CF25 & CF37 Info.

Hey Guys!!

I was looking for an older laptop (to program some Motorola radios) that needs to run a true DOS program. I was looking for a CF-28 with a cd drive running Win98 and a DOS disk BUT...

A friend of mine came across a pair of older CF25/37's and I can't find much of anything about them other than they are 1990's tech but these seem interesting. Anyone know anything about them?? I think they have the caddy's missing, are they even available anymore?

Any info or opinions would be nice.

Thanks!

 

Go with the CF-28. Right now they are lots on eBay and they are cheap.

 

Agree 100% ^^^^

Also the CF-25/37 are so old that parts are very hard to find, very small memory, and BIOS will only recognize a very small hard drive. CF-28 parts are plentiful (I have boxes of them) and cheap.

If you're looking for a beater I can provide a working chassis for the cost of shipping ($15), floppy drive included. Upgrades and accessories negotiable.

 

I was curious about them. I have an old IBM with the switchblade keyboard, think it has a 50Mb hard drive (forget if it even has the operating system) and Just thinking if they were unique or anything. about all I could find was they are OLD... ;-) The 25 was the Original Toughbook and the 37 was just another rendition of it.

I have some parts for a 28 sitting around, I'll look into what I have and maybe take you up on the offer Springfield. I have heard that 'maybe' a 29 is old enough to do it all but the ones I have all run XP and that is the iffy part of it. :-( Plus the radio software is on Disc, will a USB external CD/DVD work with a 28?? This is one of those 'gunna get to it' projects that keeps popping back up on me.

 

You can get a floppy drive or a CD drive for the media bay of a CF28....No need for a USB drive..

 

I have a CF-25, well two of them. They are the first fully rugged model, they will remind you of a CF-27 looking at them. I have a mint Mk2, and a rough Mk3. Thinking of swapping parts one day. We have a CF-25 thread on here if you look it up in the sticky. It took me a while to find the dock, cd drive, floppy dive. Just a project to see what I can do with it. That one, CF-M34 Mk1, CF-17, CF-41 are my oldest ones.

I still think the CF-28 will be your best option also. Easy to find parts for. Semi modern, could use it as a everyday pc if you needed too. I would recommend a Mk2 or Mk3. It took me over a year to find a Door for the Mk2 CF-25. I had to buy the Mk3 to get it. It was the only thing missing on the unit.

 

I have a CF-25, well two of them. They are the first fully rugged model, they will remind you of a CF-27 looking at them. I have a mint Mk2, and a rough Mk3. Thinking of swapping parts one day. We have a CF-25 thread on here if you look it up in the sticky. It took me a while to find the dock, cd drive, floppy dive. Just a project to see what I can do with it. That one, CF-M34 Mk1, CF-17, CF-41 are my oldest ones.

I still think the CF-28 will be your best option also. Easy to find parts for. Semi modern, could use it as a everyday pc if you needed too. I would recommend a Mk2 or Mk3. It took me over a year to find a Door for the Mk2 CF-25. I had to buy the Mk3 to get it. It was the only thing missing on the unit.

 

I took a look at the CF's my friend has. the 2-28's are in pretty rough shape (and Black, not silver??) but I have a newer screen and plenty of 29 keyboards for it. but they both have the GPS system in them. From what I read, they are an 8 satellite system, better than what I have now though. ;-)

The 25 is a CF-25LJM8EAM and the 28'S are CF-28MJFGEEM no power cord/caddy's with either of them and they have the 3.5" drives but I have a CD from a 29 that should work. No idea of the processor in it as it won't boot without power.

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate the Knowledge! Looks like I should have a decent 28 W/ GPS to play around with when its all done.

 

Model Number:CF-25LJM8EAM
Status ISCONTINUED
MSRP:$3,999
Description: MMX166/12.1"SVGA/32MB/4GBHDD/AR

CF-28MJFGEEM
Mk1 600Mhz
J - 12.1" SVGA Touch Screen w/ Std Keyboard - Blk Cabinet
F - 20GB HDD - 128MB RAM
G - Floppy Disk Drive - Modem - Ethernet
E - GPS - No Wireless LAN
E - Windows 98
M - North America

That is what you are looking at right now.

 

I would trade a complete 28 Mk3 for one of the black 28s. Believe that configuration was a police setup, and you'd be lucky to get 8 sats on the GPS. A 28 Mk3 has 1GHz cpu and 768MB memory, not that old DOS would care. But good for Linux.

 

Thanks ADOR, I was searching around for the configurator but couldn't find it. That $3999 back in the mid 90's seems astounding, but they will be saying the same about the $3-4K current TBooks in 2030. They are old Police toys, but why the Black cabinet VS Silver? That 166MHz sure blows away the 8088 12MHz in my first computer!

Springfield, let me get them in my hands and I'll let you know their condition, there IS a pair of them and doubt if I'll need both. Just to clarify, the Mk3 at 1Ghz would run MS-DOS/ DOS properly? Will it run on Win98/98SE or does it need WinXP?

Thanks guys! Time to take the dog for a walk, she has been pacing and so Patiently waiting.

 

C - Windows NT
D - Windows 2000
E - Windows 98
F - Windows 2000
G - Windows XP Pro
K - Windows XP Pro
N - OS (No install)
P - Dual (NT-2K)
Q - Dual (XP-2K)
Z - Blank (No-License

These are all of your factory options for OS's. But it shouldn't be a problem on that machine, Or I wouldn't think it would be.