[suvelx]

What's supported is indeed a mess...

I recently moved my desk between rooms. After setting everything up only one monitor seemed to work.

Tried multiple DP cables plugged things in and out with things in various state of power. Eventually gave up and chalked it up to karma and either having a dead monitor or dead dock.

Unplugged my laptop to go work in the lounge for a bit, came back later and plugged it in again amazingly both displays worked.

What changed? I plugged the dock into a different USB-C port. The one that actually supports DisplayPort Alt-mode.

[y4mi]

I've never seen a laptop that didn't label the thunderbolt capable ports, are you sure that wasn't just you not paying attention?

Or do you honestly expect all ports to be thunderbolt capable? If so, you'd have to expect a massive increase in price for that

[_wolfie_]

If the cable fits in the port, I would expect it to work, yes.

[KptMarchewa]

Does not seem to be that expensive.

https://frame.work/

[y4mi]

I'm speechless and stand corrected. $9 is incredibly cheap.

> The default card, supporting USB4, 20V/5A charging, and DisplayPort Alt Mode for connecting monitors, all on either side of the notebook.

I'm really looking forward to them finally getting more keyboard layouts, only reason why i havent bought one yet

[Tarragon]

Well probably not. Note that it's the same price as the USB-A port and cheaper than any of the others.

Also the base of each of those modules is USB-C

> Do I need to have a USB-C Expansion Card to charge the Framework Laptop?

> The Framework Laptop charges over USB-C from any one of the four Expansion Card bays. We suggest configuring with at least one USB-C Expansion Card, since it is difficult to directly plug into the recessed USB-C receptacle that is inside the bay.

This probably means the body of the laptop supports all those things and the USB-C module is just wires.

What's the cost of that support in the body itself? Not stated.

[tgaj]

I think he was talking about DisplayPort over USB-C. Thunderbolt is something different.

[netizen-936824]

That's probably indicated when the posted stated that they "...plugged it into a different USB C port..."

Considering USB c != thunderbolt

[jrochkind1]

Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB-C format.

Headline from the official thunderbolt website: "Thunderbolt™ 3 – The USB-C That Does It All"

-- https://thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-d...

This whole sub-thread is just a really good hilarious demonstration of the whole problem, nobody has any idea how to figure out what a given cable or port will do anymore. We can't even talk about it without getting confused. (But can still be snarky to others who we think got it wrong, even when we're wrong ourselves. It's the internet, we'll never run out of superciliousness!)

[netizen-936824]

I've dealt with it too. Some USB c extenders even won't carry some signals, such as video. It's an unbelievable frustrating mess. Just because thunderbolt uses the same USB c style connector doesn't make it usb c I wouldn't think. I figured the connector itself would have its own name, such as rj45 does. But who knows with this shit show.

[jrochkind1]

I believe the name of the connector is "USB-C". So that's thunderbolt over USB-C, which is what all thunderbolt 3/4 is.

The wikipedia article is both helpful and hilariously complicated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

[andybak]

Well they look the damn same.

[y4mi]

USB 3.2 is thunderbolt, so they've been the same for over 6yrs now.

tgaj probably just hasn't paid any attention to hardware in years but still feels like he should talk about it with confidence.

[wtallis]

USB 3.2 is not Thunderbolt. USB 3.2 achieves 20Gbit/s with signalling that is entirely incompatible with Thunderbolt signalling. It is completely possible to have a 20Gbit/s USB 3.2 port that has no Thunderbolt capabilities.

The first USB standard to incorporate Thunderbolt functionality is USB 4.

[jeroenhd]

I used to assume they the little thunderbolt next to USB-C plugs indicated that those are the charging ports. Now I'm not so sure anymore.