Upgrade non-TS CF-30 to touchscreen

Hey guys! Just joined here, but y'all were a huge help when I first got my CF-28. Been having issues with the display and battery and just decided it was time to upgrade. Sooooo, I went an bought a Cf-30 mk1 on ebay for a cool $41. Obviously, this is a strip-o model, with nothing but the basics. So my plan is to upgrade the crap out of it. I already have an SSD laying around that I plan to put into it, and will be purchasing a GPS kit for it as well. However, having grown accustomed to the touchscreen on the CF-28, I was wondering the basic proccess for installing a touchscreen in a non-touchscreen CF-30. Bob Johnson’s has the touchscreen overlay for $39, but notes that the non-touchscreen ones have a thinner bezel, so I would have to buy a whole new bezel assembly. I'm also aware I would need a touchscreen board, and most likely some wires. Has anyone done this before? Should I just buy a BIOS locked TS 30 off eBay and cannibalize the screen? I tried searching (both the forums and Google) and couldn't find jack. If someone could provide the slightest insight as to how to approach this, I would be very grateful.

Cheers!

 

Buy the BIOS locked unit and swap the entire top.

 

Welcome to the Panasonic Toughbook forum

That's the way I would do it too. It will be cheaper and faster to do.

 

Okay, thanks guys! As far as a GPS unit goes, would you recommend getting a gobi so I have WWAN as well? Or just stick with an OEM kit? I'm not concerned about running antennas all over, that's what I did on my 28. How hard are the drivers to get working with the gobi? Looks like people are having quite the struggle sometimes getting them to work. Cheers.

 

Pick up a oem gps module and antenna.

 

I have a OEM GPS in mine and it works great for me but other build there own or buy the kits online. A lot of the problems with gobi is members are buying nonToughbook cards and they just don't work in Toughbooks.

 

Alright, thanks. Looks like I'll be sticking with OEM. That's fine, it's cheaper that way

 

yeah ...
a real after-market gps unit will run about 100 bucks ... but it will perform .
i have one in my '30 and it's darn good .
gps software will either be your friend or a royal PITA ...
i use one that is in development (beta testing as it were) it uses several different map tile providers and stashes them on the machine .
the others here can proffer some suggestions .

yep ... unless you are familiar with the ins and outs of the three different versions of the lcd/touch screens it is better to purchase a used top and swap it out wholesale .
playing mix-n-match will rate right up there with a self performed root canal .
(been there , done that)

there is a difference in the connectors for the mk1/2/3 versions of the '30 ...
check on cheesebay and post back links and we'll eyeball 'em for you .
some guys will post the hours that a display has run ... from what i understand , once you get around 10K hours you can start having fits with the ccfls/inverter .
if there are no hours given figure on replacing the ccfls and/or inverter ... the price should reflect this accordingly .
(i don't know for sure if there is a led conversion kit available)

if you can swing it , pull the pin and load W7 ... you'll throw rocks at XP and vista(less) .
you may have to flash the bios ... help is available here ... it is not really a big deal ... read the black on the white and bob's yer uncle .

 

CWB32, thanks for your input. If you don't mind me asking, what GPS software are you using? I'm no stranger to beta software, I was a developer for Apple for a couple years. Also, I had to replace the CCFL in my 28, but the LCD that came with it didn't work in it, so I frankenstein'd the new backlight to the old display. Still works. What GPS would you recommend? I can get the antenna on the Bay of e for $17 big ones. I think I saw OEM kits for like $60-70 that include the Sony GXB5005. Accuracy isn't of primary concern, since I'm sure it will still be way better that my iPhone anyway . Also plan on slapping some W7 on there, or I might try for 10. The laptop doesn't get here until Wednesday. I think, given the complexity so far I will hold off on a touchscreen until I can find a good deal on a BIOS locked mk1. Anyway, off to photoshop a toughbook in Mongo's hands in my profile pic. Cheers!

 

Here is a kit at a very good price and many members use. He is also a member of this forum www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-GPS-Kit-Panasonic-Toughbook-CF-30-laptop-MS-STREETS-TRIPS-works-UBlox-6-/231138574663?hash=item35d0eec147:gn4AAOxydlFS2YVi

 

Nails, looks like a solid kit, thanks! The accuracy looks pretty freakish to me, what do you usually get in the real world? Cheers

 

you know about the problems with W10 ?
personally i would not bother with it .
let's just say that i value my privacy .
there is a topic in this section about W10 .

the software i use is :
http://www.bettersoftware.co.uk/bsgps/BSGPS.aspx
the software is quite functional and accurate ... i use the google data .
the *free* version is limited in functionality .
the developer does not have a fixed price , it is by donation .
this is only one of many gps programs available ... this one fits my needs nicely , i use it in the plane .

i am sold on the quality of this outfit :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-GPS-Kit...574663?hash=item35d0eec147:g:Pn4AAOxydlFS2YVi
if you don't need the latest and greatest , the oem stuff is ok ... the sony module is not as good as the others .

instead of mongo ... how about the campfire scene ?

 

With my OEM GPS (Sony) I get 8-10 sats

 

blair was faster on the draw .

