No interest in this exactly, but I am interested in the idea that third parties are now targeting the Framework form factor explicitly to sell upgrades/replacements outside of the Framework marketplace.
Yeah, there’s a lot of critiques of the product/packaging/etc, but this feels like huge validation of the Framework model - this is an unrelated 3rd party looking to get a chip in consumer hands who decided to use the FW chassis. That’s Exactly what we all were hoping for when Framework first launched.
Yeah I genuinely don't understand why they didn't consider fast tracking rk3588S boards for a retrofit. Drivers weren't good for a while, but they weren't hopeless either.
Its about time, I hope System76 comes up with their own version of the Framework laptop, because I would love to buy a laptop where I can swap out all internals, motherboard etc. but I really also want to work with System76 because I love what they are doing with POP_OS! (though I prefer arch these days, I can still use their Desktop environment etc) and love that they make Linux hardware specifically.
We have needed a "Jeep of Laptops" for a while, maybe someone needs to spec out a fully open source design that any manufacturer can target.
Honestly a Framework+System76 merger would make a lot of sense. System76 cares about the software but uses whitelabeled hardware. Framework has done excellent hardware engineering but doesn't care much about the software.
I don't know that it's fair to say Framework don't care much about the software. Their oldest devices are still getting firmware updates. At any rate, Pop!_OS runs very well on Framework Laptops (though I use Arch + Hyprland, w/ Windows on their storage expansion card).
That's a bit of a hot take considering all the donations they've been making to OSS projects. Sure, maybe they're not making Yet Another Distro but they're donating to and upstreamimg patches to things that everyone (including PopOS) uses.
To me, that's far from not caring about the software. Especially when you compare to other vendors like Pine.
To be clear, this wasn't an attempt at a diss on Framework. They're what my recommended laptop has been for the past ~3 years (and would be what I got if I hadn't gotten my most recent laptop before frameworks were widely available).
What I probably should have said is that System76 takes open software ridiculously seriously in the same way that Framework takes open hardware ridiculously seriously. On the scale of Linux laptops, Framework is on par with Dell and Lenovo (the best of the big OEMs) in terms of upstreaming patches etc.
System76 OTOH is completely crazy. They've put Coreboot on their laptops, built their own DE because they got tired of Ubuntu not shipping proper nvidia drivers, etc.
"Like the Pi 4, I think this system is the first RISC-V desktop environment that isn't painful to use, just inconvenient. Actions still have delays, but the delays are more reasonable, and don't make me constantly question if the computer's frozen."
also some really odd choices by Eswin for the eic7702x, which is essentially 2 p550 chips glued together.
It should be possible to make a dumb version of such a keyboard wired the same as the stock one, just with the keys moved around. It would need some OS configuration to be truly useful, though.
Similar to a sibling comment, and perhaps not really applicable (since this isn't a company making something people can buy...), but the MNT Reform is amenable to fitting a custom/ergonomic keyboard also (I hadn't seen the Framework in the sibling comment, it looks very cool!).
I don't know how to link to it directly, but midway down this article there's a picture and some more links of an MNT Reform (apparently completely home-built) with a very cool, "thumb-centric", column staggered ergo keyboard:
I actually like short travel very light linear switches, mechanical or not.
I don’t like row stagger and non-split keyboards, for ergonomic reasons. That’s definitely a niche preference, but if anyone would cater to it you’d expect it to be Framework or similar.
You're right that Framework is exactly where I would expect flexibility on this: I mean, just looking at their landing page - you see a laptop without the keyboard and ports. Framework offers 176 (!) kinds of "keyboards":
(Answer: it's basically just keyboard covers, and the many options are due to variations of colors and languages. But I would take a hot pink / toxic green keyboard with ancient tibetan labels if the keys were non-chicklet, with decent travel, sizes, and feedback. 7 rows if possible.)
Overhead of small volume manufacturing. If they make all those variations and intend to continue existing as a company that makes money selling things, it would have to be at a price where no one's going to buy one. But if I start an Etsy store selling one-offs at $399 each, people can grumble about my price, but it's not on Framework.
Exactly. This is exactly we get in return for compromising on quality and price with framework. Other tech is cheaper because of planned obsolescence or lock in. Im glad to pay more money to have this freedom
The Legion Go is basically that with some joycons and a screen. I keep mine in my entertainment center when I'm not using it handheld, and play plastic instrument games on the big screen.
