Toughbook CF-27 Woes

[kevCast]

Alright, so I have this Toughbook CF-27. It's really nice, but it doesn't have ethernet on the network card, and every USB to ethernet adapter I've found is 2.0. However, it does have a wireless card slot. Tell me, how would I go about installing the drivers for my Broadcom 4306 card without a network connection? Please make it as universally applicable to all Linux distros as possible in regards to install.

[cardinals_fan]

I've heard that Broadcom cards work pretty well with ndiswrapper...

OT: I always wanted a toughbook

[madsalty]

Alright, so I have this Toughbook CF-27. It's really nice, but it doesn't have ethernet on the network card, and every USB to ethernet adapter I've found is 2.0. However, it does have a wireless card slot. Tell me, how would I go about installing the drivers for my Broadcom 4306 card without a network connection? Please make it as universally applicable to all Linux distros as possible in regards to install.

Sorry to threadjack, but would you reccomend a the CF27? I'm being offered one for £40.

Secondly i've had a search and apparently ndiswrapper does work well with broadcom devices.

[kevCast]

Sorry to threadjack, but would you reccomend a the CF27? I'm being offered one for £40.

Secondly i've had a search and apparently ndiswrapper does work well with broadcom devices.
Yes, buy one. The CF-27 was one of the last they made with handles, with the last being the CF-28. They're made out of titanium, and everything inside is encased in gel. However, it doesn't have an ethernet slot, but I solved the problem. I just bought a USB to ethernet adapter at Office Depot. It's a really good notebook.

[madsalty]

Yes, buy one. The CF-27 was one of the last they made with handles, with the last being the CF-28. They're made out of titanium, and everything inside is encased in gel. However, it doesn't have an ethernet slot, but I solved the problem. I just bought a USB to ethernet adapter at Office Depot. It's a really good notebook.

Thanks, what spec model do you have? How quick does it run (i appreciate it's not going to be as quick as my other laptop but...?

By the way i feel awefull/awkward asking you these questions in this thread as i'm not really answering your question, more pestering you.

Does it actually have a touchscreen? < this is confusing me

[kevCast]

Thanks, what spec model do you have? How quick does it run (i appreciate it's not going to be as quick as my other laptop but...?

By the way i feel awefull/awkward asking you these questions in this thread as i'm not really answering your question, more pestering you.

Does it actually have a touchscreen? < this is confusing me
No worries, my issue is solved.

I have the Pentium III model. It flies with Fluxbox/Openbox, which is all I have tried with it. The 64MB onboard memory puts a damper on XFCE/Gnome/KDE. The memory is a special kind that at the cheapest will cost around £ 26 for 256MB. It does have a touchscreen and a microphone.

[cardinals_fan]

I have the Pentium III model. It flies with Fluxbox/Openbox, which is all I have tried with it. The 64MB onboard memory puts a damper on XFCE/Gnome/KDE. The memory is a special kind that at the cheapest will cost around £ 26 for 256MB. It does have a touchscreen and a microphone.
I want it :)

[madsalty]

No worries, my issue is solved.

I have the Pentium III model. It flies with Fluxbox/Openbox, which is all I have tried with it. The 64MB onboard memory puts a damper on XFCE/Gnome/KDE. The memory is a special kind that at the cheapest will cost around £ 26 for 256MB. It does have a touchscreen and a microphone.

Unfortunately i've bought the lower spec Pentium II model with a clock speed of 266mhz and 32mb of onboard RAM. (Slow i know)#

However i've found a stick of PC100 144pin SODIMM SDRAM new for £8 so i should then have 32mb + 128mb = 160mb of RAM.

I'm planning of Running PuppyLinux or FluxBuntu.

Does it have a 'regular' PCMCIA Slot? as in would my belkin wireless card work (with relavant drivers ndiswrapper etc.)? Link (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Belkin_PCMCIA_Wireless_802.11bg_Card_F5D7010uk/version.asp)

Regards,
Mad

(PS. You had any luck getting the touchscreen to actually work with in your case unix (i think) or linux?)

[kevCast]

Unfortunately i've bought the lower spec Pentium II model with a clock speed of 266mhz and 32mb of onboard RAM. (Slow i know)#

However i've found a stick of PC100 144pin SODIMM SDRAM new for £8 so i should then have 32mb + 128mb = 160mb of RAM.

I'm planning of Running PuppyLinux or FluxBuntu.

Does it have a 'regular' PCMCIA Slot? as in would my belkin wireless card work (with relavant drivers ndiswrapper etc.)? Link (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Belkin_PCMCIA_Wireless_802.11bg_Card_F5D7010uk/version.asp)

Regards,
Mad

(PS. You had any luck getting the touchscreen to actually work with in your case unix (i think) or linux?)

