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Framedeck: A Cyberdeck built with the framework mainboard
- sowbug 4y agoWith the other DIY Framework machine on HN earlier today[1], is anyone maintaining a list of such Framework projects? 1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31387055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31387055
- klysm 4y agoIf it doesn’t already exist, I anticipate a awesome-framework will get created on GH.
- jimmygrapes 4y agoIs there money in those, or is it a labor of love?
- fragmede 4y agoWell, an aspiring hacker will (hopefully) create one as a labor of love but in creating it, will build a brand and that’s worth money, so there’s that.
- junaruga 4y agoYes, we are maintaining the list here. https://community.frame.work/t/a-company-or-individual-driven-projects/18559 https://community.frame.work/t/a-company-or-individual-drive...
- hardwaresofton 4y agoSystem76 and Framework both exist. Nvidia just released their drivers as open source. What a time to be alive.
- endgame 4y agoAnd this is why we must never give up and "be pragmatic". We need to get things done today, sure, but we must also never stop pushing for a freer tomorrow.
- Brian_K_White 4y agoThis. In the entire history of the world, nothing ever got better by accepting what is. Be the sand in the gears any time the gears don't work for you or for the common good.
- genericone 4y ago“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ― George Bernard Shaw
- likeclockwork 4y ago“I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things.” — Marvin Heemeyer
- ekianjo 4y ago> Nvidia just released their drivers as open source Not at all. They just released the kernel modules which is a tiny part of what is needed to make GPU work. > System76 and Framework Lenovo has been around for a very long time and their thinkpads have been repairable well before these two brands ever shipped anything.
- BaseballPhysics 4y agoAs a long time ThinkPad/Lenovo fan, suggesting that Lenovo's repairability is in the same league as the Framework suggests to me you've never actually worked with a Framework. It really is on a whole other level.
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- 1MachineElf 4y agoI would love to have one of these
- henriquecm8 4y agoI wish we had good and discreet ar glasses to use with cyberdecks
- lukasb 4y agooh wow, yeah. a good AR/VR mobile setup might be what it takes to get me off Macs (unless Macs get there first.)
- stuntkite 4y agoWhat about Project Northstar?
- throwawayben 4y agonot sure that fulfills the "discreet" requirement
- stuntkite 4y agoIt's pretty self contained. I guess the apple glasses or something is what you mean. Eh.
- throwawayben 4y agosee "discrete" vs "discreet". I think you're thinking of the first term
- klysm 4y agoUnfortunately I think discrete is far off for that tech
- mindvirus 4y agoOh how I wish laptops had keyboards like that, mechanical or otherwise. Framework is doing great work democratizing higher end computing, had no idea they released their mainboards separately. Really appreciated the build tour: https://github.com/brickbots/framedeck/blob/main/docs/build_tour.md https://github.com/brickbots/framedeck/blob/main/docs/build_...
- lasersandleds 4y agoThese guys do a mechanical keyboard on a laptop. similar idea as framework, maybe a bit more raw. https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform
- ryukafalz 4y agoDefinitely more raw, but lots more open hardware on the Reform than you'll get from Framework: https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform But yes, it's a slow ARM system, so you have to temper your expectations. I've been using mine a bit more lately and enjoying it though. :)
- h-w 4y agoYea this is the real hacker dream machine, I’m always sad framework is getting more love when it’s not open hardware or open source.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago$1500 for a machine which is so underpowered it's hardly anything more than an expensive toy for programmers with too much money. I love the trackball and mechanical keyboard though. Shame it's far too overpriced and underpowered for any kind of daily driver usage.
- bowsamic 4y agoI mean, that's literally what it is, an expensive toy for hackers
- contingencies 4y agoCan anyone comment on "Gazzew Boba" as a source of key movements? I recently acquired a few Cherry devices but have not found them to be either to spec, bug-free or supported. I'd like to support an alternative company (more whole-keyboard than DIY but would DIY if needed) and figure this is semi on-topic.
- wellthisisgreat 4y agoI am using a fully custom Boba linears (assembled from spare parts bought from the man), 55gr springs to reduce the load on fingers. They are nice
- Animats 4y agoWhat's this thing for thick subnotebooks with tiny screens all of a sudden? I liked subnotebooks, and they're now hard to get. I have a bunch of Eee PC 1000 series machines I bought off eBay for about $50 each for semi-embedded applications, or to carry around. I replace the battery, wipe the hard drive to get rid of Windows, and install XUbuntu. Newer machines at a similar price point would be nice.
- nrp 4y agoThe sudden growth in cyberdeck projects comes out of the convergence of three things: 1. The mechanical keyboard DIY and modding community. 2. The availability of small ultrawide LCDs, mostly from the automotive space. 3. The Raspberry Pi ecosystem. We're basically enabling that community with a higher power x86 option.
