The OFFICIAL Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook Thread!

sollybeans,
Welcome to the forum. In short, no & no. All of the Full Rugged Toughbooks have their CPUs soldered to the mother board and are not replaceable. I believe your ram is maxed out at 1.24. Start looking into fast hard drives to speed it up.
CAP

 

Thanks for that CAP. Another question If I may what type of speed would i be looking at
SB

 

pc2700 ddr 200 pin


Alex

 

SB,
What Alex said for the ram. If you are talking about speed in the sense most people do, I would say fairly fast. It will never be a blazing video editing or gaming machine. My CF-28s are almost fast enough for most of my uses. You have to wait a while for them to boot up and shut down, but except for streaming video and really big downloads, they tend to be slowed down more by external factors than by the systems limitations. I think speed is overrated unless you REALLY need it. My first CF-29, a MK4, seems pretty fast, but its just been built and has not yet done any work.
CAP

 

Thanks again, Cap when you replied the first time you made reference to a fast hard drive what type are they, I thought that the hard drive that goes in the caddy all run at the same speed. I think that the one I have in at the moment is standard as is only has a capacity of 40 Gb.
IS there that much difference in the speed and will this slow down if I get a larger capacity?

Thanks SB

 

Solly... Welcome to the forum... The stock hard drive is a 40GB, 4200 RPM IDE hard drive. You can upgrade to a brand new 160GB, 5400 RPM hard drive for under $100 (Actually around $60!) The size, up to a point, has no relation to speed. It is all about the rotational speed of the platter. You can also try to find a good, used 100GB, 7200 RPM hard drive. I used to buy Hitachis until they stopped in favor of the SATA type connector.

So they have three speed limits and yours is going the slowest... YES... You will notice a definite speed increase but as Cap said... These will never become gaming notebooks. They are known for ruggedness and durability and being run over with tanks and trucks... Not for their speed. The speed increase will help you bot a little faster, open programs a little faster. Everything happens just a little faster. It is a great investment and the easiest of all mods to do aside from adding RAM.

 

Hello and I hope to be a semi coherent contributor and part time pain in the ....

 

Welcome to the forum kopcicle

There is always room for one more here, and I see by your Profile that we have similar interest’s lol

Wow I’m impressed already by all the icons under your Rep Power
It’s quite colourful. but we will have to work on an avatar for you

I see by your signature that you have a cf-29 , well that’s great its one of the best Toughbooks made
You can go back when you have time, over months and months of previous posts talking about the cf-29’s
There is more info here on Toughbooks than anywhere on the net


Alex

 

Oh I've been doing my home work and know who I can bribe with hardware and software already . As for whom I can bribe with the isle of Islay's finest , well I leave that to the imagination . My network here is a shambles at the moment so I don't have access to all my data . I do have a variety of avatars that fit the personality . I'm developing an opinion about ubuntu as a M$ alternative and compiling a bit of experience along the way .
I'll be needing to multi-boot this thing with a number of operating systems that just happen to ALL require primary partitions so cry havoc and let slip the dogs of hack!

 

kopcicle.... Welcome to the forum. I look forward to you adding to the fountain of knowledge. The CF-29 is one of the best laptops on the planet... There is SO much to do with it! So many mods... SO little time.


BTW... I edited your post as you aren't supposed to try to bypass the filter for bad words... No problemo.... Just wanted you to know.

 

I know the info is here somewhere in these 26 pages but my search isn't coming up with it.

Is there an upgrade for the stock WIFI card in the CF-29 MK4? The current
works fine but if there is something better I NEED IT!!

 

stiffnecked,
"Magnetomagician" who has been posting on the CF-VDW07 thread says he has a Ubiquity XR2 in his 29. For what they cost they better be an upgrade!
CAP

 

Stiffnecked,
Cap is correct. I do have an XR2 in my 29. It's a very tight fit due to the bump of the RIM antenna connector. I eased the bottom of the casing inside a bit to relieve the problem and had Jim Gray make me up a RG178 cable with a MMCX right angle male connector to RP-SMA Bulkhead fitting. For ease of fitting and to experiment I removed the RIM WiFi bits of the OEM system and drilled through one of the plastic tabs on top the LCD to mount the bulkhead fitting. Running with a 9DB antenna it pulls in signals I never knew existed in my area!
Adrian

 

Next time you take things apart maybe you could take a few pictures and post them. That sounds about like what I am wanting to do. Where did you find your XR2 at?

