144 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
144 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
<p>Over the years I've been a consistent[<a href="https://technomancy.us#fn1">1</a>] user of
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Thinkpads; early on because I liked the keyboards, but then later
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just because I wanted hardware that would last a long time rather
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than a machine with a soldered-in battery that's designed to be more
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disposable.</p>
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<img alt="thinkpad x301" class="right" src="https://technomancy.us/i/x301.jpg" />
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<p>My most recent device was a Thinkpad X301 built in 2008 which I
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started using in 2016. While it's no speed demon, using Firefox with
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<a href="https://ublockorigin.com">uBlock Origin</a> configured to
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block 3rd-party scripts by default left it feeling quite usable for
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my purposes, and the physical design of the device was perfect. They
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used a rubberized coating for the chassis in the X301 that
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I haven't seen in any other model that feels really nice on the palm
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rest. Unfortunately while nearly every component of that machine has
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withstood the test of time, the battery has not. The original
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battery's charge is down to around 90 minutes, and while it's
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swappable, working new batteries in this form factor simply cannot
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be purchased for any amount of money. I bought from two separate
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vendors claiming to have original batteries, but both of them sold
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me a battery which ballooned up and became unusable after a month or
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two.</p>
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<p>When I started to look for replacements I was dismayed. So many of
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the newer models had fallen into the Appleization
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trap—everything must be made as thin and as glossy as possible
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at the expense of every other concern. I don't want a thin laptop! I
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want a laptop where I can look at it and see what's
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displayed on the screen instead of my own face staring back at me. It
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seemed it was still possible to find a model with a replaceable
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battery, but even this basic feature was becoming increasingly rare.</p>
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<img alt="mnt reform in a hammock" src="https://technomancy.us/i/recursion.jpg" />
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<p>A couple years ago I became aware of
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the <a href="https://crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform">MNT Reform
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laptop</a>, and it seems like the perfect antidote to the mistakes
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the entire industry seems dead-set on repeating. It's a laptop
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that's focused on open design with schematics freely available and
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all parts easily serviceable by the end user. Finding this was like
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a breath of fresh air; it's like someone was finally listening to
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my frustrations.</p>
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<img align="left" alt="an Apple ][ computer with its case open" src="https://technomancy.us/i/appleii.jpg" />
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<p>The MNT Reform has
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been <a href="https://www.inputmag.com/reviews/mnt-reform-review-your-diy-laptop-fantasy-is-here-at-last">described</a>
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as "the anti-macbook" which I think is fitting, but ironically I
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prefer to think of it as the Apple ][ of laptops (in a good way). If
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you're like me and you're fed up with thin laptops, you will be
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pleased to see that this machine is <em>chonky</em>. It has to be in
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order to have room for its three most unique features: a mechanical
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keyboard, a trackball, and a standardized 18650-cell
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battery bay. Originally the batteries were what caught my attention
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after all the trouble I'd had buying replacements for my Thinkpad, but
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when I saw the mechanical keyboard I knew I had to have one. (But
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also: can we talk for a second about the <em>audacity</em> of
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producing a laptop with a trackball? Much respect.)</p>
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<p>Part of having an open design is having everything
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documented. While you can get the schematics for everything from the
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motherboard PCB to the 3D printed trackball buttons, the part that
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nearly everyone will benefit from is the
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excellent <a href="https://mntre.com/reform2/handbook/index.html">Operator
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Handbook</a> which describes the usage of the system in detail.</p>
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<img alt="bottom view of reform with components and PCB visible" class="right" src="https://technomancy.us/i/reform-clear.jpg" />
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<p>Other than the thick size, perhaps the most eye-catching feature of
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the Reform is its transparent bottom plate, which is laser cut from
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acrylic. Similar to the open lid of the Apple ][, it invites you to
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take a look inside and reminds you that this machine isn't magic:
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it's wires and capacitors and screws and connectors. It's physical
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parts you can understand and control.</p>
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<p>This machine isn't perfect though; there are trade-offs. The four
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ARM Cortex A53 cores in the CPU do not perform any out-of-order or
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speculative execution, which means they are not vulnerable to
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attacks like <a href="https://technomancy.us">Spectre</a> and Meltdown, but at the cost of
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speed. (I'm using it mostly for chat, email, and developing
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the <a href="https://fennel-lang.org">Fennel compiler</a>, and it's
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plenty fast for that.) The lid closes with a satisfying magnetic
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snap, but it doesn't have a lid sensor, so you'll have to turn off
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the screen yourself. The stock wifi antenna's range is quite
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limited. (But you can easily replace it!) Suspend is
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currently <a href="https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform/-/issues/8">not
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super reliable</a>, but there are ongoing efforts to improve
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that.</p>
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<img alt="reform kb" class="right" src="https://technomancy.us/i/reform-kb.jpg" />
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<p>The keyboard is ... well, it's head-and-shoulders above any other laptop
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keyboard I've tried. Instead of a comically huge space bar, the
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bottom row is broken up into a reasonably-sized space bar plus
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several other useful keys. But it's still frustrating in a few ways. (Note
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that I'm a major keyboard nerd who has spent a lot of time getting my
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keyboard setup <a href="https://atreus.technomancy.us">just
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right</a> and I am far more picky about this kind of thing than most
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people!) While you can reprogram the keybord firmware to
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reassign keys with ease, the physical layout is very awkward. It has
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a conventional row-stagger which is not great but also not
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unusual. The problem is that in most row-staggered boards each
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row is offset from the one above it by 1.25 key widths or so, and on
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the Reform it's 1.5. Even 1.25 is too much (zero would be ideal),
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but 1.5 makes it so you have to contort your hand even more to hit
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keys on the "ZXCV" row.</p>
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<p>Of course, it's a hackable laptop! Reprogramming the firmware to
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rearrange the keys can't fix problems with the physical arrangement,
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but I've built hundreds of keyboards by hand, so I planned to do design and
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construct one from scratch for my Reform when I got it. Unfortunately it's a little more complicated than I anticipated;
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the stock keyboard is integrated with the system controller which is
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involved with powering on the entire system and controls the OLED
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display containing the battery indicator, etc. I couldn't just adapt
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my existing design for a new form factor.</p>
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<img align="left" alt="ortholinear kb mock-up in a reform" src="https://technomancy.us/i/olkb.jpg" />
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<p>Luckily the folks at OLKB
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announced they were
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developing <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/06/ortholinear_keyboard_laptop/">a
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kit for an improved keyboard</a> with no row-staggering. I'd prefer
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an ergonomic design, but this is still a big improvement over the
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stock board, which is itself light years beyond anything I've ever
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used in a laptop before. I'm looking forward to building one out.</p>
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<p>Overall I'm thrilled with this laptop. It's available both as a DIY set
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which needs some assembly (just screwing things together and
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plugging connectors; no soldering) and as a prebuilt laptop, but
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honestly if you're anywhere near the target market for the Reform,
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you're probably going to enjoy the assembly process and are best off
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skipping the pre-assembled option. In the end the Reform is a
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powerful antidote to the user-hostile trends which have prevailed in
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computing over the past decade or so, and if you're anything like me
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and you don't mind a little tinkering, I can't recommend it
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enough. </p>
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<hr />
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<p>[<a name="fn1">1</a>] Starting with <a href="https://technomancy.us/74">a T60p in
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2007</a> followed by an X61, then an X200s, and finally a
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X301. I <a href="https://technomancy.us/160">took a brief detour</a> with a Samsung
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ultrabook but the keyboard was so unpleasant that it didn't last
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long before I sold it.</p> |