CF-28 Internal PCM CIA Slot???

Can someone tell me if the CF-28 has an internal PCM CIA card slot? I replaced my motherboard recently and, for some reason, didn't notice it. Today I was taking apart the laptop to do some internal work and reroute a few wires. I noticed a black piece of plastic sticking out from under the motherboard. I pushed it back in to see what would happen. (I couldn't see what was under there.) I went to my shop to look at the old MoBo and saw what it was. It looks like a single internal PCM CIA card slot. BUT... There's no way to put anything in it unless you take the MoBo completely out.

Does anyone have an idea what this is used for?

 

Ooops... Nevermind... It's for an internal Cisco Aironet 350 wireless card.

 

Hmmm... Looks like a PCMCIA bluetooth card would fit in here... An easier hack than I thought!

 

That's very interesting. I just got a CF-28 (haven't received it yet) which has a 56k modem, 10/100, and GPS, but no WiFi. Do you know what wireless card does inside, and if I need to remove something in order to install it?

Thanks.

 

I removed my modem in order to install the mini-pci wifi card. I'll never use dial-up anyway. When you get the laptop... Can you please look to see where the GPS is located in the CF-28? (I have a feeling it is in the internal slot.) I am trying to find a GPS unit to put in mine. (I'd go without bluetooth for GPS!) But I can't find the retrofit item anywhere. (Let me know if you want to sell your GPS module!)

The thing is... The case is made out of magnesium so you'll eith need to hack the RIM antenna (if so equipped) or add an external antenna. I did a little write-up around here somewhere about adding an external antenna.

Let me know...

 

Thanks. I am keeping the GPS, I think, since I bought this as a boat navigation computer. I have a GPS receive on the boat that I can connect via RS-232, but internal is cool.

I'd love to know what the arrangement and type of expansion bays are in this system. Like, how many internal ports for expansion cards and what type, and also what cards did Panasonic make available, in what combinations - like was the modem combined with the Ethernet? Was there a CDMA wirelss data modem (as for use with Verizon EV-DO)? And the memory expansion - what's the base memory size, and what is the max configuration?

What I would like is GPS, Bluethooth, WiFi and wireless data at the same time.

regards,

jv

 

Go to the Toughbook configurator page...

http://www.config.toughbook.com/pcsc/config/tgconfigure.nsf?open&selected=discontinued-all

Type in your model (found on the bottom of the laptop) and see what was available for your laptop. It should tell you based upon the other items selected when new... What was available but not installed. I've noticed that some CF-28s have different things available depending on what other selections were made. For instance... If you have the 12" touchscreen... CDMA may not have been available for some reason. (Not an actual issue but you get the idea.) I've noticed that 256MB of RAM is max on some but 768MB is max on others... It depends on what other items were chosen.

Check out the site and see what was available for your model.

 

John... After a little research... I think you can have GPS or the ethernet plug on the side of the CF-28... The GPS card (and my bluetooth card) won't fit inside the laptop with the ethernet port installed.

It's why Panasonic didn't offer the combination.

Just FYI...

 

Hi all
Thats some great info so far.
I'm new to the world of laptops, I have a CF-28 that I would like/need to get GPS into also. As I need to wait for a new HDD caddy from the States as the AUS Army here rip out the caddy's before they sell them. So good time to ask a few questions.
She's a ex-AUS Army model CF-28PTJAZDM, and by what the Toughbook configurator says it a basic model, tho it has 512Mb Ram, In-Built Network
of a Aztech internal Modem and LAN/Ethernet port. That the Army for you lol.

I have the manuals for it but they don't say a word about what the GPS card is IE: make, model, type and all that. Hell even the Service manual doesn't say anything about the internal PCM CIA card slot. Tho there is a great bit on reseting the start up password.

I need a internal one, as I'm going oversea soon and some of the places I'm going I cant affored to have a GPS hunging out the side in the PC card. And at the moment there the only ones I have found on the net.

Are there GPS for internal PCM CIA card slot or mini-pci card??? If so where can I find them?? Tho I'd like a PCA CIA one more as I need the mini-pci for a wifi card, as I want LAN, Wifi and GPS.

Jviss, do you know what make and all that is of the GPS in your CF-28??
If you do, then thats at lest a start for me to start looking for.

I'm going to get rid of the mini-pci modem card and drop a wifi card in there, just like Toughbook did, by the way get Mod tho I'm going to see if I can put the plug in where the phone line goes. It will be fun I know........
Toughbook, do you have any ideas on a good wifi card I should look at getting?


And on a side note, does anyone know what CN40 and CN18 are for on the MAIN PCB under the battery?? I just know its for "Config CN(A),(B)". what ever that is?????

