// open hardware · open firmware · open future

A fully open hardware motherboard for the Framework Laptop 13

FreeWork drops into your existing Framework 13 chassis and replaces the mainboard with something radical: a board you can study, modify, and rebuild — with pluggable compute modules from Raspberry Pi to a MiSTer-compatible FPGA.

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  • Framework 13 footprint
  • Pluggable compute
  • Open licenses
Render of the FreeWork open hardware motherboard

// why freework

Your chassis should outlive its mainboard

Truly open

Full schematics, PCB layout, and firmware sources published under open hardware licenses. No NDAs, no blobs where we can avoid them, no mystery silicon.

No vendor lock-in

When the compute module you rely on ages out, swap it — not the whole board, and definitely not the whole laptop. The carrier stays; the compute evolves.

Built to be forked

Design your own module, respin the carrier, add the port you always wanted. Every design file exists so you can change it.

// pluggable compute

One carrier board. Interchangeable brains.

FreeWork is a carrier: display, battery, keyboard, expansion cards, and power are handled on-board. The CPU — or FPGA — lives on a pluggable module.

Raspberry Pi Compute Module docking into the FreeWork carrier

Raspberry Pi Compute Module

Run a fully documented ARM platform in a premium laptop chassis. Great mainline Linux support, a massive community, and hardware you can actually reason about.

MiSTer-compatible FPGA compute module

MiSTer-compatible FPGA

A module built around an FPGA compatible with the MiSTer project. Cycle-accurate classic computers, consoles, and arcade cores — in a laptop you carry every day.

Design your own

The module connector is fully specified and openly documented. RISC-V board? Microcontroller cluster? If you can route it, you can boot it.

// hardware

Specifications

Form factorFramework Laptop 13 mainboard footprint — drop-in replacement
ComputePluggable module via openly documented board-to-board connector
Supported modulesRaspberry Pi Compute Module · MiSTer-compatible FPGA module · community designs
Display & inputNative support for the Framework 13 display, keyboard, and touchpad
ExpansionCompatible with Framework expansion card bays (USB-C based)
PowerFramework 13 battery and USB-C charging
Design filesSchematics, PCB layout, and firmware — all published
LicensingOpen hardware licenses (hardware) · open source licenses (firmware)

Specifications describe the current design target and may evolve during prototyping.

// retro corner

MiSTer in your laptop

The FPGA module targets compatibility with the MiSTer-FPGA project — the gold standard for cycle-accurate recreations of classic hardware. Slot it in and your Framework 13 becomes an Amiga, a Genesis, an arcade cabinet… on original-accurate silicon logic, not software emulation.

  • Cycle-accurate cores, portable for the first time
  • Real hardware behavior — timing, quirks, and all
  • Swap back to the Pi module whenever you need a Linux day
FPGA module with retro scanline glow

// roadmap

From schematic to shipping

  1. 01 · Prototype

    Carrier board bring-up: power, display, keyboard, and the module connector validated on first-revision hardware.

  2. 02 · Dev boards

    Small batch for developers and contributors — firmware hardening, module ecosystem work, and real daily-driver testing.

  3. 03 · Community release

    Finalized design files published, production run organized with and for the community.

// get involved

Built in the open — build it with us

FreeWork needs hardware hackers, firmware developers, FPGA core wranglers, and daily-driver testers. Repository and community links are coming soon — check back as the project boots up.