stream starts. The last time we held a live launch event was in March 2023, when we unveiled Framework Laptop 16 and two new versions of Framework Laptop 13. It’s been amazing seeing the interest in these products and the incredible ways the community has been using and extending on them. We’ve been heads down working for the last two years on an even bigger set of announcements.

For this event, in addition to bringing in press and partners, we’re opening a pool of invites to the Framework Community to attend the event in person, meet the team, and get hands on with our newest products. If you’re a current Framework fan and are in the San Francisco area (or are able to handle your own travel to us), you can apply to attend in this sign-up form. We expect we’ll see a lot more interest than we have available seats in our venue, so we’ll likely need to downselect from applicants.

We will be opening pre-orders on at least one new item that day, so if you’re in the market for repairable, upgradeable, long-lasting consumer electronics products, you may want to create an account ahead of time to be ready. We’ve scaled up our e-commerce infrastructure massively, but we expect the site will still be under heavy load.

Five years in, we’re confident that we’re on a fast path to achieving our mission to remake consumer electronics. We’re eager to continue supporting and scaling the ecosystems around our current products, and we’re ready to bring this mission and product philosophy to even more of the world, one category at a time. It’s going to be an awesome day, and all of us in the Framework team can’t wait for you to see what we’ve been working on!

For a hint at what we'll be announcing, head to the event page.

We’re happy to share that DeepComputing’s DC-ROMA RISC-V Mainboard for Framework Laptop 13 is now in stock and shipping in the Framework Marketplace. This is very much a developer-focused board to help accelerate maturing the software ecosystem around RISC-V, so we recommend waiting for future RISC-V products if you’re looking for a consumer-ready experience. We shared more detail on the Mainboard in an earlier blog post and video, but as a quick summary, this is powered by a StarFive JH7110 processor that uses the open source RISC-V ISA. The team at DeepComputing designed it to drop directly into a Framework Laptop 13 chassis or Cooler Master Mainboard Case. They have published setup guides for the hardware and for installing Ubuntu and Fedora.

To make it easier to jump into using a new partner-developed Mainboard or reusing an old one, we’re also introducing the Framework Laptop 13 Shell today. This is a complete Framework Laptop 13 chassis with everything except for the Mainboard, memory, storage, and Wi-Fi. We’re eager to continue making Framework products excellent platforms to extend on. Modularity and open source documentation is good for everyone!

We have a few other updates to share as well:

• We now have massive 8TB WD_BLACK SN850X drives in stock, configurable with our DIY Edition laptops and available in the Marketplace. That means that on Framework Laptop 16 with a Dual M.2 Adapter, you can put in up to 26TB of storage!
• We recently open sourced the mechanical design of the Framework Laptop 16 Graphics Module Shell, and we’re already seeing new modules in development! We’re also starting to see some really exciting Input Module designs come out of the Community, like an e-paper display module.
• We’re continuing to make the entry pricing for Framework products more accessible. For the remaining quantity of 11th Gen Factory Seconds systems with German and British English keyboards, we’ve reduced pricing to a new low of €639 and £549. We also ended up with a limited quantity of Crucial-branded DDR4 modules through a purchasing mix-up, which we’re selling at a discounted price through the Framework Outlet. Conveniently, these are compatible with the Factory Seconds systems.
• We published a couple of new roles on our jobs page, and we’d love to have you or anyone you know help us deliver on this mission!

I saw this on the reddit community and just had to post! If there's a giant "this computer is mine" reason to get a Framework computer, this might be proof of it!

Cory Doctorow is a champion of right-to-repair, digital freedom, and consumer rights. You may have heard of a term he coined a couple of years ago--"enshittification" to describe the pattern where SaaS companies degrade the quality of their service once you're locked in.

Anyway, he was on this Greymatter podcast recently--It's cool to hear that he has a Framework 13" laptop and has repaired it and upgraded it multiple times!

https://www.greymatter.show/episodes/s1e109-cory-doctorow-the-intersection-of-storytelling-and-technology

https://fosstodon.org/@frameworkcomputer/113630037657479706

Hey so it looks like the original creators and mods of this community deleted their accounts, which explains the mystery of their not having said anything for some time :)

The admin of lemmy.ca has made me moderator for now. I hope in the future we'll see others step in to the role as well, as they are willing and able.

I've updated the logo to a higher res (official) image, and added a short community sidebar explainer as follows:

An unofficial community of enthusiasts and fans of the Framework hardware company, known for its modular laptops and other products.

Does that represent us? Any thoughts or additions to consider?

I've been surprised at how hands-on disassembly makes my daughter understand computers better. The fact that she can pull out the memory or SDD, or point to the giant battery, or ask what's under the fan seems to have made her much more curious and interested in learning about computers.

Has anyone else had a teaching moment through being able to open up their laptop easily?

I'm curious if the swappable ports, upgradable and repairable hardware, or some other aspect of the laptop design unlocked something specific for you?

For example: I was surprised to find out that gaming was easier with my mouse when I had the option to move the old USB-A port to the left-hand side, so the mouse cord loops around the back of the laptop and doesn't get in the way. I know, I could get a cordless mouse, but I guess I like classic hardware :D

Another example: There was a bug in the Linux kernel a year or two ago where high DPI screens would go dark intermittently when you had only 1 memory stick (SO-DIMM) in single-channel mode. I think they eventually fixed it, but to speed things up and get a working system for myself right away, I was able to order a 2nd SO-DIMM module and upgrade to 64GB of RAM in dual-channel mode. Gratefully, the problem was solved.

If you have a Framework, have you had similar or perhaps weirder unlocks?

I'm curious what you think our niche is here. There're obviously some much larger communities that focus on Framework hardware. But who are we, and why are we here?

For me, I'm trying to break my Reddit addiction and want to contribute my knowledge to the commons, rather than one corporation's pocketbook.

When I first bought my Framework, I started https://linuxtouchpad.org/ to organize and learn about how to improve Linux support for its touchpad. I feel like I helped a little bit, but not as much as I would have liked.

Intros? Why are you here?

I've been waiting for a few months for the marketplace to get an International English Linux keyboard in stock, as well as the 61Wh battery (both for 13") to upgrade.

Does anyone know what their intent is there? Do you just wait for a bunch of people to batch up with the "Notify Me" list, or do they intend to just keep a few of everything in stock and it's been a bad luck streak for me?

If you're running Windows, what version and why? If Linux, what distro?