MNT Reform is an open hardware laptop, designed and assembled in Berlin, Germany.
2021.10.08: ordered mnt reform.
2021.12.27: received mnt reform #000120.
2023.04.17: mnt reform #000120 is now being offered as a loaner by sdf.org.
2023.06.02: ordered mnt reform (2023 refresh).
2023.06.29: bought used mnt reform on ebay.
2023.07.03: received used mnt reform #000158.
2024.11.05: sold mnt reform #000158.
2025.02.24: bought used mnt reform on ebay.
2025.03.05: received used mnt reform diy.
screen
The trackball can press against the screen when the lid is closed, causing a small mark to appear on the screen.
case
Lid, screen bezel, keyboard frame, and wrist rest are made from milled aluminium. Side panels and transparent bottom panel are made from acrylic.
Screws in the LCD bezel are not covered, and over time the one in the center can start to rub the paint off of the wrist rest.
fabricate new side panels - forum thread
My friend kindly sent me a pair of metal replacement side panels. First I tried painting them with a paint brush and a bottle of Vanta Black. This flaked off easily, so I sanded them down and repainted them with black spraypaint (satin finish). Managed to chip that as well during installation. I don’t know what I’m doing.
2022.03.03 Update: MNT has now made available steel replacement side panels.
accessories
usb-c pd adapter (female) - bought one, it works
usb-c pd adaptor (male, non-amazon) - reported to work
lifepo4 replacement batteries (affordable, out of stock)
lifepo4 replacement batteries (expensive, in stock)
lifepo4 external charger - for recovering depleted cells (2-bay)
lifepo4 external charger - for recovering more depleted cells (8-bay)
laird wifi antenna - improved reception
2022.04.27 Update: I ended up just stretching the original molex antenna down under the trackball, which improved reception even more than buying an expensive new antenna. Because of its shape and the orientation of its cables, the Laird antenna wouldn’t quite reach.
iogear gwu637 ethernet to wifi n adapter - for operating systems where wifi doesn’t (yet) work
piñatex sleeve - note: pull tabs broke off in the first week
2022.02.22 Update: MNT sent me a replacement sleeve with new, all-metal zipper pulls that are now standard equipment on the sleeve.
2022.07.16 Update: One of the all-metal zipper pulls shattered as I tried to unzip the sleeve.
mbk-colors: 1u and 1.5u homing - replacement key caps, some with raised edges to help with acclimating to the non-standard keyboard layout
operating systems
9front - howto, sdcard image, sysinfo
alpine linux - fully functional (howto pending)
void linux - sdcard image (does not boot on my machine)
debian linux - pre-installed
keyboard
http://mnt.stanleylieber.com/keyboard/
audio in linux
By default, the speaker output of MNT Reform is a bit quiet, and
changing the volume with PulseAudio won’t dramatically change it.
There’s one more knob you can turn up that is only accessible via
ALSA.
Open a Terminal and type alsamixer. Then press F6 and select
the wm8960-audio card. Navigate with Cursor keys to the Playback
slider and turn it up
Well, there is no wm8960-audio listed on my system, only (default). And Master is already cranked to 100. Investigating, I noticed:
sl@reform:~$ dmesg | grep 8960
[ 3.613559] wm8960 2-001a: Failed to issue reset
edgineer says:
Usually a reboot gets the audio going for me if I see failed to issue
reset (happens on booting from power off). Lukas speculates on a fix
here[1] and another person[2] provided this line in order to rebind the
device without a reboot:
echo 2-001a > /sys/bus/i2c/drivers/wm8960/bind
I was able to replicate the issue and test the above line out just
now. I had to “sudo su” first. Then the audio device showed up in
alsamixer again just fine.
This worked for me, as well.
Update 2022.06.20: After numerous updates, sound no longer works for me in Alpine Linux.
leds in linux
echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/ath9k-phy0/brightness # needs root permissions
files
foot - foot.ini (sl)
rofi - mnt-reform.rasi
sway - config (default), config (sl)
vga - font (download page)
doc
diy assembly manual - pdf
interactive system diagram and interactive PCBs - html
sources (kicad, etc.) - repository
external usb keyboard manual - pdf
reviews
links
buy, community, faq, ifixit, reform school