Looks like this would be an easy entry point to a DIY Steam Machine that takes up ~no space under your TV.
It's not standard mini-itx. Since the physical form factors for their laptop boards are published publicly and are somewhat stable, are "desktop" cases for them.
This board uses the CIX CP8180 SoC, which has worse performance and significantly worse efficiency than even Apple's M1 chip. See Jeff Geerling's review of a desktop with this SoC: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/minisforum-stuffs-ent... If you need an ARM Linux laptop, it's probably a better choice to get a used M1 or M2 MacBook Pro and put Fedora Asahi on it.
Yeah, or if you don't mind something with performance this low, the RK3588 has much better kernel support (I have a couple here) and there's some companies offering laptop format for those now.
But as much as I love the RK3588 it's very much in the "low perf utility SBC" world than "good performing general PC". I use my two boards for NAS, Plex, Forgejo CI builders, etc.
I do recall that Jeff Geerling I think had some followup with that board that perhaps there could be firmware changes that improve the power efficiency later maybe?
It does have graphics acceleration and you can even play AAA titles with fex [1] since last year. But many bells and whistles still don't work --- for example, the video decoding hardware, proper sleep, etc.
Anyway, I've been using it on my Macbook Air M2 and it works fine for my use case [3]. Pretty smooth.
From 2017-2023 I had Thinkpads and some Acer which was well supported by Linux and sleep was the worse part. On numerous occasions across different devices I'd put the laptop to sleep, put it in my bag, and pull it out in a coffee shop to find it was on and now the battery is down to 50%. Why is sleep so hard?
Maybe, but it works quite well for me, so to each their own! :)
Can't seem to get DP Alt Mode to work on my used 2021 M1 Pro though, even though it's listed as supported with an asterisk, maybe someone here has managed it?
(Also, if you're buying used and wiping MacOS are you truly giving Apple a dime? I guess it's a matter of perspective.)
Don't give Apple a dime, buy second-hand Apple hardware. Asahi can make a lot of sense on a Mac Mini, where proper sleep is not that important, but which could be an excellent small build server or a local ML inference box, for rather moderate money.
Is _everything_ working? Last time I put Linux on a x86_64 Air Book I was given for free, everything was working _except_ resume from suspend would crash and reboot the system, and from the reading on it, it seems it is a know issue due to T4 security chip or something. Made me believe that if older chips doesn't yet work, the newer ones probably have more caveats. Or am I wrong?
Generally I'm reluctant investing in Linux on a hardware from company more or less hostile to it, but I also don't have any need for ARM laptop, and I'm happy with my Framework.
I wouldn't say the problem is hostility. It's complete non-interest. Apple wisely allowed us to load a non-chain-of-trust OS while maintaining the chain of trust in macOS, which is an incredible advancement still unmatched by other manufacturers.
And that's it. They have done zero work to accommodate Linux. At all. Perhaps if Microsoft ever figures out that NT used to run on more than one arch, Apple will revive Boot Camp for Windows and deem it useful to include Linux this time?
The Macbook M2 Air running Asahi Linux is easily my favorite Linux laptop ever, far superior to any Thinkpad or Dell XPS I've owned, imo. I think things like Thunderbolt and some DisplayPort features are missing, but I have never needed this as it is purely a laptop for me. But it has everything else I could want: suspend/sleep, proper frequency scaling, great GPU drivers, USB/wifi/bluetooth, speakers, brightness/keyboard settings, etc. The webcam works I think but I haven't tried it. The battery life is great, though macOS is still quite a ways ahead in that department.
Whoops, mea culpa. I'm not personally very interested in desktop linux GUI apps, and hadn't realized that was out of scope for Orb's featureset. Given my narrower criteria for "linux support" (VMs for CLI-based operations), Orb has been amazing. Its capabilities exceed that of Docker4Mac beyond stability and performance. But, yeah, that may be moot in light of your desktop GUI purposes. I have no experience w Asahi.
> early tests show that the SoC already draws about 16 watts at idle
Ooof. I feel like power efficiency would be the main reason I'd take the plunge and switch from x86_64 to arm64, given that there would be difficulties and trade offs software-wise to do so.
