Mainboard VS ExpansionBay

[2] https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/tree/main/Mec...

For what it's worth, it is possible to desolder the old connector and solder on a new one. Per Framework's documentation, the connector is a AUSB0534-P203A61. While I was able to find the part on the manufacturer's website, I'm not sure of a way to order it as an individual (I couldn't find it on Digi-Key or Mouser for example).

Maybe in their repo you will find useful numbers: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard

Might be on the pricier side, but the Framework laptop mainboard is available separately starting at $350 https://frame.work/products/mainboard as well as the battery https://frame.work/products/battery, and there's documentation with suggestions/designs on how to built around it for projects like this https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard. Should have plenty of power for emulation and light pc gaming, as well as thunderbolt support for an egpu.

Look like trackpad (TP?) is just IIC. https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/blob/main/Electrical/Mainboard_Interfaces_Schematic_11th_Gen.pdf

We released a 3D printable Mainboard Case, and open sourced our Mainboard drawings and electrical documentation in a Github repository.

The block diagram for the Tiger Lake mainboards says that the current displays and motherboards communicate over eDP 1.2 (is Alder Lake-P the same?), so I started by looking for 17.3" screens that communicate with eDP 1.2.

One thing worth noting is that basically, even now (almost 10 months post announcement), almost no one has a 6000U laptop outs (a search on Amazon and Best Buy shows two 6800U laptop models total, one Asus and one Lenovo). Two niche vendors, XMG and Star Labs, have both publicly stated that they would have loved to have offered Ryzen 6000 laptops, but couldn't get any allotments. There are were also well documented chipset issues - even into the summer Lenovo and Asus talked about requiring firmware updates to enable their USB4 ports.

That being said, starting w/ Rembrandt, AMD now has full 40Gbps USB4 controllers built on-chip. I'm really looking forward to Ryzen 7040 because Phoenix looks great (Zen4 + RDNA3 on TSMC N4 - yes please) and hopefully USB4 support has matured enough on the AMD side that Framework is able to release something.

My understanding is that the I/O limitation is in the re-timers - currently the Framework uses 4X JHL8040R's (labeled as Burnside Bridge) directly connected to the iTBT: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/blob/main/Ele... Apple used these for their first M1 MBAs as well: https://github.com/ThomasKaiser/Knowledge/blob/master/articl...

But both Apple and AMD are now using Kandou retimers:

* https://www.gizchina.com/2022/07/25/apple-completely-got-rid...

* https://kandou.com/matterhorn.html

* https://kandou.com/assets/downloads/product-briefs/KB8001-Pr...

There is potential for an external battery. It doesn't exist yet, but the connector supports power going from the expansion bay to the laptop[0], so someone could build a battery module or potentially even a hot-swappable adapter to use a removable battery for a more common laptop.

[0] See pins 41-51 on https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay/tree/main/...

We've designed the Expansion Bay module system to be able to handle power bi-directionally. One of the main reasons for this was to enable secondary batteries. This specific module isn't something we've shared any plans around, but it's something that either we or a third party would be able to build.

https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay

According to the spec doc on their github, the gpu rail, while on AC, caps out at 10.5A @ 20V (allthoug that is the peak burst cueewnt, max sustained is not mentioned but is likely slightly lower), so we will likely eventually see some higher wattsge GPUs over time, especially give. The headroom between the 175W max burst draws we see from top end laptop chips today and a 210w limit. Thermals will liley be more of a concern than power at that point tho.(https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay/blob/main/Electrical/README.md)

I don't think anybody outside Framework knows for sure yet (maybe not even internally) but my impression from what they've shared so far is that the expansion bays are intended to be very easily swappable (external, a click & push kind of thing) but probably not hot-swappable while the machine is powered on.

They do have some initial specs at https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay that somebody more knowledgeable than me might be able to glean some practical info from.

According to the Framework Github (https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay/tree/main/Electrical) expansion bay modules (e.g. second battery or GPU) are connected via two 74-pin connectors.

Framework is doing brilliant work. They create reusable computer formats that anyone can hack against. Strongly considering a Framework 13 as my next computer.

- Expansion cards: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards

- Expansion bay: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay

I know it's niche but it would be cool if they could attach an expanded battery pack into its expansion module.

Mybad, according to https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionBay/tree/Main/Electrical ,the maximum wattage with the 'high power adapter' is 20v*10.5A which suggests 210w max for the entire device.