Setting Up My framework 16
I bought the Framework 16 as a replacement for my ancient Lenovo y50-70. After a small delay and an eight month wait, it finally got here on the second on May. I opted for the DIY edition because of the cost savings, and it’s fun to asemble electronics.
foreshadowing is a literary device…
First impressions were good however, I was impressed with the packaging. I ordered two ethernet expension cards, and the packaging had a place for two of them next to each other. This stood out to me because those expension cards are thicker than other, and it fit perfectly. So they either had different sized cardboard specifically for this case, or two ethernet expensions are as think as three normal sized ones.
They claim framework laptops can be assembled in 10 to 20 minutes. I am happy I waited until after dinner as it took me the entire evening. I started with the m.2 drive and immediately ran into a problem. The screw that is meant to hold it in was not coming out. Searching the forum turned up several posts of other people that had similar issues. I was already dreading having to RMA the laptop just because I couldn’t get a stupid screw out. In the end I was able to get it out by applying pressure upwards with a fingernail and turning at the same time. I must be cursed when it comes to m.2 screws.
Putting in the RAM was confusing, but that one was on me. I didn’t see that the slot was not in the center and was trying to figure out which side up they should be since the manual explicitely said one of them should be upside down. In the end they one fit in one orientation.
Next was assembling the keyboard. At first the keyboard just refused to work. I would put in all the modules, keyboard and trackpad in the center with spacers on either side, and it would just not work. I only noticed it was the keyboard that was broken when it was impossible to get into the bios. I switched the keyboard to be all the way on the right and for some reason that did work and I was able to get into the bios. But a laptop with the keyboard on the right is not usable for me.
I am going to dwell on the keyboard for a bit longer, it’s the part I loath most on the laptop. It’s not even the typing experience, that’s fine, it’s the modular hot-swapping design of it. I get why they did it, it allows for a wide range of setups and customization, but in my opinion the trade-offs are not worth it. Because it’s made up of several pieces none of it lines up. There are gaps between all the parts. The most annoying of which is the lip between the keyboard and trackpad. The trackpad sits higher than the keyboard and the edge is very sharp, you can file a fingernail on it. It’s unpleasant to use the arrow keys because of this. The hairs on your forearm get caught in between the spacers. The trackpad module bulges at the sides and might be scratching the screen. I hoped it would settle but it doesn’t seem to be getting better. I will contact support about this in the future to see if there is anything that can be done.
On to installing Arch (btw). Everytime I install an operating system and need to boot from an usb I forget about secure boot. I don’t know who came up with that or what it’s for but it seems pointless to me. Wikipedia said that it is Microsoft with the release of Windows 8, figures. So taking 20 minutes to remember to turn that off and we are in. I’m using EndeavourOS since it comes with a bunch of pre-configured desktop environments. Last time I installed it I opted for the sway community edition because I wanted to use wayland and a tiling window manager. But of course nothing can ever just be easy, and it has been removed from the installer. So I went with KDE Plasma 6 instead. I’ll have to make the time to install and configure sway and all required programs at some point.
Framework urge you to update all the firmware and bios. I know I can update firmware with fwupdmgr. Installing the updated firmware went smooth. I then downloaded the bios update and set the flashing an usb drive. I tried several different ways but could not make it work. I think I killed the drive by zero-ing it out first. Luckily the bios were upgraded by doing the firmware upgrade.
Luckily setting up my home environment was very easy because of nix and home-manager. And there was a little bit more luck, after the firmware update the keyboard now also worked in the center position.
I’ve been using the framework 16 for a couple of weeks now, and I must say that I have mixed feeling. The difficult start has spoiled the rest of the experience somewhat. The way that the hot-swappable keyboard works, while still cool, is definitely a negative for me. How often am I going to change the physical location of the keys? As I am typing this they announced the 4th iteration of the Framework 13. Watching the video they take off the keyboard and it’s one part, that’s exactly what I want for the 16! They already have the technology! Also while I type this, I keep noticing something like phantom keypresses. My cursor will jump around and suddenly I am typing somewhere else. I figured out that this most likely palm rejection not fully working for the trackpad. To combat this I disabled mouse mode in the editor.