And anyone know if there are still optional Second battery and HDD caddy's still kicking around, or if anyone knows there part No.????

 

I don't know what the part number is for the internal GPS. I have tried, without success, to find a retrofit for this. I haven't seen any come up for auction on ebay. I've searched the Internet and a few come up for $500+ USD. A little too much for me! This is just a "kicking around" laptop for me. I'll eventually buy an old CF-28 with GPS off of ebay and dig the parts out.

For an internal mini pci WiFi card... Go with an Atheros based A/B/G card and get one that is 100mw power. This will ensure you get a strong signal when you add the external antenna.

I think the CN40 and CN18 connections are for the CDMA stuff for the RIM setup. (If so equipped.)

The battery for the media bay is part number CF-VZSU1428W. I bought one off of ebay. I left my CF-28 running with apps to keep it working and it ran for just over 6 hours with both batteries. I think I paid $75 USD for mine but the prices run up to $150 USD. I have yet to see a hard drive caddy for the front bay.

 

I should get my CF-28 today, but I don't know how soon I'll be taking it apart. Once I do I'll let you all know what make/model the GPS card is.

It is my understanding, too, that there is some kind of integrated GPS antenna. Since I have never seen a GPS equipped CF-28 with the external telescoping wireless antenna, I suspect they use the same spot on the case, the top left display corner, for the GPS antenna. We'll see.

 

Thanks for the info,
I have got on the way a Atheros 108MW based A/B/G card kit from evilbay.
The 8MW more wouldn't make a differences will it???

The only place that I have found the GPS kit is here, but it a retofit from the CF-29 for the CF-28 only, http://www.toughbookxchange.com and thats $180 USD new. They also sell the Multiband antenna kit and 2nd battery too, all around the $170 to $190 USD mark.

That place is one of the ones I have found so far, there are a few other sites I have found but this one is the best so far for parts 2nd to evilbay.

I found this site about the GPS and CF-28, but thats about it at the moment, not much else info there. Not bad for a brief read tho.
https://pia.khe.siemens.com

As for the 2nd HDD, I think that you could rip the guts outs of a regular CF-28 CD drive and drop a HDD in there, like you did Toughbook with your DVD mod ( another get mod ). No reason I cant see as there a modular design. The only part that has me stumped is the connection for it, as I don't think that it will fit the CD Drive connector in there now and I don't know how to make a new connector for it,IE: ATA to slim line Drive / ATA to MP connector.

As for the CN40 and CN18, I think I'll just leave them, CDMA is being taking off the air here very soon for the G3 network, there will a lot of CDMA phones being dumped in the tip when that happens

 

The link you give that goes to Siemens is for a GPRS communications card, not a GPS.

 

I've emailed the Toughbook Exchange several times and never got a response. I'm not sure I'd want to deal with them with that in mind. I did not try to call them however. Maybe I'll try that.

No... The extra 8mw won't matter.

As far as modding the extra HD into the CD slot... Good luck! There was another guy who was trying to wire his own HD connector and couldn't get it going... And he did that kind of thing for a living as I recall. I experiment with mine... But not with stuff that could potentially fry the laptop. Well... Maybe sometimes I do... :0

Action... Are you saying that you want to put CDMA into your laptop?

 

Yer that link to Siemens was my stuff up lol, should have read all of it and not just some of if hehe .

That a shame to hear about Toughbook Exchange being like that, tho I have not emailed them yet either. But I will soon and see how that goes.

I know that the mod for the 2nd HDD was going to be hard, just not that hard. I think I'll just keep an eye out for a original one.

As for the CDMA, that would be a big NO as it is being fazed out here I the next few years, so that would be piontless in buying one.

I did a bit of looking in the laptop the other day, and there is a chanel in the top case under the keyboard that runs from the main pcb to the screen hing. So that would be for the integrated GPS antenna I'm guessing.

 

That is the cover for the keyboard connection. I am VERY familiar with that area. When I swapped in the rubber back-lit keyboard I broke the connector on the motherboard. I had to swap in the spare motherboard I had. Now my FN keys don't work.

 

Dam, sorry to hear that mate, and thanks for the correction.

Oh just found this too FYI,
• 2nd Hard Drive part No is CF-VHD2830

Still looking for GPS info

up date, just found this in goggle under "Specification for CF-28 GPS system" http://buytough.com/tb_pdf/GPS_Spec_CF-18-29.pdf

Tho it is for the CF-18/29, I have found another site that said it was the same card tho;

"GPS Functionality: GPS modules are available as accessories, including Matsu****a Communications Industry Co.'s (Japan) CN-GX0290A CF-18 / CF-29 modules feature 12 channels and 1575.42 Mz L1 frequency. The CF-28 / CF-M34 modules feature 8 channels and 1575.42 Mz L1 frequency)."