My 13th-gen Intel board in my Framework 13 sits at around 11W semi-idle (Firefox constantly burning 35% of one core for reasons that are my fault). And this is with Linux, where power management isn't always the best.
Regardless, I'm happy to see something like this. It might not be something I want today, but it's a step in the right direction.
It's either a firmware or soc thing, hoping they can fix it without having to spin a new chip. O6 owners keep bringing it up, but personally I don't care since in my case it's lower than the hardware it's replacing.
Correct, it's not sold by Framework, but is a replacement mainboard sold by a 3rd party. I think that is one of the big appeals of a modular laptop like Framework, though. You can create an ecosystem around it, customize, and not be locked in to just what the primary manufacturer makes.
I don't have much faith in Arm Linux. Tuxedo gave up.
Cheap Windows Arm laptops are flooding the market, if someone can pick ONE laptop to support they could easily buy them on sale , refurbished them with Linux and make a profit.
Looks likes their are some challenges with doing this.
I was about to comment to say that unless Valve is prepared to invest significant effort into an x86 -> ARM translation layer that's not going to happen but a quick search for "linux x86 to arm translation" led me to an XDA article[1] proving me wrong. The recently announced Steam Frame runs on ARM and can run x86 games directly using using something called FEX.
Now we just need to be as good as (or better than) Apple's Rosetta.
Apple Silicon actually has microarchitectural quirks implementing certain x86-isms in hardware for Rosetta 2 to use. I doubt any other ARM SoC would do such a thing, so I doubt third-party translation will ever get quite as efficient.
I have seen VR headsets trying to break any significant market share since 1994, they have never been anything other than a niche, with customers having too much money to throw around.
They probably gave up on their Snapdragon X efforts as Snapdragon X2 Elite was nipping at their heels and they'd have a redundant device by the time their efforts came to market.
> I don't have much faith in Arm Linux. Tuxedo gave up.
I was also slowly loosing hope, although I do still run some NixOS ARM Raspberry PIs. But with the recent Valve backing, I'm back on the train again, and eagerly awaiting the slow but steady improvements, and figuring out where I can contribute back.
Not really. The drivers are not upstream, so it only works well on specially made Ubuntu spins that carry out of tree patches and random binary blobs. It is really still quite a mess at the moment.
Integration, testing, and support are all expensive. Right or wrong, that's a reason why if a laptop "just works" (like a Mac, Windows Thinkpad, or a Chromebook), it probably has proprietary binaries.
Also, if you aren't paying for the OS (via the hardware it's coupled with), you can't expect the OS to have the benefits of tight hardware integration.
Even Framework laptops use proprietary boot firmware, and they've been pretty clear that they only provide support for Ubuntu and Fedora, not the alphabet soup of other Linux desktop distros.
Honestly, I don't have much faith in Linux anymore, and it has everything to do with the explosion of the kernel's codebase due to the explosion of cheaper devices running linux and the (admittedly difficult) management issues surrounding the kernel. I feel like from a security perspective, macos is a better choice and that pains me as a long time linux user.
Can we please move on to microkernels already? I'm fine with a tiny performance hit, I just don't want to get rooted because I plugged in the wrong USB stick.
You can use microkernels whenever you want. Just be aware that they typically have the same issues with zombie/cruft code and aren't necessarily more secure for every application.
I think the point is that even drivers could be non-trusted and live outside of the kernel and just provide the exact service required with minimal access.
That said, why do we still need drivers in 2025? Most regular printers should be dumb, U-MASS should be dumb, webcams should be dumb, monitors are dumb, etc... very few devices coming really needs custom drivers anymore (even with many customizations we could provide class specific descriptors that drivers could adhere to).
If you don't want to go macOS route and want to leave Linux world, your destination would be FreeBSD or OpenBSD.
On the other hand, if you're not running Wine, you can't get autorun virii from USB drives, plus the Windows virii just lives there and can't do anything.
Plan9 is like ocean yacht racing. If you have to ask about the "cost" you aren't the target market.
Plan9 is like writing. You either do it, or talk about doing it. I'm talking not doing btw. I tried, but I got stuck on trivial things and the barrier to asking for help over 2+2= is high. (No offence intended. The 9 heads aren't interested in running a kindergarden)
Does this board boot Linux via a device tree, or have hardware discovery?
How about UEFI vs arm-specific bootloaders?
