Your first TOUGHBOOK

So, lets here what everyones first toughbook was, what kind of feature/options did it include, and then, the first few/all mods you performed and, what happened to it?

 

CF-41
yep whopping pentium processor and windows 98 loaded on her
and YES it still runs nicely after all this time too.. atleast it did last month

 

Mine was a CF-28 that I horse traded with to get. It was an MK2, 800Mhz that was bone stock. I added Wifi (1st mod) and a few dfferent types of antennas... A combo Modem/Lan card to keep it all working, etc. I posted a tutorial om how to do it all here back in 2004. I also swapped in an illuminated keyboard, cleaned it all up and installed the (then available) 100GB, 7200RPM Hitachi hard drive. I decided to sell it as "The Ultimate Toughbook" on ebay since nobody else had one like it. It was a hit... The orders started pouring in. (As did the imitators)

The rest is history!

 

LOL, want my old 41?, im sure it can be modded somehow ... the CD drive UNDER the keyboard is still fun to confuse people with

 

Ha, I would imagine so, almost like a portable DVD player?

 

Yes, there is a latch on the front of the unit ( its an OLD thick machine ) and you pop it and tilt the whole keyboard and TRACKBALL back and there sits your old 4X CD-ROM.

 

Trackball, like the things walmart uses at their hiring centers, the ball thing?

 

CF-25 with an Intel 233MMX!

 

yep the ball thing you wheel around with a finger and then 2 buttons below it.
I have not seen one in a laptop for 10 years now.

think of it as an upside down mechanical mouse with buttons

 

i havent gotten mine yet but its a MK2 Cf28. features? no hdd, no cd no battery

 

Cf-25 166 Mhz that was purchased used for about $1000 long ago
Upgraded to a 4gb hdd maxed out the ram to 96mb added cd drive
Ran the standard w95 o/s and later upgraded to w98se
Its being used in a Detroit diesel shop today for diagnosis

My first new Toughbook was a cf-28 mk-2 that cost over $3000 not too long ago



Alex

 

Mine was the same as Azrial's - CF-25 with an Intel 233MMX. I loved it even way back then, with a PCMCIA modem card I thought it was the dogs nuts! I still have it and it still works. Just a shame I can't find a use for it.

 

A W2. Thinner than the W7 or W8, it was the best laptop I ever had to carry around.

 

Mine was a brand new CF-25 Mk3, 80meg ram, Windows NT4.0 combined with a 4 speed scsi cd burner with a 4gig scsi backup disk, fitted in a full size tower like case.

Back in 1997 I got it from my company. I used to travel the globe with it as an above ground storage tank inspector and offshore "coiled tubing" inspector (say what??... ). During the day it was my tool. During the evening it acted as multimedia player, alarm clock, pinball machine, etc...lol..

As I travelled alone, I had a lot of dates with it during lonely hotel diners abroad. At the time it was a really cool machine!...

Since that time I'm hooked to Toughbooks....

 

First Toughbook i ever touched as a PC Technician was cf-18 or 19 the model with the tablet screen that flipped around for a landscaper, i fell in love, some time later yrs i finally pulled the trigger as i wanted somthing really good to replace my crappy netbook, little did i know id spend over $200 in upgrades and repairs and couldnt be happier with my CF-29, My Favorite Model! I Did upgrade the HD, and Ram, and Bought 2 Batteries Within the Month and Couldnt Be Happier, Also did the CD-ROM R2 Mod and installed a new DVD-CDRW Drive.

 

YOU SIR... Are our target audience!

Good job!

 

My prior employer (I'm a fire alarm tech) wouldn't provide me with a laptop, so I bought an old beat up CF-28 mk3, fixed it up (new HD, wireless LAN) and it works great. My new employer keeps threatening to get me a new laptop, but I'd just assume keep the 28. Maybe I can get them to spring for a CF-29 off ebay...

 

I too am awaiting my first Toughbook...