I have sent am email to Panasonic to find out if this is right or not.

 

I'm starting to lean more to what jviss suggested and get a USB GPS. I have one around here somewhere... I just can't find it. I have Co-Pilot 7 from ALK industries. I had their PDA software and complained to the owner... He sent me software for laptops to make up for it. I took out the GPS to play with it along with Netstumbler and now I can't find it!

Heck... I could probably glue the GPS receiver to the laptop and hardwire the USB connector somewhere. I'm not using the laptop enough as it is though... I bought it more to play with and experiement with. I'll probably put mine back on ebay eventually and try to move on to the CF-29...

 

my mate has done the same thing with his dell laptop he bought a usb gps of ebay for £25quid and attached it onto the lcd of the laptop, drilled a little hole for the wire to come down and out from the bottom, from where it just plugs straight into the usb port....

 

this is the card the toughbook came with also it shows on the page where the internal card slot is????????
Cisco Wireless AIR-LMC352 Upg
http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Tough...ryZ74954QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and finding out more of the bluetooth,
well panasonic sent them out with a Integrated 3Com Bluetooth

 

Like I said... You still have to open up the laptop to unscrew the srews... And then pull off the cover. You can't take it off from the outside. It's not like you can slide it in and slide it out.

 

the guy is going on about cracking the case, not too sure if i really want to crack my case just to get too the internal slot??????
what you think???????????

 

You pretty much will have to take he whole thing apart... Not hard to do... Just time consuming. And you always run the risk of messing something up... But then that's the fun part!

 

if it were just taking apart maybe i be more tempted in doing it but cracking my case on the side just so i can use the internal slot, well i rather not, once the case is cracked might not be that strong from that side any more.........

 

I'm new here, but figured I could chime in a bit. I've got a parts toughbook that I've ripped apart to find bits and pieces about my other book, and I found that you can access the internal slot without ripping the whole thing apart.

If you open up the PCMCIA door, you'll see a small screw about 1/2" to the left of the door release. That's screw #1.

Screw #2 is very accessable, just pop up the battery door on bottom, and right next to the hard drive is a hole (between the drive and the right side of the case). The screw is in there about 3/4" or so. Once both are unscrewed, get a small flathead driver and pry up on it from near the PCMCIA release, and it'll pop right out.

I tried putting my Netgear PCMCIA card in it, but it did not recognise the card. Not sure if I've gotta do something else or not to make it read from the port or not.

 

these pcmcia slots were manily used for the bluetooth cards or wifi cards,
saw one go the other day on ebay for £16quid, but not many around, the wifi cards are around but expact to pay around the £40quid mark on a good day...........
anyway cheers for the heads up on how to get the door open........

 

reading here get me interested in these internal slots, dont rmember seeing anything like this in my duron vaio or p75 satelite, not that i was really looking

while browsing i've come across a tech manual for cf-28, lots of detail, exploded views, system level schematics etc, but it only mentions 600mhz.

does anyone here already have this, does anyone want this and is there a another version covering 1000mhz models (the one i will hopefully recieve soon in working order), and if so does anyone have that

i should stop reading the stuff in this forum, i'm itching to take something apart for no good reason :-/

 

I've got the manual and drivers for the CF-28... Supposedly covering all variants.

The internal slot (as far as I know) is native to the Toughbooks only. I'm sure there are others out there that do but I've never heard or seen any.

 

As far as I know, all CF-28's are the same in build type, eg all have the same number and types of conncetions on the MoBo. It is just the Ram con* that is not the same on the 1 Gig Hz models as there a 200pim Ram where the 600/800Mhz are 144pin types.

If anyone really knows, can we find out if this is right??

 

oooh i really really didnt know about the ram, are you 100% that the 1ghz models use 200pin sdram, only thing i though was diffrent was the fact that the 1ghz model uses pc133 while the others use pc100.........

 

yeah that ram thing is the only thing that would be a bummer for me.

but i've got my 1G cf-28 coming hopefully, and i already have the 256MB module in a vaio i'm gonna bust up so it isnt gonna cost me to see if it fits and works.
if the current 256 is all on board like i'm hoping then 512 total will be more than healthy for cpu with that spec.

as for the hard drive, it's getting whatever is in the sony too, straining to remember i think i bought it one of the very last of the real IBM travelstars
my vaio is still suprisingly nippy for a duron 700 i've seen less responsive desktops with much higher specs.