I tried arm32 Linux a few years back, and the largest hindrance at the time was the device trees and non-UEFI boot process. Given up on exploring the platform further (except maybe for SBC like raspberry pi) until that situation improves.
The CIX CP8180 uses UEFI (it is intended to boot Windows which requires it) but the boot flow can, I believe, use either ACPI or device trees, based on a boot setting. The ACPI boot flow has the advantage that any normal Linux distro should work, while the device tree variant I think has more hardware enablement.
The upstream story due to this is kind of a mixed bag, though. I think they also still use out-of-tree NPU drivers, etc. Device trees and other updates are still flowing upstream. I think the next Mesa release will support the Immortalis GPU series though, so that'll hopefully polish off a big remaining problem with ordinary distros.
It looks like the pro is the version with the full framework laptop chassis, battery, etc, and the standard is the version in the coolermaster case. (The black one with antennas on top)
I'd like to ask HN a very vaguely related question. I need to get a self-hosted runner (for GitHub Actions) that is capable of running Windows ARM64. What are my options other than buying a machine and do everything manually? Are there any service providers that offer Windows ARM64 VMs? I can only seem to find options for Linux.
In case you don't already know, there are Github-hosted runners that run Windows arm64 [1]
Also, it's not what you're asking, but self-hosted runners are a security nightmare if you don't have the hardware to completely isolate them from your local network.
Save you a click or two. Looking at this I have so many questions. Am I buying a mainboard? It is not clear. It lists ports: it only supports 2 ports? You have four options with 16/32gigs and 1tb of storage? Is the storage soldiered? If so, what is the storage? emmc? Soldiered memory seems to be a given in the ARM ecosystem, but the storage is completely unacceptable on a framework mainboard.
The only difference between the pro and the regular is that the second port is a usb-c over an hdmi? I am assuming this is the mainboard even supporting framework extension cards.
No listed Linux compatibility support. Forget if the NPU even works in Linux; I do not even know if this will boot Linux because the company did not bother to submit devicetree patches to the kernel for their SOC. No listed Windows support even.
my impression was the "pro" is the same board but comes with a framework 13 chassis, but yeah the lack of explicit details does not inspire confidence.
Qualcomm talked a lot about Snapdragon X Elite as the future of Windows and Linux on ARM, but results so far are mixed. Windows on ARM is finally usable on recent laptops, yet compatibility gaps remain, and Linux support is still far from mature.
The high idle power on the Framework ARM upgrade board shouldn’t be blamed solely on MetaComputing or CIX. Poor idle power efficiency is a long-standing issue on Linux laptops, especially with new platforms, so this looks more like an ecosystem-level power-management problem than a single-vendor failure.
What stands out to me is that Chinese companies are actually shipping hardware and pushing into every possible market segment. Their decentralized, diversified corporate ecosystem seems to enable fast experimentation and broad market penetration.
> This processor has a total of eight ARM Cortex-A720 performance cores, the two fastest can hit boost clock speeds of up to 2.6 GHz
Impressing. Athlon speed. And boost, and only 2 of them. Trully impressing.
> This chipset is likely slower than the Snapdragon X Elite or a current flagship smartphone chip, but it should still provide enough performance for many everyday tasks.
This read out like: 640k should be enough for anybody.
is it possible to install for example a current "vanilla" debian arm64 on this mainboard!?
what i mean by that:
write the "official" debian arm64 installation image to a thumbdrive, press some key & boot into the installation!?
and run the resulting system with the distributions "offical" kernel from the debian arm64-architecture!?
w/o jumping thru a few "hoops" like a lion in a circus ... ;)
i know ... the "openness" of the descendants of ibm pc at compatible machines was some kind of a "historical" error by ibm, but i got used to it!!
i like to "own" hardware i bought with my hard-earned money. i heavily prefer hardware, which is easily bootable from "inoffical" boot-medias - read: FOSS ... eg. linux/*BSD/...
and i'm not interested in "clamped down" hardware a la "most" available ARM boards - regardless of notebooks/tablets/phones ...
I've had a Framework 13 for several years now, so I'm excited to see this kind of thing start to happen. Praying the next one out is a GPU/tensor workload unit so I'm not stuck at home on my desktop when I want to mess around with local AI models...
