There was a month-long hiatus on this blog because, reasons. I'm happy to say that, after a two-week back-and-forth with Framework Computers to get a mainboard replacement under warranty for my laptop, things should now be mostly back to normal in the IT department.

Two of the USB-C expansion ports on the left side of the Framework 16's chassis had died, the external video output didn't work in any of the USB-C expansion ports on either side, at first the computer wouldn't charge at all and later only through one of the right-hand side ports, and to add insult to injury it would spontaneously switch itself off after half an hour or so. This sounds very much like a mainboard failure, but actually getting the mainboard replaced involved taking the computer apart several times to take photographs of various parts of its insides, running test programs, etc., and one could be excused for thinking that things might go a lot faster if they'd just send a long catalogue of questions at the beginning rather than a seemingly never-ending sequence of “thank you for sending X, now please do Y and tell us how you got on”. An additional hassle was that Framework support apparently had problems receiving mail from my normal e-mail account, so I had to go to Google Mail every time to send them stuff. But I did get the new mainboard (a €1000 part, usually, if you need to buy it from their shop) at no charge in the end, so I'm not complaining! Also the computer could be made to work, after a fashion, even while I was waiting for the replacement mainboard, so I wasn't completely cut off from my stuff.

The other thing was that on the new mainboard, WiFi didn't seem to work properly, which was strange because the WiFi adapter was actually from the old mainboard. Apparently during the reassembly of the computer with the new mainboard at least one of the antenna leads must somehow have become disconnected from the WiFi adapter or something; I seem to have been able to get this fixed but let me tell you that connecting the WiFi antennas to a m.2 form-factor WiFi card using their minuscule but still fingertip-mauling connectors is, as far as computer hardware tinkering goes, the pits, the black hole of helpless annoyance and quiet despair, the absolute soul-sucking nadir of not-fun. OTOH, the Framework 16 so far does live up to its promise that, yes indeed, you can fix it yourself if something goes wrong. (The only obstacle seems to be getting the parts.)

(Fun bonus fact: The Framework USB-C-to-HDMI expansion port module also works in the graphics-enabled USB-C ports of non-Framework computers. This makes obvious sense once you think it through but it did surprise me a bit at first. Might come in useful at some point.)

In unrelated news: Tomorrow is the big day when the Central Germany Branch Easter SCD workshop starts. I hear that the course is nearly sold out with only 3 places remaining, so that's good. I still have to pack my bags but we hope to get going in time to be at the Kuckucksnest for dinner tonight – usually we skip the first evening but since I'm the teacher I figure I should be there, both to set an example and to see what the crowd is like on the dance floor.