wifi on a cf-27

hi all i am a new proud owner of a cf-27. this pc is meant to go in my car for music, gps, and excel reports for my fd. the question is how do i get wifi on this pc? will a regular pcmi card work?
also what type of hard drive is in these cpus. it only came with a 2 gig and that is not enough.
and finally when i plug my usb stick in it lights up that it is there but the cpu does not recognize it. i know it is 1.0 and the stick is 2.0 but i though it would work.
thank you to anyone that can help
mm
below are cpu stats
cf-27
touch screen
128 memory i believe
2 gig hdd
1 usb port
no fdd or cdd but slot is there
there is also an empty slot with a cover on the other side of the pc
thanks again

 

Hi elk and welcome to the board

If your experience here is anything like mine, you will find a whole host of extremely knowledgeable people who give freely of their time to help you.

Regarding your CF 27. Yes, the PCMCIA wireless option will work. If you work your way back through a few pages of the forum, you will find that this has been discussed before in the not too distant past. I use an IQSystems 54g adaptor, which I find both quick and very reliable, but there are plenty of others to chose from.

The hard drive is a PATA type (SATA will not connect) and they were fitted with quite small capacity drives as standard. You can swap yours out for a bigger compatible drive. This just involves removing the hard drive caddy and undoing a few small screws. Once you get the top off, swapping the drive is a piece of cake. I personally have only gone up to a 40 gig drive, but I know others here have gone larger than that without problems.

You don't say what OS you are using. Personally I find Win2000 the best on the 27. You can get XP to work, but it will be a bit slow on boot. Shop around for a music player that isn't as greedy as Windows Media Player.

I've had success with both serial and USB gps receivers - the choice of software is down to you, depending on your intended use.

First thing with your USB problem is check that you have it enabled in the BIOS. Hit F2 on first boot and this will take you into the BIOS screen. Under the "advanced" tab you will see the USB option right at the bottom of the list. Check that it is enabled and then try again.

The empty slot on the opposite side to the media bay slot is where your PCMCIA cards go - there should be space for two cards if you look carefully. It will take two Type I/II cards or one Type III card.

As always, it helps if you post your model number, which you should find on the bottom of you Toughbook.

Good luck

 

Hi Elk,

There are known problems with lower marks CF-27's and CF-71 and Atheros based pcmcia Wifi cards. They will freeze the pc on insertion. Its better to avoid these cards if your pc is a Pentium 2 toughbook.

 

thank you both for the replies, it is a cf-27 there is nothing else mentioned on the bottom of the case just cf-27. it operates on win 95 right now. came with a 2 gig hdd and it runs it says 159 additional memory and 266 hrz. is there a card that will let the door close on the pcmcia slots for wifi? i found one for usb on ebay but not sure for the wifi. also i checked the bios there is no usb listed. devise manager says there is no driver. with win 95 ther is no chance of a downloadable one that works correct???
thank you again for the help

 

For win95 - 98 you need a driver for your thumbdrive.
If you can, do an upgrade to W2K on a decent harddisk
and get some more ram memory

Mine is a 300 Mhz, and runs fine with W2K on a 60 Gb drive with 256 Mb ram

If you have the specs off the thumbdrive, google the manufacturer and get the driver

 

Elk, read this thread on wifi for the cf-25 - most of what's writen there will be applicable to your cf-27.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/454914-best-pcmcia-wireless-card-windows-98se.html

Mibru's quite correct about some pcmcia cards - check out this thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/463267-cf-27freezing-when-i-plug-pcmcia-wireless.html

However, I'm not sure you can run a wireless card in Win95. This thread will give you lots of ideas about the best OS for your purposes.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/467711-cf-27-best-windows-os.html

Likewise,I'm not sure whether your version of Win95 would have USB drivers. It wasn't until WIN95 SR2.1 came out that a standard USB driver even existed and from memory, even then Microsoft were too lazy to include it in the installation procedure. So my best suggestion would be to opt for a bigger drive and upgrade to 98SE (or Win2k if you can upgrade your RAM - without your model number this is impossible to tell - try looking under the battery for it). And remember if you opt for a RAM upgrade you need low density, not high density ram - depending on your model,you can max out at 320 if you have 64 on board.

Like I said - scroll through the forum - you will find loads of good information to help you make the best use of your Toughbook

 

I used to have a lot of CF-27s and found W2K to be a good OS for them.
CAP

 

Ok I Have A Short Usb Card, Floppy Cover For The Open Drive Bay, And Linksys Card Shipping, Now Does Anyone Know The Best Way To Mount These In A Vehicle???
Thx Mm

 

You should be able to find a Panasonic or third party vehicle mount for pretty short money given the lack of interest in these old machines. I have a port replicator/docking station I'd sell for cheap if you wanted to fab up your own.
CAP