The complaints about battery life are valid however I see this as a test board to help bring more Linux programs to life on ARM. It can also be useful for porting other OSes like Haiku.
I would love to have a Framework laptop, but there is no guarantee the company will be around as long as, say, Lenovo, Dell, Apple, etc., and I would hate to get used to being able to customize on the fly, then have to go back to a run-of-the-mill laptop just because Framework went out of business.
Better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all. Why not buy the Framework, support the business, and have a laptop that's making you happy while it's around?
There's no guarantee any company lasts forever. What's the point in not using something now because it might be gone in the future?
In the worst case you would have used your Framework just like a regular laptop from Lenovo, Dell or Apple. You might not gain much, but you also don't lose anything.
These Snapdragon X processors have some drama around not having decent Linux support, right?
EDIT: Sorry, not SnapdragonX - apparently I can't read.
Also, who is "MetaComputing" and can I trust them with my money? Something about the big "Web 3 Integrated Devices" branding on their landing page makes me less than enthusiastic. Otherwise I'd be hovering over 'buy'
They are selling a configuration that costs $810.00 on Framework's website for only $549.00. Zero actual info on the about page or Google. I would treat it with suspicion at best.
They're just selling the motherboard on its own, not a whole laptop. To make if a complete system, you'd have to buy a laptop chassis from Framework's parts site and install the motherboard yourself.
The chassis of my PBP is great (brittle plastic notwithstanding)! That's the last thing I want to replace in the device.
We have needed a "Jeep of Laptops" for a while, maybe someone needs to spec out a fully open source design that any manufacturer can target.
I'm not sure if this counts in your book, but releasing all this stuff is closer than anyone else is to that dream.
> https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-16
1: https://system76.com/donate/
That is the MNT Reform.
To me, that's far from not caring about the software. Especially when you compare to other vendors like Pine.
What I probably should have said is that System76 takes open software ridiculously seriously in the same way that Framework takes open hardware ridiculously seriously. On the scale of Linux laptops, Framework is on par with Dell and Lenovo (the best of the big OEMs) in terms of upstreaming patches etc.
System76 OTOH is completely crazy. They've put Coreboot on their laptops, built their own DE because they got tired of Ubuntu not shipping proper nvidia drivers, etc.
I could transplant the desktop model I got into my original framework, but I haven’t attempted it.
https://store.deepcomputing.io/products/dc-roma-ai-pc-risc-v...
https://github.com/geerlingguy/sbc-reviews/issues/82
"Like the Pi 4, I think this system is the first RISC-V desktop environment that isn't painful to use, just inconvenient. Actions still have delays, but the delays are more reasonable, and don't make me constantly question if the computer's frozen."
also some really odd choices by Eswin for the eic7702x, which is essentially 2 p550 chips glued together.
Framework: "Let us show you how it is done!"
Also, a very different approach to GPU.
I wish someone made a keyboard that doesn’t suck, ideally split as well.
Although to be pedantic, that's not an "ortholinear" keyboard (as in a square grid) rather a keyboard with column stagger (which you should use).
I wonder if you could make it for a FW13 too? I know QMK doesn't work for 13.
Edit: I see now that it uses a separate microcontroller, so yes if you could make it fit then it should work.
I don't know how to link to it directly, but midway down this article there's a picture and some more links of an MNT Reform (apparently completely home-built) with a very cool, "thumb-centric", column staggered ergo keyboard:
https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-07-01-july-update.htm...
(search for "More great mods from the community..." heading if interested)
I would very much like to have a keyboard like either of those on my laptop. The stares you'd get when in public!!
A big part of the core functionality of a laptop, as opposed to a PC, is is that of a typewriter:
* Notes in class
* Minutes in a meeting
* Entries in a journal or travelogue
* Writing the next great novel
etc.
Why have manufacturers simply taken that away from us, in favor of a terrible excuse with ridiculous tactile feedback?
I don’t like row stagger and non-split keyboards, for ergonomic reasons. That’s definitely a niche preference, but if anyone would cater to it you’d expect it to be Framework or similar.
https://frame.work/marketplace/keyboards
but not one decent keyboard. Why?
(Answer: it's basically just keyboard covers, and the many options are due to variations of colors and languages. But I would take a hot pink / toxic green keyboard with ancient tibetan labels if the keys were non-chicklet, with decent travel, sizes, and feedback. 7 rows if possible.)
