I need some parts...

I'm new to the forum but I think I've read every single post, I feel like I know some of you very well.

I've destroyed (3) laptops in 5 years through daily, intense use and damage incurred during that use. I finally decided to do something about it rather than just accepting that things happen when you use them as much as I do. (I spend about 12-18 hours a day on a keyboard, and my lifestyle dictates I use laptops instead of desktops)

I wanted a CF-29 at first, but after doing much research I decided I'd start with a 1ghz CF-28. I found one on EBAY and added another 256m and a DVD/CDRW combo drive to it. I have a GPS installed but I haven't had a chance to get it working as I needed a replacement for my last disaster asap.

I plan on working on the GPS soon. It has touchscreen (12.1"), the Cisco Air hidden pcmcia (working), running XP. I've had this unit (CF-28SRJGVDM) for about a month and although it's slower than I like it's a wonderful system.

I need a second hard drive badly. I am looking for a CF-VHD2830U (second hard drive installed in the media bay) with or without a hard drive installed. I'd like to know where the heck I can find one? (yes, ebay but was hoping someone here would sell me an extra...)

Will the CF-29 hard drive caddy work in the CF-28? (I was searching alot this morning but was unable to locate an answer to that)

I've tried cloning my CF-28 drive as well using a USB external enclosure but it isn't going well. I have had problems with corrupted data using this CMS enclosure on some IBM Thinkpads so I believe my enclosure's usb interface is bad. I am saving up some money to get a new external usb unit soon.

I hope to contribute alot soon as I get my hands on more systems so that I can work on but I can't risk my (one and only) CF-28... I will be installing a CF-28 in my Jeep but I'm trying to come up with a mount that won't take over the CJ7's interior.

I also have a question for radio people, I need to park the CF-28 near my 10m xcvr, which produces about 150w on SSB. Has anyone seen how RF affects the CF-28 if at all?

Thanks!

 

I'll welcome you to the club, but you'll probably get most of your answers from others.

I think the CF-29 caddy connects to the rear, rather than the side like the 28, but am sure it won't work on the 28.

I had some issues with my USB on the 28, but got a PCMCIA-USB card, and have worked fine with that, as it is USB2.0. Also a USB hard drive enclosure has been a lot of use. And I got a USB to SATA/IDE(desktop and laptop pin connections) to be able to use a cd or dvd drive externally.

 

Thanks!

I am also looking for a spare caddy (internal primary disk) with all the parts so I can build a backup drive and keep it in a safe place. I have to admit I never felt this level of excitement over any laptop before including all my Thinkpads. I guess I'm hooked. I have been spending too much time on ebay drooling over the listings of all the machines "for parts" and dreaming of building one for each of my vehicles with built-in mounts and maybe building the Ultimate Toughbook (desert camouflage, after-market gps, mini-pci wifi, et. al)

If anyone reading this (even months from now), Yes! I still want to buy these things as I believe in the axiom, "One is none, and Two is one.." so by this time next year I'll probably have even more ToughBooks and who knows, I may even have some extra parts myself to trade with everyone.

Molon Labe!

 

I am too. The first change I made was switching a 13.3" screen for my 12.1". That left me with a 12.1" 800mhz with no keyboard. I've reversed the screen and am trying it out as a pseudo-tablet, using a USB keyboard. I think this is something that may fit well in a small car or truck. Next step would be a wireless keyboard, and underdash mount for the -28. This is one reason I've been looking at booting Linux using a floppy and USB pendrive.

It is amazing the changes that can be made to these units. It's hard to keep up with it all.

 

I think everyone here is hooked! Just wait until you start sliding down the slippery slope of modding your rig...

 

I think that this is the only section on NBR with almost all of the users that mod the computers. Almost everybody in the Panasonic section is a hobbyist, and uses the toughbook as a tool.

That's why we may not have the fastest laptops (Probably the slowest laptops still in use on NBR), but we've got the most impressive ones. We're the most innovative!

Probably doesn't hurt that we've got a ton of skilled tradesman using these things.

 

Yep! And I'll bet that nobody else on NBR uses their laptop to catalog their study of bovine feces.

Toughbook users are......, well different.

 

So far I've used my CF-28 to operate several large computer controlled telescopes and imaging systems. I've also used it to control a Yaesu receiver and capture the audio from same. This is in addition to it's regular duty of ssh, openvpn, etc. as I perform my daily work.

