ExpansionCards VS EmbeddedController

I think the SD module won't be able to have the card flush, as the modules are only and SD cards are 32mm long, and you need some PCB space for the socket cage and the USB-C on the other side. The retrofit PCB outline they provide is only 26.9mm from front edge to back edge, so an SD card will stick out a little bit.

So perhaps they decided to go for the one that lets users have the card flush for use like an expansion bay as well as for data transfer to/from devices.

https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards/tree/mai...

There are many laptops and desktops that fit the bill.

Frame.work: https://frame.work/

Dell: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000138246/linux-on-...

System76: https://system76.com/laptops

Kubuntu Focus: https://kfocus.org/land/business

I am sure there are more, this is only what I have found in less than 5 minutes of searching.

I'll buy a frame.work long before I touch system76. Their prices are too high for the general feedback I keep seeing on the quality control. I'm not spending 3k+ to be out a laptop until support responds. Especially, considering they still don't make these in house..

No they didn't, companies just mostly gave up on it.

A Framework Laptop (https://frame.work)

You could get a Framework 13 which comes with your choice of a 7840U or 7640U and a Radeon 780M iGPU. They do officially support Linux, and you don't have to pay for a Windows license, if you go the DIY option and chose to not get a Windows license.

Take a look at the Framework laptops. They're 100% modular so if stuff like that goes bad you can simply order the replacement part and do it yourself. I'm using a desktop right now but Ithink my next laptop is gonna be a framework.

a couple of days ago I tried to order a Framework laptop (13 inch AMD). I chose to create an account during the checkout process and provided my email address. After entering my shipping details, I authorized the transfer of the deposit fee via Giropay. The deposit was deducted from my bank account but when I was sent back to the frame.work website I was greeted by an error message. Unfortunately I could neither complete the checkout process nor continue my account registration.

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController cd EmbeddedController make utils sudo ./build/bds/util/ectool #USE AT YOUR OWN RISK - YOU CAN BRICK YOUR LAPTOP

When I was getting ready to flash again, I noticed an issue about the compiler version used to build the firmware binary. I followed the advice, but more importantly I noticed that the issue has been recently fixed, and in the resolution, the maintainer says "Next release (hx20 3.19, hx30 3.07) will include them". It reminded me of something crucial: the Framework EC firmware source code repo doesn't have any particular indication of its level of stability at any given commit. Which commits could be considered fully tested releases? What if the head of the branch introduces a bug that they're working on fixing?

The EC code on the normal Framework devices is already based on the Chrome EC code anyway. https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController

EC firmware is open sourced by framework: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController

There the keyboard input is handled by the embedded controller: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController/blob...

On the 16 the keyboard is a USB keyboard that could even be used standalone, without the laptop.

I tried the pre-compiled `ectool` from the TamtamHero's repository as we and comiled the EmeddedController from Framework (from this repository). Both give the same error message.

Great reminder that (as of right now) we're far removed from hardware that is 100% free (as in freedom). The closest we've got is probably provided by Raptor Computing Systems. However not everyone in the world is privileged enough to own such devices unfortunately. And I haven't dabbled into other possible mishaps that come with using such devices. The lack of "free-hardware" is a major concern though. I'd argue that there aren't enough reasons to be optimistic about this as of right now. Therefore our best bet is to not let good be the enemy of perfect; light at the end of the tunnel...

As far as I'm aware the only way to manually change the fan speed is using `ectool` from https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/EmbeddedController/

We open sourced our Embedded Controller (EC) firmware and made it available on GitHub for you to modify if you wish.