Hello/Newbie questions.

Hi all,

I’m new to Toughbooks in general, just got my CF-29 MK1 bought on eBay, on impulse. Shortly after purchase I realized that I had no idea what to expect seeing as how I’ve never heard of the Toughbook before. Found these forums they’ve been a great help.

Anyway before I start rambling on… My Toughbook just came in! It wasn’t as described but I’ve heard horror stories about the crap people try to get away with selling on eBay and consider myself lucky that I got a useable machine, with only a few minor problems.

The problems being –

It didn’t come with any sort of recovery disc.

I’m guessing the last owner got tired of unplugging the caps on the power jack and the USB it looks like they cut it off with an X-Acto knife.

On the bottom of the computer the back two corners look like they are missing a couple caps or something because when I look down into the holes I see a spring?

Other then that the Toughbook boots up just fine. I’ve read that batterers shipped with Toughbooks tend to be DOA but the one shipped with mine lasts for about five hours.

I’ve installed Ubuntu to get around the lack of recovery disc I’m new to that too. It installed just fine, and sees all of the installed devices only problem with that, is it sees them wrong, tough pad is slow, windows are way huge for the little screen, and the touch screen is way wonky, wonky is a technical term, but the OS is useable even if it’s a little unbearable.

Well that’s where I’m at with my Toughbook.

So now I’ve got a few questions.

Where can I buy the covers for the side, and for the bottom of the computer, and how much do they cost?

I’ve read in the faq that I can buy a recovery disc from hartland “Spelling?” how much do they cost?

Also if anyone has any experience with Ubuntu. I’ve gotten as far as to find out that I need to configure the xorg.conf file, but when I open it up the touch screen, the touch pad, and the monitor don’t show up? Are the drivers stored somewhere else, or do I need to do something to make them show up in the xorg.conf file?

Thanks,
- That Guy

 

What version of Ubuntu? If 10.04 see that thread and do it step by step.
Otherwise go to the Toughbooks and Linux thread and do that. I think it's post 79 that has the step by step.
The springs are normal like that.
This forum is full of good stuff. Pull up a chair and read.
Welcome.

Jeff

 

those corner things with the springs are for mounting on a port replicator or in a vehicle that help hold laptop stable, look up modly's sig and there are manuals available for download and the stickies at the top of this post have tons of info on the cf-29, you'll have a good time, check with toughbook the moderator for som recovery disks, he probably has some available, these guys here won't lead you astray.....Driller

 

Visible springs on back 2 corners are normal. You can get the Toughbook special drivers for Windoze (for touch screen etc) at

https://panasonic.ca/english/customercare/sandd/softwarequery.asp

 

Springfield was right to link you to the Canada site, as they have much more drivers available than the USA site for discontinued Toughbook models.

 

Yeah, they tend to break off after a while. Every now and then someone gets up a big Heartland order and they will order some. Somebody around here might even have some for sale, ask on Buy, Sell and Trade.

Welcome Aboard!

 

When are we going to get another Group Order together again???

 

Yeah.. I need a few parts too... But I need to take an inventory of what I already have. I've been passing out/installing port covers so much my stock is low... I know that.

 

Wow. That was random.

mnem
I feel like I just got stabbed at a drive-by shooting...

 

I hadn't had enough coffee when I saw that this morning to make a cogent comment. Not so subtle attempt at advertising?
CAP

 

It was SPAMTASTIC.... Thing is... I can't see wherever they ever posted before. I deleted it...

 

I would suspect that EVERYBODY deletes SPAMtard's posts Boo-Boo... that's why you can't find them.

mnem<~~~ Smarter than the average bear... maybe even smarter than a horse! ~~~<<<