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Comment by jacknews | Hacker News Reader

I love the idea of modular, upgradable, and especially linux-friendly.

But, because modular, I'd like a Framework Surface.

Having the screen, keyboard, touchpad, computer, etc all integrated into a single device, seems like far too many factors and constraints to be able to reach perfection. Better to split at least the keyboard and pointing device, so you can pick and choose.

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That would be very interesting. Maybe I could finally fulfill my dream of a portable system that can raise the display to eye level while keeping the keyboard at an ergonomic level.

I‘m surprised no one else seems to want this. Imagine if you could clip your screen onto the headrest in front of you. Wouldn‘t that be a huge improvement?

    Imagine if you could clip your screen onto the headrest in front of you

That's just a VR headset!

Not really.

Yes, it's worse than a VR headset!

This sounds a lot promising, why haven't I thought this? Portable builtin monitor arm must be painful HW engineering but I can see myself very easily enjoying this feature.

For a few years now I’ve wished for this kind of thing. After I sketched out a couple of concepts, the approach that looked most viable was to build a folding keyboard case where the lid opens up into a tablet stand. This hugely reduces the scope of the design problem, because PCB mounting holes for mechanical 60% keyboards are more or less standardized, and tablets are obviously commodities. Even so, this is easier said than done. I didn’t (and still don’t) have enough experience designing things with hinges; I don’t know how to make things thin, light, easy to build, yet still strong enough to throw around; and I could never decide what to do about mice.

I‘ve been thinking about it more from a "what I wish one of the 20 OEMs building crazy windows convertibles should build" than a " what can I DIY“ angle. Here‘s what I would want:

Computer is maybe the size of new 16" MBP (large but reasonable). All the components in the base, the screen is thin and light. Instead of a flimsy ribbon cable the screen is connected with a removable flat cable that has an auto roll-up mechanism like a tape measure. Screen is held to the base with some "simple“ protruding hinges that it just can slot in and out of without crazy tech (because the hinges are a not super small). The screen has a magnetic back and there would be a couple of different mounting accessories:

- magnet to VESA, so you can easily plop it into a nice stand on your desk and really utilize it in a multi-monitor setup

- an "external“ raising arm that slides a plate under your base and is secured by it‘s weight (maybe clips in) then raises it up a little and holds it by magnets

- suction cups

- gorilla pod type mount and/or clamps

- … whatever else like tripod and mic stand adapters

This hodge-podge idea is probably not realistic for a commercial product but we can dream. My planned solution is M1 13" macbook air + portable USB-C screen and macgyvering it with a gorilla pod or suction cups. Unfortunately I am kind of married to macOS right now and that doesn‘t have tablet options.

On the same boat with macOs, my dream would be an 13" iPad running macOs, with MBA bottom shell as battery + keyboard + trackpad + speakers + etc. But currently an external monitor (or ipad + sidecar) is the best choice. I'm also trying to work on a stand design for the second monitor, but it's not easy.

I'll do you one better for what I would want - iPhone that could slot into an iPad chassis a la Asus Padfone of old, which in tern docks onto bottom shell that contains keyboard/trackpad. The hardware is more than capable, heat output would be one concern for sure. I wouldn't mind a Mac that is even 70% as fast as the M1

Tried this with a galaxy s10e with magnetic dock attached to the back of a 10.6" 16:10 2560x1600 touchscreen display, and it went well, however software support for a desktop mode (DeX) was still lacking.

I used to do exactly this with the surface pro. I used this portable tablet stand: https://www.octa.com/products/spidermonkey.html

Yeah, that would be awesome. I’d pick a X12 detachable like keyboard for mine.

Me, too. I’ve bought my last laptop. The attachment of the keyboard to the display is an ergonomic disaster. Fortunately, several Surface models work well with Linux; there’s even a special kernel for them.

I really wish I could get my Surface Pro 3 to play nice with Linux. I've even used the custom kernel, but every time, without fail, it seems to heat up until the entire system freezes, at which point I have to shut it down. Maybe it's a hardware issue?

That seems hardware related. I'm currently running a more-or-less out of the box install of PopOS on my Surface Pro 3

Funny that you bring that up, I've heard multiple accounts of Ubuntu-based distributions running without issue on the device. Maybe it's my own damn fault for trying to run Arch on this thing...

EDIT: tried it, and i'm still idling at 50-60c :(

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