 

SK,
I'm sure to be in there again in the near future! I got the card sent over from My Wireless Equipment dot com in Fla. Not cheap but does what it says on the lid.
Adrian

 

http://metrix.net/wireless-cardsadapters-minipci-cards-c-3_7.html shameless plug for the local guys .

 

Other than higher cost... What does this do that the Engenous 600mW card doesn't? You could mod in an external antenna on that as well.

 

http://metrix.net/ubiquiti-extreme-range-2-xr2-24ghz-600mw-minipci-p-59.html

It will be interesting to hear the comparison. Both are 600mw. The one drawback on the XR2 is that it has the mmcx connector. Just something else to work around. I'll probably just buy another Engenious since I went ahead and spent too much on a new Glock 27 with factory night sites.

 

Did you add Trijicon Night Sight's or something else?
I have Trijicon on my 1911 and there are great for shooting after dark

Alex

 

They are just the standard Glock night sights. Walked into the store yesterday and they finally had one in. In this part of the country that is a rare event. Usually within a couple of hours of them coming off the FEDEX truck they are already sold. Same with ammo. I think people here are preparing for the next civil war. That's why the wife and I are moving back up to Alaska this summer. We don't want to be caught in the middle of this madness when it starts. Get my Toughbooks all set up, drag along my Hughesnet satellite system and we should be set. Oh, and if anyone has one for sale I'm still looking for a Barrett 50 cal. in semi auto.

http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifle_82.aspx

 

At $4.75 per round I wouldn't want to sight that sucker in too often!
And to think we used to burn that stuff up by the 100's on the range just for fun.
CAP

 

do you still have a copy of the cf-29 service manual

 

Hello all, im a new cf-29 owner (in fact so new it has not arrived yet) and thought i would join the forum to benefit from the wealth of knowledge here.
Thanks in advance for your patience with a newb..

There seems to be allot of these on ebay these days, im guessing government agencies and police forces are upgrading their equipment..

Given the choices, what are the significant differences between the MK3, 4, 5?

Is it worth $200 more to get a MK5 (N) or not really.

I know the processor speed goes from 1.4 to 1.6 but are there any other significant differences?

Given the same ram and hard drive is there a noticeable speed difference between the two? (boot up, starting programs etc)

Cheers

 

Welcome to the forum!!

I know that the mk4 and mk5 have an addition USB port instead of the PS2 port in the back. I haven't really messed with mk3s too much so I'm not too sure about those. I do know that the mk4s & 5s use the newer better and cheaper DDR2 ram and both come with 1.6ghz processors. I don't know about being worth $200 more the way I see it is if you hold out long enough you can always get them to go lower or you can watch the other poor slum over pay for it and get a giggle

Dan

 

Buy the nicest one you can afford. If $200 will leave you hungry... Buy the 1.3GHz and max out the RAM.

IMHO... There isn't much difference between the speed of the 1.3 or 1.4GHz and the 1.6GHz if the RAM is maxed out in both. However, as Psycho points out... The MK4 & MK5 use the better DDR2 RAM, it's cheaper too! The extra USB ports are good as is the SD card slot if you need/want that.

If you are a tinkerer... Then buy a base unit and build it. You'll need precision Wiha (Or similar) tools or it will look butchered when you finish with a case full of boogered screws. If your aren't handy... They have them fully built up. It's all up to you!

 

Nice catch I always forget about the SD card slot on the newer marks.

that brings up a question. will a mk2 support a sd card slot from a mk4? I have more broken mk4s than mk2s so I have the parts lying around. I so need to clean my office....

Dan

 

Thanks TB so only the MK4 and 5 have the SD card slot.. thats good to know and also having more than one usb could be handy..

 

Dan... I'm not sure of the card reader would be supported in the BIOS... Or even need to be depending on what you want to use it for.