- regularfry 4y agoFunnily enough the original EEE PC 701 happened (in part) because of the availability of automotive parts, in particular the screen. Same spec as the built-in sat-nav units that started to trickle into the mainstream in the 1998-2003 era.
- AlanYx 4y agoI think another big part of it is a desire to return to "personal computing" in the personal sense, as a reaction against subscription everything, sandboxed app everything, polished everything. Cyberdecks are under your control, from the design to the keyboard, and a person is probably more likely to be running something personal like Emacs on these machines than some Electron groupware.
- wolpoli 4y agoThere does appear to be a small unserved niche for people looking for an open computing device that's portable but with a keyboard. As you mentioned, subnotebooks are hard to come by. Android phones with keyboard are also hard to find. Android tablets with keyboard sleeves are clunky. Android programs are designed for touch also. iPads have a decent keyboard case but are also locked down.
- AceJohnny2 4y agoIf anything, this is a great ad for the flexibility of Framework's mainboard.
- jxf 4y agoI'd absolutely buy one of these for a kid. This looks like a ton of fun for someone's first computer.
- criddell 4y agoI wonder if it would be a good replacement for the Alphasmart-type machines that are made mostly for writing? A computer that can run for weeks on AA batteries could be useful.
- criddell 4y agoI can't edit my comment, so I'll add it here: after looking into it more, this Cyberdeck wouldn't be a reasonable replacement for an Alphasmart or even for the original Model 100. It's way too power hungry. Is there a board out there you could build a machine around that is low power and fanless? Something that could run on a 4 AA batteries for a month? the Tandy machine couldn't make it that long, but we've come a long way since then. Along the way there have been machines from other companies - Alphasmart, Psion, Sharp, Casio, etc...
- the_gipsy 4y agoI just want a laptop with an ortho keyboard (grid layout instead of staggered rows).
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y agoAny of these open source DIY projects would make it easy to drop in your choice of keyboard, no?
- TranquilMarmot 4y agoIt definitely looks like with this one at least you could make it ortho
- blangk 4y agoThat would be amazing - like the framework laptop diy edition and you can customise the keyboard part and the hinges or something and run low profile mechanical switches in whatever layout you and keymap you want
- the_gipsy 4y agoYea with the framework it's very much doable, but I myself am not that good at this kind of DIY. I have done assembling and soldering on mechanical keyboards, but the parts were already designed by people who know what they're doing.
- LeoPanthera 4y agoI love the design, but wow, that keyboard is unusable. I know it looks cool but it's going to need so many layers to be practical that it becomes... impractical.
- lytedev 4y agoIt's only missing the extra pinky column for my preferences (6 keys), but I know plenty of programmers who love layouts like this (see CRKBD/Corne 5x3)
- JKCalhoun 4y agoDid I miss the space bar?
- WesleyLivesay 4y agoProbably one of the thumb buttons that are dark blue.
- JohnTHaller 4y agoAnd the enter key. I'm betting on key combos for them.
- micromacrofoot 4y agonah usually they're the keys where your thumbs are and aren't hidden behind a layer because they're so commonly used... so the bottom left down arrow is the spacebar and the bottom right up arrow is enter
- mewse 4y agoIt's pretty common to use one or both of the innermost thumb buttons on the bottom row as the space bar, for this style of keyboard (you often have to learn to partly ignore the labels on the keycaps, when your keyboard is this minimal). (I use both of the innermost thumb buttons as a space bar on my split keyboard, with the left one also acting as a layer shift which gives me arrow keys on hjkl while holding it down. If you're a vim user, this arrangement becomes second-nature startlingly quickly, I found) I'm on a 42-key keyboard; two 6x3 halves plus three thumb keys on each side. I would dearly love to try living with a (5x3+3)*2 keyboard for a week but I just can't see how I would replace the outside columns; I just need my tab, shift, control, and quote keys too much, and I'm pretty doubtful about the prospects of putting those keys onto separate layers or otherwise chording them. (backspace and enter are likely to be issues as well, although I could maybe adapt to ctrl-h and ctrl-m for those the same way I've adapted to ctrl-] for escape. And now that I've mentioned it, I could do tab on ctrl-T. So that brings down the number of extra keys I need to just shift, control, and quote. I guess I could do 'shift' with a hold of z or / and a tap of the opposite-side key to be capitalised. Not sure what I'd do about quote or enter, though.)
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y agoI think Framework really has something going here with their à la carte approach to laptop sales. People want to tinker and build their own ideas and there is a dearth of options for portable motherboards which are truly modular, versus doing something like gutting a laptop. They may have stumbled into a nice niche that is all their own. I Hope they lean into it.
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- ranger207 4y agohaving opinions and running your own website isn't censorship. it's exactly what freedom of speech is there to protect
- bowsamic 4y agoSome of the stuff that I see [flagged] [dead], and more importantly, some of the stuff that isn't, is pretty shocking on this site.
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoFree speech absolutionists only stick with their opinion because they don't actually realize what absolute free speech / lack of moderation will look like. In practice, they want to be offensive and racist on the internet without consequence, for a big audience. "Free speech for me but not for thee".
