This is freaking great

Just wanted to say Hi to everyone.
I am new here and a New to me tough book cf-28 owner, won it this morning on ebay. Only 600Mhz but its a start.

I just wanted to let you all know what a great place this was, so many ideas and so little time.

I do have a question, what mod would you do first? I know I want usb 2.0 without the stupid card sticking out but the GPS sounds very cool to and so do others.

Very excited to start playing with my new tough book.

Thanks

Lokinb

 

welcome to the forums. have fun!

 

600Mhz processor?

 

Yeah, 600... They are pretty common with the CF-28's.

It's amusing when the guys from the other sections come in to visit us in Panasonic

 

Welcome to the forums!

My first mod would be to add wifi. There are LOTS of threads about it around here. Start with Modly's FAQ that is sticky'd at the top of thr page and go from there...

 

They do make Toughbooks with faster processors, don't they? Like core 2 duo and all that good stuff?

 

Sure - got $6000 or so for your new toy?

mnem
*Spits on the ground at the mention of Core 2 Duo*

 

That is freaking great, mnemen...!

 

If I wanted a game machine, I'd buy a desktop (and I'd still be able to afford games). If I wanted a laptop to use outdoors, to take camping or hiking (well, at 9 lbs, maybe not too often) and know it could take abuse, I'd get a Toughbook.

[Gets down off Toughbook, dusts it off and gets back to work]

 

Plus, a Toughbook just looks so damn cool!

I'd have to have one just cause they look like a tank. I can see people still oohing and ahhing over them 50 years from now....

 

I have a Toughbook CF-28 with the 800MHz processor.
I also have a Sony Vaio with a 1.6Gig processor. (Twice as fast?)
Both running Windows XP SP2.
The "old slow" Toughbook runs most applications as fast, as the much newer Sony, has a larger screen with better colors and I don't feel like every time I carry it or move it that I might break the cute little Sony....
Like wine,,,, somethings get better with age.
If want a faster CF-28 then get a faster (Hitachi) hard drive, it really works.


GB

 

The original notebook computer (GRiD compass) was designed much like the toughbook. This is the way notebooks were supposed to be. Unfortunately, then as in now, the high cost of building something this well precludes most people from buying one. The flimsy plastic crap that has become so common was the only way a notebook could be marketed to the masses.

 

Oh. Sorry. My ignorance.

 

Now that you've been suitably chastised [be thankful we didn't beat you with our Toughbooks ]

Be a little more thoughtful when you toss a comment into a thread. If you look you will see people are taking these (obviously) older machines and doing things that they wouldn't try with a new laptop, and pushing the limits of the hardware.

These people just happen to love the Toughbook format.
And they naturally take your comments as condescending.

 

Well, I guess they're as soft as their notebooks are tough!

*jokes*

No, seriously, I totally understand modding older notebooks or ones with lesser hardware....it's great!

I was in no way trying to be condescending; I just didn't know that's what people usually do with Toughbooks. So a new Toughbook with top-of-the-line specs is really ~$6000?!

WOW.

Btw, did everyone here hear that story about the soldier whose Toughbook saved his life? That was awesome!

Obviously ohlip did, looking at his avatar....

 

pixelot.... Welcome to the Dark side of the FORCE!

When I joined here back in May there was really nothing going on in the way of Toughbooks... Just the odd question or to. I know there were others doing some modifications to them as seen on the Wiki.... But nothing really here. In the span of a few short months this group has developed A LOT of cool mods on the CF-28 (and others) and giving it new life. A MUCH faser life!

Now you MUST buy one!

 

It is your DESTINY!!

 

And then you will be assimilated...

 

Well, I've really been hating the way M$ and Intel have colluded to make ONLY the Intel Dual-Core & 64-Bit machines run properly; I have AMD powered machines with the Athlon64 & 64x2 processors in them, and neither of them run worth a damn with M$, meanwhile they blow the doors off off their Intel counterparts in LINUX & Solaris. M$ & Intel tailor their products deliberately to work together & exclude AMD so they can continue to hold the market at gunpoint; this is to the detriment of the industry as a whole.

Yes, we've coined a new term for it... "Bulldozer Chic"...

Mmmmhmmm... Well, I suspect in 50 years we'll be ingesting our computers or talking to them like Star Trek; or perhaps we might be negotiating a Peace Treaty...

mnem
We'll see what OMNIVAC looks like... & if the answer REALLY IS 42...

 

Sure, 600MHz is a bit slow, but they are built like no other notebook and had the military in mind.

To this day one will find military notebooks running DOS 6.2 or Win 3.1 on these machines because of the rugged reliability and stability of a dedicated system, you won't find office or the like on them for a targeting computer.

In this environment a 600MHz machine is arguably faster than a DuoCore stuffed with bloat ware ~ that's not saying a modern PC will not run office better, it will blast it along a hyperspeeds in comparison ~

The PIII class chip and especially the 800MHz Intel version has become legendary for its reliability.

As modern machine go, it is arguable that buying a new HP table with water resistant keyboard, instant shock HD parking, stylus touchscreen and real daylight readable screens make the modern Panasonic offering somewhat mute, so if you're looking for new PC in general, the Panasonic Toughbook range is not the first choice that would come to mind. The top of the line CF-30 as stated, is some $6,000 dollars ~ fitted to almost all police cruisers, and it's likely a CP-29 that will issue a speeding ticket ....

 

Today I was hired on with an archeology firm in New Mexico to work a dig in Chaco Canyon. The owner of the firm asked what "that thing" under my paperwork was. I pulled out my Cf-28 and showed it to her. Long story short, the toughbook was passed around the firm until it landed in the hands of the GIS tech. Im now working on an 800mhz machine for the firm to take in the field. They were surprised at how inexpensive it was going to be for them relative to value it would offer in the field...resistance to rain, snow, mud, and the largest killer of laptops in the field...sand.