My first computer, however, was an IBM from the 1980s, complete with 5 1/4" floppy drives, monochrome black and green monitor, and a Toshiba P-321 dot matrix printer that had a whopping THREE fonts you could choose from. It was the last gift I ever got from my father (RIP dad) and it served me from 1993-1998.

 

Sparkwrite loaned me a CF-28 600ghz? to try the B______d! About three months ago and I've been one upping (actually three upping) him ever since. What a nice unit. Take 'em apart and when you go to return them to service every hole lines up and everything fits. Craftsmanship to the T or C or
I've been using computers C-64 the first. But that was all software or lack thereof. This is the first one I ever felt like tinkering on.
J

 

- CF-25 166Mhz W98
- Several type's of CF-M34 W2K - XP
- CF-27 W2K
- CF-28 MK1 and MK3 W2K - XP - UBUNTU
- CF-29 MK3 and MK5 XP - W7
- CF-P2
Doctor, am i infected by the Toughbook virus ?

 

My first ones I bought from ebay model cf 72's I have 6 of them 2 working now. No mods as I am a scaredy cat and really have no idea what im doing even if I did get inside it. 1.1g pretty much all normal. I now own 2 18's and 29's. The 29's I am still trying to make work, but found the same issue on these forums.

 

OK. just got this... cf-29 # 29L3LGZBM, no t/s or b/l kb, supposed to have GPS built in. Running linux Backtrack. anyone no how to tell if the GPS is installed? AND will linux run it? thanx kramIT

 

CF-29HTM50BM MK3
I got that one and am now hooked!



Yesterday I had this crazy thing happen;

I was perusing flebay and my mouse finger must have slipped (and my typing fingers) and some how I "accidentally" bid on a CF-29, and won no less! It's another CF-29 MK3 SBC spec. Soon now I will have twins!

Now I'm fighting the urge to get a CF-07, I need a Jeep to mount it in first.


Of course I can stop at any time..... I just don't want to.

Man you were not kidding.





"You imagine me sipping champagne from you boot
For taste of your elegant pride
I may be on the slippery slope, babe
But at least I'm enjoying the ride, at least I'll enjoy the ride."

 

Doctor, doctor what can it be, is it some new disease?

They call it Toughbook fever,
You gotta buy more right now.
They call it Toughbook fever,
I think it's going around!

 

If it has integrated GPS it has been added since it left the factory

If it was factory GPS it would have a B in the Model Number where the Z is now.

ie:

CF-29L3LGBBM DESCRIPTION:
Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino),13.3" NON Touch XGA, 256MB, 60GB, Intel 802.11 a+b+g, WIN XP SP2, GPS, No Drive

vs. your:

CF-29L3LGZBM DESCRIPTION:
Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino), 13.3" NON Touch XGA, 256MB, 60GB, Intel 802.11 a+b+g, WIN XP SP2, No Drive

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks to everyone! for all who r interested I found this wiki. this helps on every tbook made I think.

http://toughbook.wikispaces.com/file/view/Model_number_List.xls

kramIT

 

My very first....

Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook (1.3GHz)
Non-Touchscreen
Internal 20 channel GPS
160GB Hard Drive
1.5GB RAM memory
Illuminated Sealed silicone rubber keyboard (4 level adjustable)
DVD R/W Caddy
BG Wifi card.

 

mnem
Wait for it...wait for it...

 

Found a pair of CF-25's at the dump. Both were really beat and missing all the covers. Bought a power adaptor from ebay and they both powered up! Spent some time buying a few here and there to piece together one ultimate beast. Still have it too! P166MMX, 160mb RAM, 10gb hdd, CD-ROM, two good batteries, etc. The thing is mint... looks new! $50 takes it! haha

And about the guys saying they had a P233MMX CF-25... those didn't exist unless someone modded it.

 

Yeah I was talking about the "brick". I saw a complete set with display keyboard, power supply and car mounting on the bay. It just looks like it would be perfect for use in a jeep. I wasn't paying attention to the processor though.
The display you are referring to looks great. That would be awesome to use with the CF-29 while in the car!

