Though it's worth noting that when you do this you also don't have the SSD, RAM, or WiFi modules installed either. Though on the plus side you can choose not to buy those components from Framework and just supply your own, if you want.

I bought the DIY edition for a combination of wanting to bring my own components and not pay for Windows, and generally liking a little bit of tinkering. Installing the stupid little WiFi module antenna connectors was the only annoying part.

Ah. I stand corrected. Thank you!

Here's an overview on the state of Linux support, and the community forums are also a great source if you want details on a specific distro. But basically Ubuntu 21.04 works out of the box, and I'm currently on 20.04 LTS, which required some minor work arounds.

https://frame.work/blog/linux-on-the-framework-laptop

Oh I knew there was good Linux support. I just thought that you couldn’t get it without windows preinstalled. But it turns out I was wrong about that.