I have two on mine, but I don't know the difference between the P3 and P2 models. The touchscreen is tricky, and requires custom scripting and firmware.

[madsalty]

Would this RAM be suitable?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-Thinkpad-Laptop-128MB-PC100-144-Pin-Sodimm-SDRAM_W0QQitemZ350045316420QQcmdZViewItem

Because if so, i'm buying some NOW!

[kevCast]

Would this RAM be suitable?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-Thinkpad-Laptop-128MB-PC100-144-Pin-Sodimm-SDRAM_W0QQitemZ350045316420QQcmdZViewItem

Because if so, i'm buying some NOW!

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=cf-27+ram&category0=

I think it's specific to the CF-27, and only the CF-27. If so, the RAM you pointed out won't work.

[madsalty]

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=cf-27+ram&category0=

I think it's specific to the CF-27, and only the CF-27. If so, the RAM you pointed out won't work.

Sry, i provided you with the wrong link by accident i ave since found they sell modules which they claim to be compatible with the Toughbook CF-27:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pansonic-PC100-Laptop-128MB-SoDimm-SDRAM-Memory_W0QQitemZ160230723184QQihZ006QQcategoryZ172 QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

If it doesnt work i've contacted them and i can just send it back.

By the way i really appreciate all the help you are giving me, there is a really good community here thankyou.

[blue60]

I have a CF-27 :KS its the 300Mhz model with 196Mb of ram I <3 it.
it has the touchscren, but no CD drive :( it has a floppy drive.
mine is running win2k right now looking to install Ubuntu or Ultima Linux but I have a PCMCIA CD drive and I cant boot to the drive.


http://biobug.org/toughbook/ (http://biobug.org/toughbook/)

Here is a link to a page to setup Ubuntu, with Touchscreen drivers (Not my page I take no credit/blame if you use it and it works/kills your machine)

But the CF-27 is a great machine they are splash proof (yeah if you spill pop in it, it will still work) you can drop them, they are used by Police and Military so they have to be tough. \\:D/

[PissedApache]

I have a CF-27 too:KS 300MHz with 128mb RAM although no touchscreen.

I did a debian floppy install and plan on getting more RAM soon.

edit* I have a cnet CNF-401 pcmcia ethernet card: http://www.cnet.com.tw/product/cnf401.htm

Will try to get my ADDON 54Mbps Wireless PCMCIA card working soon.

[madsalty]

Got DSL working without CD or Floppy drive and even managed to get my Belkin PCMCIA wireless card to work!

Oh and the RAM posted worked, now have 160mb of RAM.

Working on the touchscreen will report back.

[blue60]

wow there is alot of CF-27 Owners here, I am going to try a debian floppy install tonight, I just have to find my box of floppys. I also have to find my PCMCIA network card. I USB network adapter around somewhere I think.

[PissedApache]

Oh and the RAM posted worked, now have 160mb of RAM.

That's good to know! I'm gonna pick up some RAM next week hopefully :)

I did manage to get SDL working from a 1gb memory stick using a usb boot floppy (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/01/02/all-in-one-usb-dsl/ and http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Boot_Floppies). Though i didn't have time to get the pcmcia cards working, so i may give it another go.

[madsalty]

I'm just trying to get the touchscreen working under DSL - wish me luck!

[PissedApache]

Oh and the RAM posted worked, now have 160mb of RAM.

Ty! i ordered some and it came the next day :KS 192mb now:)

[PanPredseda]

I have CF-27 Mk.I (Pentium 266) with Xubuntu 7.10. I think I DON'T have touchscreen but I'm not sure, model No. is CF-27RJ48AAS.
I have two problems:
1) CF-27 Mk.I can use only one bank of SODIMM SDRAM memory I think. I tested it with 256 MB module (2 banks of 128 MB), and BIOS show me only 160 (128 + 32 on board) MB of memory.
2) What soundcard is used in CF-27? Which module I have to load to kernel to make soundcard works?

THX Predseda

[PanPredseda]

I change my opinion and now use Fluxbuntu 7.10. For Toughbook is perfect.

[kevCast]

Does anyone know how to get the CF-27 to recognize RAM expansion? I put 256 in, and it doesn't pick it up. Any help is appreciated.

[kevCast]

Sorry to necrobump like this, but since I've posted this thread I have upgraded the ram in my Toughbook CF-27 to 320 MB. Could anyone recommend a linux distrobution for it?

[mips]

Sorry to necrobump like this, but since I've posted this thread I have upgraded the ram in my Toughbook CF-27 to 320 MB. Could anyone recommend a linux distrobution for it?

Arch Linux.

