This card is the Framework Laptop USB-A Expansion Card but augmented to the extreme - and today, you can get one. The USB-A-ugment card has all the features of the stock USB-A Expansion Card including USB3 support, and then a whole lot more. For a start, it has an internal USB socket for a USB-A dongle - you can plug your Logitech mouse dongle in seamlessly. There's also a power switch which disconnects the CC resistor so that the USB-C port can go into powersaving fully - if you're on a trip and don't want to take the card out, just flip the switch.

These two features are pretty nice on their own, but there's more - the USB hub chip has two more ports, and I won't let them go to waste. There's a 9-pin grid that lets you connect 3.3V or 5V USB devices, as well as access CC2 and SBU1/2 pins - this grid lets you stack another addon card on top of the USB-A-ugment card, adding cool features in exchange for a small increase in thickness, letting you make your day-to-day carry bag a few USB dongles lighter. I have built three different addon cards, and you can easily make your own ones, too!

Addon Cards

The three addon cards offer different things. First one is a simple MicroSD reader - stack it on top of the USB-A-ugment, and you can access a MicroSD card without taking up an extra expansion card slot. Second addon provides an extra USB-C host-only USB2-only port, for any small USB-C devices you might want to plug in, and an optional USB-A port if you feel daring. The third card is the most intricate of them all - it's a USB-UART card for any tinkering you want to do, but it's also simultaneously an EC debug adapter, with an external USB-C port if you'd like to debug from another computer.

If you decide not to use one of these three addons as part of the stack, no worry - they are fully usable as standalone Expansion Cards, with minimum soldering. What's more - you can easily develop your own addons! The 9-pin grid uses 2.54mm spacing so that you can plug a small piece of protoboard on top of it, which means you don't even need to order a PCB to prototype an expansion or build a day-to-day use addon!

As a cherry on top, the fourth USB port is available on a 4-pin JST-SH connector if you so choose, with pinout mimicking the QWIIC standard so that it's safe to plug in a QWIIC device by accident. The connector can provide either 3.3V or 5V, which you can change with a slide switch on the bottom of the board. If you switch to 5V, a red LED lights up at the connector, reminding you to not plug in a 3.3v peripheral by accident. If you don't plan to use the USB connector, you can instead use that LED as a power indicator by leaving the switch in the 5V position at all times.

The Mechanical Aspect

For how featureful this card is, currently, there is a catch - I don't have a 3D printed shell design for you at the moment; my computer with Solidworks is not with me, so I can't even start the design yet myself. However, I am putting up a bounty for any 3D designers in the Framework community - I will send a full set of USB-A-ugment expansion card and addons to whoever can get a design up and running from the 3D models I will provide. If nobody takes up the bet, I will do a design of my own within a week.

The main card can also be run without the shell, even with a dongle inserted - there's reinforcement points for USB-C connector fastening, and together with the shield pins, the card does not bend out of the slot. It's not a long-term solution, but I do already run this card without a shell day-to-day, and I will do that until I can print out a shell for myself.

Despite the added thickness of the internal USB-A socket, the USB-A-ugment card alone doesn't extend beyond the feet of the laptop. Addon cards do raise the laptop, however, which can be solved with lower-profile machined headers and/or raising the laptop's feet with a 3D printed adapter while you use the addons.

What Do You Get?

• An USB-A-ugment card, fully assembled with either an SL2.1 or a CH334U chip, USB hub chips that both have support for USB2 MTT mode. As is, the card is fully ready to be used in place of the stock USB-A card plus an internal dongle, with the addon grid connectors soldered in as well.
• Any addon boards you pick as options, fully assembled, ready to plug into the USB-A-ugment
• Threaded inserts and M2 screws for fastening the board into a 3D-printed shell whenever its design is done

Later on, I will also offer 3D printed shells as an order option. You can pick an order option for me to notify you when a shell design is ready - chances are, the design will be ready faster than even the package arriving to your doorstep! If you'd like to use the extra addons as standalone expansion cards, I can add extra USB-C plugs to your package, and solder the USB-C plugs on if you so choose - this is your chance to grab a MicroSD reader or a USB-UART / EC debug card!

I hope that this ambitious card is to your liking - having used it for a bit, I can no longer imagine using my Framework laptop without the extra features it provides. In my opinion, this is what the USB-A card should have been from the beginning, and I'm glad I can offer it to others, too - apart from all the cool aspects, it's a USB playground like no other. Since I've ordered the PCBs, I've already come up with a few features and space improvements - for instance, the next version will fit into the original shell of a USB-A card (the current version was designed to do that but has a few hitches), and the addons will be even more sleek!

The cards are not yet open-source, but are absolutely intended to be fully open-source - I will polish and publish the design files on GitHub within a day; if you need the design files before then, message me and I'll send you a ZIP.