HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
FrameworkComputer
ExpansionCards
OpenSCAD2021–2025
FrameworkComputer / ExpansionCards

ExpansionCards

Reference designs and documentation to create Expansion Cards for the Framework Laptop

Science & EngineeringLearning & ReferenceCAD & ManufacturingHardware & Embedded
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
16Distinct people
21Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
1.1KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Reference designs and documentation to create Expansion Cards for the Framework Laptop

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

In past lives, I've clung to 3.5mm jacks and battery swaps (although I consider myself much reformed, yes I maybe would buy an updated LG v20 if one were released: that was an…

jauntywundrkind used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 4:01:40 AM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year21 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2021-06-10 17:16:54 UTC to 2025-07-16 22:45:02 UTC.

0369122021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 11 mentions; 1 submissions, 10 comments20212022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20232024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC11110
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

11 sources
dwohnitmok·Dec 27, 2021
This has come up before (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28607793). The usual response I see from Framework owners is it turns out having recessed dongles is actually a surprisingly nice convenience that beats out normal dongles way more than you'd think. But RE the dongles locking people in, you can literally just replace it with an actual normal dongle if you'd like, but also the schematics are completely open (https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards). This is very very different from the way Apple does things.
In FrameWork laptop is Tom's favorite laptop of the year—and completely unexpected
tantony·Sep 22, 2021
> If Framework opens this up for other companies to make modules From what I can tell, they already did that: https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards > USB port module with an integrated Logitech wireless mouse receiver This guy seems to be making something like that (minus the USB port): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_uOzNt-xwY People are working on some interesting stuff. Example: RP2040 expansion card: https://community.frame.work/t/rp2040-microcontroller-expans... The engineers at framework seem to be very active on the forum engaging with the community.
In The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've used
cge·Jul 25, 2021
It appears the company is pretty serious about trying to create an open market for the expansion cards. They have CC-BY licensed reference designs of the expansions cards (https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards), and employees are in the forums answering questions and giving pretty forthright design advice (eg, https://community.frame.work/t/dual-usb-c-expansion-card-moc...). It also appears that they're giving funding to people developing them (eg, https://community.frame.work/t/rp2040-microcontroller-expans...). I was enormously skeptical when I first heard about the company, as the history of computing is littered with the devices and prototypes of startups that suggested they were going to make something different and open and extensible, only to have those promises be completely overblown, and usually have communicatio
Read the rest
n become shady and vague. But while I'm not quite confident enough to buy one yet, and I'll be very interested to see how their ecosystem evolves over the next few months, it actually looks like they might be succeeding here.
In Framework Laptop gets 10/10, fully replaceable
nrp·Jul 23, 2021
Apologies for the miss. There were almost 1000 comments on the last big thread! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26263508 End users have the ability to order replacement parts for every part of the laptop, down to the granularity of things like individual flex cables. We've also released reference CAD under open source licenses for the Expansion Card system for people to be able to develop their own (https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/expansioncards). Our embedded controller firmware is also open source, and we'll be posting the repository shortly. Full schematics for the rest of the system are available to independent repair shops that get Framework hardware in for repair. Our main manufacturing partner is Compal, who makes laptops for many other large US notebook makers. Apart from off the shelf modules like the SSD, RAM, WiFi
Read the rest
, and LCD, the Framework Laptop is entirely custom to us, and we own all of the design and tooling. We don't have an EE on the team page, but I am actually an electrical engineer by training (or at least that's what it says on my degree from Carnegie Mellon), and our systems lead Kieran is an EE by background as well. We own the embedded controller firmware, which is based on Chromium EC, and we'll be releasing the source soon. We use a licensed BIOS that we've customized for this go-around, but we would like to move to an open BIOS in the future. Some of the reviewers have positive comments on their hands-on experience with the webcam. While it won't be at the level of a standalone plug-in webcam, it is substantially better than what is available in other notebooks.
In The Framework Laptop is now shipping

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.