@ blair :
jogged my memory ...
shawn has some information about gps stuff that was gathered over the christmas holiday ...
he might be prompted into posting it .

 

Thanks for the software. And yes, I have. I have it on my main desktop mostly because of the optimization with SSDs and the removal of the ugly a$& start 'screen'. I have disabled (hopefully) all of the privacy concerns. Some through settings, some through registry. Also, thank you nails, that sounds like what I got roughly on the 28.

 

there is software available to kill the snoopware in W10 ... check out the W10 thread here .
do you use "classic shell" ... works great to get *REAL* desktop instead of that fisher-price reject .

 

No I do not, but thanks for the tips! I'll probably just stick with W7 then, it will probably run smoother. If I do a TS swap I'll try for 10 then, since it seems better suited to touchscreens. Cheers.

 

Hate to bug you guys anymore, but I figure this is better than creating a new thread. Found these http://www.ebay.com/itm/251377418367?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT and also found that someone else managed to pull this off successfully on the forums. Is this kit plug-and-play? And just to clarify, the strips go on the bottom of the LCD only, not the top?

 

I have never seen that kit before but Thanks for pointing it out. A few of the guy have done this but made there own. Think it was Shawn and Teo maybe Jeff.

 

i have dabbled with changing over to leds as have a couple of other guys .... it is worth the effort .
the current consumption is lower as opposed to ccfls and the spectra is quite good .
not a bad price on that kit .
if you snoop around you might find a a bit lower price

the '31 is/has a led backlit type of display .

 

LED's are the way to go if you a skilled enough to do the swap. One strip will work fine for indoor use. If you use the CF30 outdoors, go with 2 strips.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/led-lcd-conversion-cf30-500-nit-panel.756155/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-tube-into-an-led-backlight-cf-30-lcd.739952/

Here are the advantages to aftermarket gps.
The Ublox are faster to start. The Ublox has a backup battery which the OEM does not. This is probably why it starts faster.
The Ublox can be set to whatever baud rate you need. Good for an oddball Navigation program
The Ublox will perform slightly better with a passive antenna than an OEM will.

None of these things are major deal breakers or makers for me. As I am not driving an ambulance where seconds mean life or death.

 

Okay, thanks again guys. These kits will still allow me to dim the display, correct? I'm guessing the laptop does that through PWM to the controller?

 

Yes it will

 

yer right about the pwm .
i have a couple here but they work *backwards* ... 180 out from what the onscreen display indicates .
a simple bipolar transistor inverter would do the trick .

that is why a kit made specifically for the '30 is the best choice .
it might not hurt to check with the supplier to see if the dimming is "proper" .

 

Yes they will dim.
As far as I know they are NOT plug and play.
Link for a CF30 schematic
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o8e7ljhdkl6s19o/CF 30 mk2 Schematic.zip?dl=0

 

heh ... the full schematic ... like chasing a gaseous expulsion through a keg of nails .

yeah ... definitely not P-N-P .
if you make a mistake you can wipe out a fuse or two or hammer the procc drives to the lcd .
small stuff , crammed together demands caution and thinking three steps ahead .

 

Okay, so it looks like I will be contacting the seller about this, and I'll do some tests of my own (arduino can output PWM). I'll try and figure out the pinout. Thanks for the schematic, I'll have to look when I get home (darn iPhones must hate zip files). I'll do some poking around on my 28 to see how that handles dimming.

Does anyone know the pinout for the inverter. There's four wires on these. +, -, PWM (dimmer) and ???

 

this will make it easier.

 

the fourth wire is "enable" , if memory serves me correctly , it is pulled high to get things started .

 

Okay. Looking at the inverter (stock one), it has 8 pins on it, so looks like I will have to do some research. Is enable pulled up for the first couple seconds to get the CCFL started (much like industrial florescent lights have a high voltage start)? Will I even need this with an LED setup? Because the way I see it, I could make my own driver for LED strips using a voltage regulator and some transistors to handle the PWM, no? I found some other generic upgrade kits with an LED strip and driver for like $10 so I'll probably swipe one of those up once I can look at the schematic and figure out those 8 pin thing, if it even has an 8 pin, that is. I'll pull my 28 apart and try and get a more visual idea of what's going on. Cheers and thanks for everything so far.

Perhaps an auto-brightness feature with an arduino could be in the works....

Shawn, I just looked through your thread on this and it looked like you had to do some custom wiring of your own. Anything you could share would be very helpful, as I'm not getting a whole lot from the schematic.

 

Alright so I ripped apart the CF-28 and dang! That CCFL area is tiny. It looks so much bigger in the pictures. Anyway, I managed to disassemble the entire LCD and put it back together again so now I'm feeling more confident about this. I feel it's going to be pretty interesting trying to fit LED strips in there but hey, it wasn't too hard up until that point. Also, the CF-28 has 6 pins that go from the TB to the inverter, whereas the 30 has 8 (it looks like). Still need to figure that out...Thanks for the help so far guys!

 

look closely at the schematic and the inverter board ...
it should indicate that some of the traces/conductors are "doubled up" .

heh heh heh ... the '30 will have 2 ccfls .

 

3-4-5 ground
6-7-8 vc5