[wolfen69]

Sorry to necrobump like this, but since I've posted this thread I have upgraded the ram in my Toughbook CF-27 to 320 MB. Could anyone recommend a linux distrobution for it?

Debian Lenny XFCE edition. http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/lenny_di_rc1/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-i386-xfce-CD-1.iso it should be pretty quick and will give modern functionality.

[bigbinc]

I have CF-27 that runs Windows 2000, I was thinking about putting Ubuntu on there. Would you recommend it?

[kevCast]

I have CF-27 that runs Windows 2000, I was thinking about putting Ubuntu on there. Would you recommend it?

I wouldn't. I found GNOME to be too heavy for it, even with the RAM expansion.

[MisfitI38]

Nice to see fellow TOUGHBOOK users. I've got 2 CF-73's at home, and use a CF-29 at work.
The home machines dual boot XP and Arch.

[bigbinc]

Thanks, I thought it would be too heavy, maybe I will install puppy on there.:popcorn:

[jay576]

I'm looking for a cheap network adapter compatible with these toughbooks and supported by the linux kernel. Any recomendations? I stress cheap because its sole purpose is to just update packages and be used as an alternative to the wifi card I have while installing distros.

[coffey7]

The best place to go for Panasonic toughbook info is notebookreview.com. Just head over to the Panasonic section. Linux Mint is working sweet on toughbooks. Here is a link to that forum. I own a CF-28 and a CF-29. I would have never been able to replace the burned out screen on my CF-28 without the help there. The toughbooks are picky about ram and each model and submodel has different replacement parts quirks. It has a forsale section where you can find ram and parts if you buy one that needs work. Good luck. Check Ebay for great deals on toughbooks. Try Mint on them works sweet. Sidux is one distro that has a sticky on the forum.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1012

[Frak]

For the issue of the USB device, you can buy a 2.0 ethernet adaptor and it will work in a 1.0 or 1.1 USB port. The only hinderance is that it will run at 1.0/1.1 speeds.

[jay576]

For the issue of the USB device, you can buy a 2.0 ethernet adaptor and it will work in a 1.0 or 1.1 USB port. The only hinderance is that it will run at 1.0/1.1 speeds.

That really doesn't matter to me and I already knew this seeing how usb 2.0 devices are generally backwards compatible with 1.0 and 1.1 ports, they just don't receive the faster speeds.

Would I have no problem with linux compatibility on any of these adapters cardbus wise or usb wise because fixing wireless is one thing I don't mind but setting up a network adapter is something I don't want to deal with and is the main reason I am looking to pick one up. If there would be compatibility issues can someone recommend a chip that will not have one, if not I'm probably going to pick up the cheapest I can find.

[Frak]

That really doesn't matter to me and I already knew this seeing how usb 2.0 devices are generally backwards compatible with 1.0 and 1.1 ports, they just don't receive the faster speeds.

Would I have no problem with linux compatibility on any of these adapters cardbus wise or usb wise because fixing wireless is one thing I don't mind but setting up a network adapter is something I don't want to deal with and is the main reason I am looking to pick one up. If there would be compatibility issues can someone recommend a chip that will not have one, if not I'm probably going to pick up the cheapest I can find.
OK. It'd probably be best if you just used a wireless card then. Even if there are no native Linux drivers, there's probably a usable NDIS driver available.

[coffey7]

Just for the record. Toughbooks still are made with the handle. CF-30 is the current model that is used by police and military and it still has the same look of a CF-27,28,29.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1012

Ask the linux pros at this site about the touchscreen issues.


http://www.ocruggedlaptops.com/_uploaded_files/tn-1toughbook_cf-30_-_fully_rugged_laptopproducts13promo_pic.jpg

[jay576]

OK. It'd probably be best if you just used a wireless card then. Even if there are no native Linux drivers, there's probably a usable NDIS driver available.

I noticed I forgot question marks in that post but this doesn't help me. Sometimes I simply cannot use a wireless connection and at other times I just prefer using a wired connection. I always have cables everywhere so the wireless thing doesn't really help when I am close to a port.

This is just me reposting the questions for ease. Would there be linux compatibility issues with usb or cardbus network cards? Can someone recommend a network card to use within linux on the Toughbook CF-27 or just a usb or cardbus network card to use with linux?

[Frak]

I noticed I forgot question marks in that post but this doesn't help me. Sometimes I simply cannot use a wireless connection and at other times I just prefer using a wired connection. I always have cables everywhere so the wireless thing doesn't really help when I am close to a port.

This is just me reposting the questions for ease. Would there be linux compatibility issues with usb or cardbus network cards? Can someone recommend a network card to use within linux on the Toughbook CF-27 or just a usb or cardbus network card to use with linux?
Xircom Cardbus network 10/100 adaptor.