⇒ their market likely isn’t enormous, but it is larger than that of Framework Laptop owners.
https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case https://frame.work/products/framework-laptop-13-mainboard-ho... https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-13
etc., lots of designs available.
Looks like this would be an easy entry point to a DIY Steam Machine that takes up ~no space under your TV.
But as much as I love the RK3588 it's very much in the "low perf utility SBC" world than "good performing general PC". I use my two boards for NAS, Plex, Forgejo CI builders, etc.
I do recall that Jeff Geerling I think had some followup with that board that perhaps there could be firmware changes that improve the power efficiency later maybe?
It is very usable for email, editing documents, code review, etc - but it will struggle if you're trying to multitask heavily.
This CIX SoC is a fair bit faster than the RK3588 though I believe.
This SoC may actually have Linux drivers.
Anyway, I've been using it on my Macbook Air M2 and it works fine for my use case [3]. Pretty smooth.
[1] https://rosenzweig.io/blog/aaa-gaming-on-m1.html
[3] https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2024-12-01-asahi-linux-with-...
:(
The one feature that only works properly when using both Apple hardware and software...
Can't seem to get DP Alt Mode to work on my used 2021 M1 Pro though, even though it's listed as supported with an asterisk, maybe someone here has managed it?
(Also, if you're buying used and wiping MacOS are you truly giving Apple a dime? I guess it's a matter of perspective.)
1. https://orbstack.dev/
What's wrong with Asahi?
Generally I'm reluctant investing in Linux on a hardware from company more or less hostile to it, but I also don't have any need for ARM laptop, and I'm happy with my Framework.
I wouldn't say the problem is hostility. It's complete non-interest. Apple wisely allowed us to load a non-chain-of-trust OS while maintaining the chain of trust in macOS, which is an incredible advancement still unmatched by other manufacturers.
And that's it. They have done zero work to accommodate Linux. At all. Perhaps if Microsoft ever figures out that NT used to run on more than one arch, Apple will revive Boot Camp for Windows and deem it useful to include Linux this time?
I'd advise buying a MacBook air m1 over an m2 if the goal is to run Linux...
https://asahilinux.org/docs/platform/feature-support/m2/
...all the missing support?
Ooof. I feel like power efficiency would be the main reason I'd take the plunge and switch from x86_64 to arm64, given that there would be difficulties and trade offs software-wise to do so.
My 13th-gen Intel board in my Framework 13 sits at around 11W semi-idle (Firefox constantly burning 35% of one core for reasons that are my fault). And this is with Linux, where power management isn't always the best.
Regardless, I'm happy to see something like this. It might not be something I want today, but it's a step in the right direction.
> makes your laptop slower
Hmm...
Cheap Windows Arm laptops are flooding the market, if someone can pick ONE laptop to support they could easily buy them on sale , refurbished them with Linux and make a profit.
Looks likes their are some challenges with doing this.
Now we just need to be as good as (or better than) Apple's Rosetta.
[1] https://www.xda-developers.com/arm-translation-layer-steam-f...
I have faith!
I was also slowly loosing hope, although I do still run some NixOS ARM Raspberry PIs. But with the recent Valve backing, I'm back on the train again, and eagerly awaiting the slow but steady improvements, and figuring out where I can contribute back.
Integration, testing, and support are all expensive. Right or wrong, that's a reason why if a laptop "just works" (like a Mac, Windows Thinkpad, or a Chromebook), it probably has proprietary binaries.
Also, if you aren't paying for the OS (via the hardware it's coupled with), you can't expect the OS to have the benefits of tight hardware integration.
Even Framework laptops use proprietary boot firmware, and they've been pretty clear that they only provide support for Ubuntu and Fedora, not the alphabet soup of other Linux desktop distros.
Can we please move on to microkernels already? I'm fine with a tiny performance hit, I just don't want to get rooted because I plugged in the wrong USB stick.
That said, why do we still need drivers in 2025? Most regular printers should be dumb, U-MASS should be dumb, webcams should be dumb, monitors are dumb, etc... very few devices coming really needs custom drivers anymore (even with many customizations we could provide class specific descriptors that drivers could adhere to).
On the other hand, if you're not running Wine, you can't get autorun virii from USB drives, plus the Windows virii just lives there and can't do anything.