 

Eh, don't really need it but I would hate to see a bunch of them go to waste if they can be used on the mk2s

 

Two words.... Parts Sales!

 

yeah I was gonna try that but these things don't fail often enough to justify putting them on fleabay. got enough trouble getting rid of the crap that does sell. lol

 

I just bought my first laptop and I new that I had to get a toughbook. So I bought cf-29 (1.6 centrino, little over 500mb ram, 80g hard drive, touchscreen, $550) off of ebay that had a bluetooth "antenna" according to the description. Well it came in and it didnt synch to my phone, ebay guy says "I think they come with the antenna but it doesnt have the module". I dont know a heck of a lot about computers so my internet search brought me here. I read that you bought the billionton bluetooth card with the moveable antenna and were still able to close the access door. I havent been able to find that one but I did find this by the same company....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Billionton-v2-0...in_0?hash=item56348aa75e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
.....on ebay. My main question is, is this an inferior product to the one you were writing about and will the door shut with this thing in it?

So far the cf-29 has been awesome just need some bluetooth fo the mouse and the phone etc. Thanks for the help!

 

I think that I read that you need the removable antenna version for clearance
I think the hardware is identical,its just the antenna that is different
That was posted a long time ago , and I don't remember if it was on the 28 or the 29, so maybe one of the senior members here might confirm


Alex

 

Welcome to the forum!

That one will NOT fit into the slot AND have you be able to close the door. What you are looking for are the earlier Billionton cards with either the swivel or pull-out antenna. I think that Billionton has the best software personally. With that said... There are several Chinese types that are flush fit that have a pullout antenna and even an extra USB port. The maker (If you can call it that) is AKE. They used to go for big money but the prices have come way down since they made agreements with everyone and their brother. Most still come out of HK though.

The CF-29 doesn't come stock with the antenna and they you buy the module. That's the way it is with the CF-18 though. It comes with the WWAN antenna also. But they don't do any good without the modules.

If you are handy there are posted hacks as to how to do this internally. If you don't mind taking your PC apart a little and doing some soldering.

 

Still alive and so is the cf-29 .

~kop

 

Added a 160g HD and now quad boot W2K , XP , Ubuntu 9.04 and Solaris 10 .
I still have apps that don't like XP and I use Ubuntu as an every day desktop . The Solaris is for work when I need access from a native source .

... and if it ever quits working I can always pound nails with it .

~kop

 

Question!! Being a newbie here ....Before replacing current wifi card for ENGENIUS EMP-8602+S believe I should first go to device manager uninstall current one shut down notebook remove battery and begin the replacement? Also New EMP-8602+S wifi came as oem no drivers but found drivers on internet . Am assuming when I reboot..windows will find new hardware and ask for driver??Any assistance would be greatly appreciated from anyone. Don't want to screw this up.

 

It would be the drivers that you would want to unistall
Look in add and remove programs
If you have the proset utility, remove it
You don't need to remove the intel card in the device manager
The most up to date driver for your new card is EMP8602_3602_XPV1.4
On reboot you don't search for new drivers when asked, you run the .exe file and then after if needed search for the driver

Alex

 

You want to go HERE to get the software.... It on www.netgate.com. They sell the cards as well. I've bought a ton from them. Good customer service too.

The link goes to Ver 1.4... They also have a Ver 1.2

 

Thanks TB for the link. Looks like same software I found earlier but it sure is great knowing I have right one. Kudos to Tomcat for the advice also. Haven't started on it yet, Honey do list comes first on weekends, I know(hen pecked.0 Thanks guys. Hey how do I get my toyghbook info under my post like you guys have...short of typing it in each time?
_________________________________________________________
Toughbook CF29 (OEM BLACK...yes Black) 160gb hard drive,touch screen, GPS, DVD Burner. 1.25gb ram. chicklet backlit keyboard added usb bluetooth,usb billionton card which added 2 more usb(can never enough of those babies)

 

Sorry about spelling in orevious reply. Fat fingers you know or else I was just in too much of a hurry any way
_______________

Toughbook CF29 (OEM BLACK...yes Black) 160gb hard drive,touch screen, GPS, DVD Burner. 1.25gb ram. chicklet backlit keyboard, added usb bluetooth,usb billionton card which added 2 more usb(can never enough of those babies)

 

There is User CP button on the top of the page. You are limited in size so you might want to bone up on forum rules...