 

same here am trying to buy some ram for my one, and still nothing...
got afew things to do down london this coming week and there a shop down there that work with panasonics so hopefuly i'll remeber to take my toughbook with me when i go there.........

 

I guess (when you are talking about the CF-28) that there can either be 128MB (600Mhz), 256MB(800Mhz) or 512MB(1Ghz) soldered to the board. I agree that the motherboard surely must be the same... But only within select models. (CF-28s w/ 600mhz are all the same, then 800mhz are all the same, etc) I'd love to be able to desolder the base RAM and solder in a higher amount but I guess the BIOS wouldn't like that.

What I don't get are the 1000Mhz models that say they can go up to 1GB RAM... Do they have 512mb of RAM soldered in? They must have! Yet I've never seen one of these advertised.

 

thats exactly what i been thinking??????
there must have had 512mb soldered to the motherboard but after googling for around 30mins i havent found anything to match that........

 

if i'm reading correct my manual says the onboard ram should be chips IC 33, 35, 41, 80, 83
looking on the top and bottom side of the mainboard and havent found them yet... and this pdf is giving me eyestrain

 

ok got em, ic's 35-41 and 80-83 form two symmetric banks
33 must be somewhere else and prob a controller
main pcb bottom view, thats rows/collumns 3,4,5 - c,d,e
page 103 in the early cf-28 manual.

the bios can be flashed on these units (am i right?), so the only thing stopping you is if the chipset/controller cant address the memory, which i would doubt.

wouldnt fancy soldering new chips to the board myself though ;-)
enjoy

 

jamesjrl,
have you recieve ur toughbook, if yes when will you be checking ur ram out????????

 

lol, i'm getting confused following so many parallel topics
hoping to see the laptop this week, its all in the hands of the posty :-/
hoping to have it apart within minutes to install the ram and drive
i'll tell you what i find as soon as i can

 

ok,
just keep us updated

 

Hello all, I recently ordered from E-Bay a cf-28 with touch screen, GPS, lighted keyboard, and cdw/dvd. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220133586572&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=012 I have been following this thread on the internal pcmcia slot for the wireless card. So I purchased this card, http://www.data-alliance.net/servlet/Detail?no=26 I think just by looking at it it may fit in the internal slot you have been posting about since its antenna pops off to install an external antenna. Anyway I will try to install it when it gets in. Hopefully the cf-28 will be here by the end of the week so I can get it up and running and maybe tweaked. Thanks for all the information here.

 

that will fit without any worries, look really good too......
are you going to be putting a external areial?????
best reception will come from a external.....
check out "toughbook wifi hack"

 

I've been following that thread too. Yes I have a 7db external antenna on the way. I would like to have one mounted on the box too. The site says that there are two antenna jacks on the card.

 

most have 2, but you can just use one if you like,
if it were me i'd just use one, maybe leave the other one,
or you could just hide the secound arieal inside the toughbook

 

best bet ask toughbook he the hardware guy around here!!!!!!
am more into my softwares..........

 

Bigfoot... Awesome laptop dude! Great price too! You have a lot of stuff there! Great choice on the additions! The only thing I would say is be carefull of the transmit power! If you use the external 7dB antenna you should be fine... But with that power I wouldn't get "Hack Happy" or you might fry something! (IE, Using the RIM antenna for the aerial)

Good HD selection too... You'll have a rockin' machine in no time!

What is "mounted on the box"???

 

'mounted on the box' to me means having one permanently attached to the laptop, either on the screen bezel where the factory one goes, or on the side where yours is. I just hope it has everything advertised. Sometimes things on E-Bay aren't what they advertise.

 

I'm interested in finding out if the card in the PCMCIA slot works or not. I'm not sure if my card was inserted all the way in or not (The antenna lump was touching the case).

If so, I'll see what future mods I need to do, and see about working them into there.

I'm really looking at a newer Mini PCI card though (I know.. already? I've had it two days), but have any of you guys seen the Ubiquiti cards? It just screams "put me in a toughbook".

 

From reading here it should work since the factory put one there. I will let everyone know as soon as I get it. If worst comes to worse I will utilize one of the two external pcmcia II slots.

 

most universal mini-pci cards should work with the cf-28, as some cf-28 toughbook came with the intel mini pci wifi cards,
the internal pcmcia slot well seen afew ppl try this and had no luck,
the slot was used for the pcmcia wifi card,bluetooth pcmcia card....etc

 

DJACID, you're right the internal pcmcia slot is a no go. OH well I tried. I wonder if there is some way to activate it on the mobo, (dip switches) It would be nice to use, the wireless card I recieved fits in perfectly.