The Framedeck - A modern, DIY, Linux powered slabtop

With a trackball. And a mechanical keybard. Oh, my.

Get “Linux Sucks 2022” — and a mountain of other benefits — by subscribing to The Lunduke Journal. Right now, just $1/month for annual subscriptions.

---

There’s been some pretty stellar “home made” / Do It Yourself hardware lately… but this — wow — this one is pretty darned special.

The “Framedeck” is a slabtop (similar to the DevTerm or TRS-80 Model 100) style laptop, using the Framework mainboard.

And it is beyond gorgeous.

“To complete the unit I added battery from the framework laptop, custom mechanical keyboard, wifi card, ssd storage, 16gb of memory, 7" IPS display and some speakers in the hopes of making a fairly useful computer.”

The Specs:

• Framework i5 mainboard + battery

• 16gb ram + 256gb storage (both expandable)

• Stacked clear acrylic case with brass hardware

• Wifi

• Custom 36 key mechanical keyboard (Gazzew Boba U4 Silents)

• Miryoku keymap

• Repurposed Logitech trackball module

• Stereo speakers

• 2 USB-C ports for charging/accessories

• Fully supported with Fedora 34/35 + other distros

The GitHub page has the full parts list, design files, and a detailed tour of the build process.

Trackball? Mechanical keyboard? Running modern Linux? Oh, baby. Be still my beating heart.

Not gonna lie. I want this in my life. In a major way. Extremely big kudos are in order for the technical wizard behind this beauty.

---

Get Linux Tycoon 3, plus other goodies, with your Lunduke Journal subscription.