 

Completed successful install of new wifi today. So far everything seems to working well. Haven't checked distance yet.Thanks to TB and TOMCAT for all the tips. A little leary at first but once I got back off things were fairly simple.

________________________________

CF-29 Black, GPS,WIFI,BT,160gb hard drive,1.25gb ram,touch screen,emissive keyboard,DVD/RW

 

Sheeeeeeeet... You got it now! Once you have the back off... You're done... Pretty soon you'll be selling the kids just to buy more Toughbooks... It's all down the slippery slope now!

<Glad you did it!>

Now you can sit back and show your friends how many SSIDs you can log... I just loaded in an Engenous 600mW wifi card into a CF-18 and got 52% BETTER signal... I haven't loaded an Engenous card into a new(ish) Toughbook in a while as I always thought the A/B/G cards were pretty good. I used them mainly in CF-28s when I modded them with wifi. I'll have to look for a deal on them now... I sold a Toughbook about 1.5 years ago and took 20 of them in partial payment... Now I've used my last one.

<sigh>

Oh well... Anyone have a pisspot full of Engenous cards they want to swap for something?

 

That’s great ,I purchased two ,and shortly installing one in a cf-29
I am interested to check out the options in the software for the card

I have an EnGenius AP and a Client Bridge that is quite configurable for output levels up to 400mw

Alex

 

It's weird... Since I was so used to using them in the CF-28... With a modded antenna system... I totally forgot how well they ROCKED with the tuned twin antenna system on the cf-29. Heck... I'm going to have to buy a few for my own personal CF-30 now.

I sure could use it when I visit certain family members who don't have wireless. Heck... I even bought a travel wifi router for use there because the other unencrypted SSIDs were just out of reach unless I stood out on their deck...

Hmmmm... Where to find the best deal.......

 

No your not

You have done some amazing modifications on Toughbooks

BUT

You won’t fit that card in there
The cf-30 is a m-pci-e interface

Rick check out the UBIQUITI SR71E
I was thinking about trying one in my cf-19

Alex

 

The best deal I have been able to find on the 600 card is $50 shipped. I have been looking at using either it or the newer N card they make.

 

• Outdoor Range (Antenna Dependent): over 50km

But I guess I could advertise my Porsche like that.....

Horsepower Rating - Engine Dependent - 375HP

 

Hello there, I thought I'd join the forum since I have been hassling Toughbook (the guy) on his E-Bay shop for a month.
I have read this entire thread (I am a little obsessive) and done a bit of reading on here.
I am going to be buying a new laptop at the end of the month and the short list was the CF-29 and the CF-18 until I decided the lack of a media bay in the '18 (for a second battery) was a killer.

I was in the Royal Engineers for 5 years and I am now lucky enough to teach young soldiers to operate plant at the RSME as a civvy.
The job is quite well paid which got me thinking about a new computer but the kicker was this:
Dust.
Where we work we teach the guys on a piece of land that has been used to teach plant operators for 50 years, it has been turned over so often that there is just dust everywhere.
I took my old HP530 in to work 5 times and the cooling fan packed up, I opened it up and the thing was just packed with the dust.
Honestly it is like working on Mars.

I reckon I need the 1.6Ghz, full RAM, Built-in bluetooth and a media bay battery.
GPS would be a nice addition for fun stuff.
I have been looking over the offerings on E-Bay, both US and locally and I either need to get a knackered one and fix it up (too lazy) or spend decent money on it.
So I have basically decided to go with peace of mind and go with one of his.

I suppose that means I won't be on here asking for help every ten minutes but I always like to join the forums for things I have an interest in...

For the time being I do have one question.
I saw this image on a toughbook website:

That looks like an internal USB socket, how much space is there inside one of these things?
I can't imagine you'd be able to attach anything of a decent size to it, how much space is there?

Thanks everyone.