 

I am by no means a 'skilled tradesman', but by reading through the posts here when I first joined, I've gotten the courage to try a few things with the CF-28 that I would have not attempted with a newer laptop (I did have PC desktop support training, so laptops was not a major jump). Of course the fact that I have been able to pick up some used units at very reasonable surplus prices has helped in trying things where I could have 'let the smoke out' if I twitched wrong.
Since my initial need was for an 'outdoors' laptop, to hopefully use as Terminus has with (small) telescope drive control and imaging, this suited my needs admirably, and the additional uses are just an amazing plus.
My main concern now is running fast enough to keep up with the true experts on this forum. Just trying to glean the bits of imformation that I can make use of is a full time endeavor. (Which reminds me, I need to find time to work on stepper motor controllers again)

 

It really is amazing the level of knowledge, professionalism, willingness to share said knowledge, and desire/willingness to try new ideas and mods (and stubbornness to get them working) that this corner has. All other similar types of forums I run into seem to result in WE R THE KULEST!!@! and U SUXORS!

 

Well I also use it on small scopes (12") LX200's

I am sitting here happily watching 5 satellites locked up as I type this, finally got around to installing WinFast Navigator to play with. I guess I should feel very lucky. I think I do need a new keyboard though, my "r" key sometimes doesn't work, it's starting to drive me crazy.

I guess I'm going to have to open my one and only and look to see if there is an emissive board installed otherwise I'll just get the standard keyboard.

 

Ahhhh... I see you've visited the Star Trek chats on SciFi.com...

mnem
SciFi Channel - The "Let's buy crap other people have s%!tcanned and call it new programming" people.

 

That's funny... One of the first Ultimate Toughbooks I built was for an observatory out in AZ. He uses it out in the field to control his telescopes!

 

It's not funny, it's perfectly logical

I am at almost 8k feet, and yes, I have an observatory. PM me for the url I don't want it publicly posted. I do alot of astronomy-related stuff, as well as unix and security. I'm an old-school hacker.
I am looking for some caddies so I can get a larger drive, then I'm going to install linux on it, and see how far I can push it.
I also have an idea I'd like to pursue for people running linux is to turn it into a mobile access point with dhcp server, ldap authentication, managed via a web server, etc. You could still do all the above and still use it as your workstation in the field. Using Toughbook's (and others) ideas to mount external connectors, then running at least one antenna up a mast that is perhaps anchored and guyed with paracord in the middle of nowhere attached to the portable VSAT w/ .9m antenna (i.e. Hughesnet, Wildblue, etc) (1.5mb down, 150kup) (yes, I know you could just get a dc powered access point but that would be no fun)

I just wanted to say you guys are the most fun people I've hung out with in awhile.




I

 

Unfortunately the drive caddys are hard to come by. The police think they have something that is worthwhile to steal on their drives (they don't), so they remove the whole caddy when they sell it. Other government agencies just have a policy that says they need to remove the drive, and taking the caddy is easy.

Damn them all.

They should all realise that formatting it a couple times into different formats will do the trick pretty well. I'm good at recovering files, but I can't see anything after I've formatted my Mac drives to FAT, Ext3, NTFS, then HFS+ again.

Then again, it's so easy to just pull that drive out.

Anyways, ranting off about caddys...

I like your ideas though. It's more proof that us Panasonic guys actually use our computers for a purpose

 

Terminus,

I've found recently that you can use a boot floppy to get a USB flash drive install of Linux (FeatherLinux and DSL) to boot. Haven't tried with a USB hard drive, but I'll have to attempt that and see. That might work for you. I'm hoping that might be a way around the drive caddy issue for using some of these hardy laptops in a remote type of installation. ( flash boot, solar cells, deep cycle marine battery)

For me that would be a large scope.

 

I have been running my CF-27 next to my ICOM 706 for several years and no RF problems. And no problems with the antenna tuner either. My only problem has been the Powerstroke diesel injector driver module really puts out the RF noise.
Good luck on the HDD caddy....
Rick H...

 

Thanks... I want to mount it next to my radios in the Jeep, and sometimes use it near radar. That ICOM 706 is sweet! What kind of antenna do you have in the mobile?

 

Just a 108" whip. The A-4 tuner does it all for all HF bands. Radio has separate connector for the 2/70 cm bands.
I often use the computer with Hamscope to translate the REAL fast Morse code and for other electronic data modes. I use an old world war II tank operators key that clips on the leg. I think the 706 is 100 watts HF.
I use a Gambler Johnson mount, the truck has buckets in it so its perfect. That mount is as solid as a rock!
Good grounding of the radio and antenna is the key to keeping RF where it belongs.
Rick H...