CF-18B mk1 Newbie questions

Hi there I have finally got windows XP pro to load onto my CF18 (bought a Samsung super write mastes USB cd/dvd drive specially to boot from only to find out the CF18 wont boot from it! borrowed an old Lighton cd/dvd USB drive and now I have a working machin

Q1. this is a touch screen model with a stylus but I cant get the stylus or touch screen to work...am I missing some drivers? (I got a cd of CF18 drivers from Ebay and I have installed as many as there were question marks for in Windows/system/hardware how do I know what I need...

Q2. Initially I was going to load Linux onto it so I bought 3 types, Debian 4.0 r2, Suse 10.3 & Ubuntu 7.10 Debian is the only one that stars to load, but when it gets to the bit were it says it is going to format th 60Gig drive I chicken out... don't want to lose Windows (it took me long enough to load)
Ubunu comes up with the initial screen, I click load the dvd starts to work there is some very broken music (intro?) and then I am left with an off grey screen with a cursor stuck in the middle (I waited 3 hours the other day & gave up) I have to actually remove the battery to get rid of this. and finaly Suse that starts OK Green screen , intro then it goes inti its install text mode & spends all its time failing to find a CD drive waiting 60secs etc, etc.
Finaly... what do you Guys recon is Linux worth all the hassel?

v confused

 

Just a thought, why not get a second hard drive caddy with hard drive so you can have one for windows and experiment on the other. That way nothing is lost when you format. It is the easy way out for people like me who are less technical than some here.

 

I don't have a CF-18, but did install debian to my cf-28, dual boot with W2K. My install went without a hitch, using boot floppies and the network install via an internet connection. Not sure why you would have so much trouble.

How is your HD formatted/partitioned? I used a 60gb drive also, partitioned 30gb for windows at the front, left the rest unpartioned, and installed windows there first. I then ran the debian install, it recognized the existing partition and allowed me to designate the next 30gb for linux, setting up separate partitions for the various partitions linux likes. I think I created 3 different parts. for linux.

There is a dual boot thread dealing with this here and I think a Linux install thread, and the Linux forum can give you more specific info on the distros and their differences, and maybe why you are getting some of the errors.

For your touchscreen - are there two types for cf-18s? I seem to remember something about there being a pressure touchscreen and an electrostatic one, but not sure if that is correct or if there is a difference in drivers.

Keep us advised as to how you are doing...

 

It's a good idea in theory, but the cost of a caddy is way up there. You're almost better off just dealing with the reformat.

 

The CF-18 Mounting kit is just $100. Not that astronomical of a price.

 

hi, to get your touchscreen to work i would suspect it would be the same as cf28 which is the same procedure as the cf72 (different driver of course) this procedure can be found under modly's sticky "cf28 f.a.q." top of the thread page-good luck

 

Hi again, I have sorted the touch screen / stylus. While I was waiting for a reply I did a bit of browsing in the forum, updated the windows driver mouse with the cd I got from Ebay & now I have a working stylus, touch screen... one thing though I thought ther is supposed to be a virtual keyboard on the screen when using it in tablet mode... or Iam I missing another driver?

 

as for Linux, my hard drive is partitioned into one 10 gig NFTS drive with XP on it @ 3 10 gig fat32 drives & 1 17 gig fat32 drive... is this why Debian was trying to format thewhole drive?

 

Do you ever have that feeling as soon as you have done somthing that it was really DUMB... last night after posting the above I thought I would give Ubuntu another go... guess what... ended up with a grey/brown screen with the curser frozen in the middle of it... nothing would turn it of ... ctl alt del, power switch...all they did was turn the screen into my own version of "the Matrix" intro all green & blue jumbled up lines....had to pull out the battery to get it to switch off. As a result, next time I tried to start it it said no operating system avail..... at least ~I am now getting a dab hand @ loading windows XP! I will have to do some more research & try to get to the bottom of this... I ;-) nothing better to do on a wet Saturday afternoon

 

From my limited knowledge, Linux needs at least one ext3 partition I think and one partition to set as swap, so if all of your partitions are fat32 it will need to repartition one. This is getting to the point where you should get a boot on LInux to be able to read through it to before starting.
You'll probably need to delete one or more partitions, and then Linux will be able to use the free space to install.

The installation should allow you the options to chose which partitions to use, and leave the NTFS alone, but my experience is too limited, and I would recommend reading first, or test with a live cd or pendrive version to see if it looks good to you before the HD install.
Check the PendriveLinux site for some info on setting up a bootable flash drive. Without a bootable floppy or CD/DVD option you're kind of in a bind.

HTH

 

I know with Ubuntu/Mint LiveCD's on my toughbook, I have to wait a little while for everything to load up. Perhaps yours was taking it's time too.

 

Hmmm.... yeah I thought that at first too... but 3+ hours...