- dkjaudyeqooe 4y agoIt's off-topic grievance peddling. Pretty annoying. Often the larger (HN specific) context is missing when finding these sunk posts. Conversely even weird or offensive posts that are thoughtful or genuine are perfectly fine I think as long as they are on topic or at least topic adjacent.
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- grp000 4y agoI think this project is nostalgia-bait, but it's a good example of what you can do with the framework mainboard.
- x62Bh7948f 4y agoI'd sacrifice having a screen for more palmrest space. If I were to use this for terminal-only work, a 65% layout with no trackball would be perfect.
- bitwize 4y agoFramework is probably the coolest non-Apple laptop to come along in a long time. I love how they've connected with the hacker and maker communities to enable... well, things like this, but beyond that a more open and honest hardware ecosystem for x86 portable machines.
- Retr0id 4y agoThese cyberdecks look awesome, but I don't really understand the ergonomics of the screen. Don't you have to crane your neck to look at it? Has anyone here used a form-factor like this for any length of time?
- jhbadger 4y agoThis was actually the form factor of numerous 1980s portables, most notably the TRS-80 Model 100 mentioned in the article, but also others such as the Epson HX-20 and Clive Sinclair's Z88. You don't really "crane your neck" any more than you do with modern smartphone which likewise has the (virtual) keyboard in the same plane as the rest of the screen.
- grp000 4y agoI don't really see myself thumb typing with a cyberdeck though.
- xixixao 4y agoIt could pair perfectly with screen glasses like these: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31393483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31393483 You could even drop the built-in display. I totally see a future now where I’ll have a screen-less MacBook with a pair of glasses like these for on the go and plugging into a monitor at home/work.
- codethief 4y agoDamn, this is what I've been waiting for for years! No mention of PC/laptop compatibility, though. Do you happen to know anything about that? (I guess any machine with HDMI out should do but before spending hundreds of dollars I guess I should make sure.)
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- goodpoint 4y agoThese are really not designed for ergonomics. They are obviously much worse than a phone on your neck and back. Cyberdecks are craft objects, made for show, like many mechanical keyboards.
- jfb 4y agoI love be a cyberdeck, but the idea that we'd all be running derivatives of '70s game firmware after 50 years of putative progress kind of puts lie to Gibson's futurism, which required a certain panache and optimism to technology that has clearly not come to pass.
- mxuribe 4y ago> ...we'd all be running... I think this is not an all or nothing sort of present that we live in...and i think maybe there will be some (maybe non-trivial) slice of the computing population who might - at least for some of the time and for some tasks/work - be quite interested in tools like cyberdeck. I have no hard data to support my claim of course, its only my opinion...and in fact my opinion is based on the popularity that i'm seeing with a tiny portion of tech entusiasts more and more interested in things like TUIs, command-line based tools, Gemini protocol and associated Gemini sites for engaging with content, etc. Maybe its just a cycle of 70s/80s computing nostalgia, or maybe its a reaction to the annoying consumer web (the lay web? the layperson web?) and all its bothersome bells and whistles, ads, privacy invasion, etc...?
- mastazi 4y agoFor those who like me did not know what's a cyberdeck, here are a couple links I've found: What is a cyberdeck? https://cyberdeck.cafe/mix/what-is-a-cyberdeck https://cyberdeck.cafe/mix/what-is-a-cyberdeck Some examples https://www.makeuseof.com/best-raspberry-pi-cyberdecks/ https://www.makeuseof.com/best-raspberry-pi-cyberdecks/ Reddit community https://libredd.it/r/cyberDeck/ https://libredd.it/r/cyberDeck/ Even though I wasn't familiar with the term, this is actually something I always wanted (a self-built portable device, that I can customise in the same way I can customise a desktop computer).
- SixDouble5321 4y agoThe link to the shoulder slung dual OS deck is broken, at least at writing. Anyway, it's here: https://www.msglab.co/project/msg-cyberdeck https://www.msglab.co/project/msg-cyberdeck
- Extropy_ 4y agoThis is really cool. I'd love to see more devices like this. As I don't exactly have the resources to build one on my own, I'd also be interested in the opportunity to buy one.
- DoingIsLearning 4y agoWhat is the display interface on this motherboard? Could I use a large matte display instead of the framework glossy LCD display?
- brickbots 4y agoframework has published all the pinouts and with the right adapter it should be possible to directly integrate any eDP display. I think this is a project I'd like to tackle soon as there are a plethora of good 10"ish tablet replacement screens out there.
- nivenkos 4y agoA Steam Deck would be an order of magnitude cheaper and more practical.
- anuvrat1 4y agoIsn't framework mainboard the best bank for the buck x86 SBC, alas a tad bit bigger?
- sprkwd 4y agoThis is certainly an aesthetic I can get behind. Kudos to Framework for supporting things like this.