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Comment by chromakode | Hacker News Reader

I love how this launch included new reuse paths for old components, including a new mainboard case [1] and battery / screen case designs. If Framework maintains mechanical compatibility between generations, things are going to get really interesting.

[1] https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case

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I'm also intrigued by the business opportunities of providing more ways for fans to spend money than just buying a new laptop every 4 years. If I can upgrade to a new mainboard and turn my old one into a functional desktop, I'm much more likely to add in a $500 mainboard upgrade at the 2 year mark.

This is exactly what I did when the 12th gen came out. My original mainboard is now running our home NAS and NVR.

I'd love to learn more about how you used your mainboard for a nas. What did you house it in?

I'm not the parent, but they've announced they've partnered with Cooler Master to release a case [0]. A while back they released drawings so you can 3D print one [1].

[0] https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case [1] https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard

I'm using this 5-bay USB 3.2 drive enclosure [1] and the official Framework 3d printed case [2] in polycarbonate ordered via Craftcloud (the Cooler Master case would have been both cheaper and easier!)

I also looked at TB4 disk enclosures, but the bandwidth was overkill for spinning rust hard disks. There's a lot you can do with 4 USB-C/TB4 ports. I also have a Coral USB stick connected for frigate.video inference and a 2.5Gbps USB NIC (waiting for better thunderbolt 10Gbps NICs to become available). One fun convergence is when I want a keyboard / display / mouse I can plug the mainboard server into the same thunderbolt dock I use for my laptop peripherals.

[1] https://sabrent.com/products/ds-sc5b

[2] https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Mainboard/tree/main/Mec...

salvaging old laptop battery as a power bank made me actually lol in real life.

It makes total sense! A half worn out battery may no longer be useful to you inside of your laptop, but can still be useful as an external power bank.

There's a big community of people out there doing just this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao1mwEcPsEk

https://cellsaviors.com/blog/how-to-salvage-18650-cells

Came here to say the same thing. Having my old laptop board be a NUC for another screen somewhere seems like a good idea.

Already preordered the 13" AMD board knowing that my old mainboard is going straight into my arcade cabinet as soon as it's out of the laptop.

Did you DIY that arcade cabinet? If so, know of any good guides / did you use one when building it?

Didn't use a guide, it's a bog-standard Arcade1Up conversion. A couple years ago I looked up a display driver board providing an HDMI input to the stock display and bought a $50 Amazon-sourced EG STARTS-brand cheapo kit of sticks and buttons with USB encoders. They were drop-in replacements for the stock deck's buttons and sticks. The emulator driver right now is just a 6th-gen i5 HP EliteDesk Mini fleet-salvaged workstation booting into RetroArch.

These days you can go even easier with fully installed plug-and-play Arcade1Up control panel replacements that are literally drop-in - MDF, sticks, buttons, encoders, and audio/display driver card are all built in. You just pull the stock control deck out, drop the $150 Intec deck in, and connect whatever PC/console/FPGA into the video in and USB controller outputs that it provides. You can build a cab around one out of plywood or just grab a random Arcade1Up on sale somewhere.

Oh cool, thanks for the info!

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