Plan9 is like writing. You either do it, or talk about doing it. I'm talking not doing btw. I tried, but I got stuck on trivial things and the barrier to asking for help over 2+2= is high. (No offence intended. The 9 heads aren't interested in running a kindergarden)
To do that on a MacBook I'm spending a minimum of 3200$.
If you have unlimited money ( or can expense it) a 3200$ to 4k MacBook is going to be the best experience money can buy.
If you have limited funds, a 200$ used computer can get the job done with the right distro.
How about UEFI vs arm-specific bootloaders?
I tried arm32 Linux a few years back, and the largest hindrance at the time was the device trees and non-UEFI boot process. Given up on exploring the platform further (except maybe for SBC like raspberry pi) until that situation improves.
The upstream story due to this is kind of a mixed bag, though. I think they also still use out-of-tree NPU drivers, etc. Device trees and other updates are still flowing upstream. I think the next Mesa release will support the Immortalis GPU series though, so that'll hopefully polish off a big remaining problem with ordinary distros.
That’s a strange revision of fairly recent history. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Apple’s the one that proved out laptop ARM at scale.
i posted the article instead because it has some details that aren't on the listing.
Also worth looking at battery life compared to performance...
Also, it's not what you're asking, but self-hosted runners are a security nightmare if you don't have the hardware to completely isolate them from your local network.
[1] https://github.com/actions/partner-runner-images/blob/main/i...
Save you a click or two. Looking at this I have so many questions. Am I buying a mainboard? It is not clear. It lists ports: it only supports 2 ports? You have four options with 16/32gigs and 1tb of storage? Is the storage soldiered? If so, what is the storage? emmc? Soldiered memory seems to be a given in the ARM ecosystem, but the storage is completely unacceptable on a framework mainboard.
The only difference between the pro and the regular is that the second port is a usb-c over an hdmi? I am assuming this is the mainboard even supporting framework extension cards.
No listed Linux compatibility support. Forget if the NPU even works in Linux; I do not even know if this will boot Linux because the company did not bother to submit devicetree patches to the kernel for their SOC. No listed Windows support even.
This company's copy is absolutely terrible.
The high idle power on the Framework ARM upgrade board shouldn’t be blamed solely on MetaComputing or CIX. Poor idle power efficiency is a long-standing issue on Linux laptops, especially with new platforms, so this looks more like an ecosystem-level power-management problem than a single-vendor failure.
What stands out to me is that Chinese companies are actually shipping hardware and pushing into every possible market segment. Their decentralized, diversified corporate ecosystem seems to enable fast experimentation and broad market penetration.
Impressing. Athlon speed. And boost, and only 2 of them. Trully impressing.
> This chipset is likely slower than the Snapdragon X Elite or a current flagship smartphone chip, but it should still provide enough performance for many everyday tasks.
This read out like: 640k should be enough for anybody.
as alwas: imho. (!)
is it possible to install for example a current "vanilla" debian arm64 on this mainboard!?
what i mean by that:
write the "official" debian arm64 installation image to a thumbdrive, press some key & boot into the installation!?
and run the resulting system with the distributions "offical" kernel from the debian arm64-architecture!?
w/o jumping thru a few "hoops" like a lion in a circus ... ;)
i know ... the "openness" of the descendants of ibm pc at compatible machines was some kind of a "historical" error by ibm, but i got used to it!!
i like to "own" hardware i bought with my hard-earned money. i heavily prefer hardware, which is easily bootable from "inoffical" boot-medias - read: FOSS ... eg. linux/*BSD/...
and i'm not interested in "clamped down" hardware a la "most" available ARM boards - regardless of notebooks/tablets/phones ...
just my 0.02€
I use business software everyday that doesn’t support ARM, because of it’s licensing system doesn’t work on ARM processors.
Instead of fixing it, the company just sells cloud hosted windows licenses for $100 per user.
https://kickingandstreaming.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/x2...
There's no guarantee any company lasts forever. What's the point in not using something now because it might be gone in the future?
But that's just the worst case.
EDIT: Sorry, not SnapdragonX - apparently I can't read.
Also, who is "MetaComputing" and can I trust them with my money? Something about the big "Web 3 Integrated Devices" branding on their landing page makes me less than enthusiastic. Otherwise I'd be hovering over 'buy'