 

CF-07 had a 300MHz processor. Your money would be better spent on a CF-18 with its swivel the screen.

 

Of course you are right Aaron - it was a 133 Mhz processor - but it was a very long time ago, so you will have to excuse the precursors of senility. I didn't achieve those dizzy speeds until I got my first cf-27!

 

My first (and only, so far) Toughbook is a CF-28, 800mHz PIII, 512mb RAM, wi-fi, touchscreen, backlit keyboard, upgraded the floppy to a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, soon to install more RAM and maybe do the internal USB mod and install GPS. It's being used for vehicle tuning right now, but I also use it places where my MacBook won't fare too well.

 

Duh, well I guess that my memory is starting to go as well!

I guess that my brain cross wired 133MHZ and 166MMX and misremembered it as a 233MMX.

This is pretty funny as I was recently thinking of acquiring one and taking advantage of the split core MMX voltage to try and run a AMD K6 400MHz+ in one.

That would have been a huge waste of time and money! :laugh:

 

Got a CF-WY about a year ago & still loving it. Specs-Intel Core2Duo U7700 1.33Ghz, 3GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD-RW, Win7Pro.

 

Mine was a Cf-28 Mk1. Soon it will get a preschooler OS (I'm toying with Edubuntu, Kiddix or Qimo) thanks to ToughBook & PsychoThrasher's help, but was actually hoping maybe for something less annoying to build, like maybe a GUI shell for DOS. I like what I've seen with Qimo; but NONE of these OSes are designed to take full advantage of the touchscreen.

We shall see; I may just suck it up and put a kiddie trackball on the Home Theater PC.

mnem
Shhh.

 

That's called Windows 3.11. :wink:

 

Well I still use Dosshell, plus there is always DRDOS!

 

I started with a CF-29 the beginning of my Junior year of high school back in 2004. I acquired about 5 laptops over the last 2 years and I decided that I didn't need 5 laptops. I sold the all to my company and acquired $2700. I then purchased a brand new CF-29 for $2250 and quickly upgraded it with the emissive backlit keyboard, multimedia battery and DVD-RW drive. I have been hooked ever since and have since started toughbooktalk.com as well

 

DOS Shell: I had completely forgotten about it!

From Wikipedia:

DOS Shell Problems
There are several reasons why the shell fell out of use:

*It was incapable of multitasking. It could only switch between programs running in memory, and even then the system would still take a significant performance hit. All the running programs had to fit into conventional memory, as there was no support for paging to disk.

*Windows 3.x, with its own graphical user interface, became much more popular among computer users. Windows was capable of multitasking. System performance was much higher, with complete access to ]he system's RAM.

Oh, yes: old "Doctor DOS" (actually, Digital Research DOS ). It is still available.

 

Guys -

I'm FULLY AWARE that shell programs DON'T multitask... in the case of a user interface for children (who will invariably find the ONE THING to click on that can blow up a program) that is a GOOD THING.

I remember a number of GUI DOS-shell based educational software packages from the Win95-98 days that would be GREAT on a 800x600 screen if they could be optimized for TouchScreen; plus, they'd run like gangbusters on a PIII/600.

mnem
toze.

 

i remember the first one i ever used was a CF-74. i thought, man this thing's a piece of junk (just the feel of it) then i got hooked on it after using it.

same way with the CF-19 (i was introduced to them around the same time). when i figured out you can toss it around and still use it, i never looked back.

i now own a 74 and a 19.

 

Here's one: SEAL GUI, don't know about Touchscreen though.

 

am new to this guys,got started back in '83 with a Dec Rainbow 100 +, 10 meg hard drive using cpm and dos, built a few desktops, have couple of laptops, but got into cf-29's recently, 3 cf-29htlgzbm's with lit kb's and touchscreens and now a cf-29 ntqgzbm with ts and dvd multipack, upgraded memory 1 gb each batteries and looking to get inside them for more upgrades. but am reading and studying all you say before taking the leap. feel like i'm with family here. one that i'd choose, Driller