~Toughbooktalk~

Well, I was always impressed with how rugged the Toughbooks I saw being used were. Really horrible conditions and they worked almost always. So I never thought I could afford a nice one, well I went off deep end. First I bought four (4) CF-51'sfrom Utah- formally (South Salt Lake City) , total hours -50,30,30 and 20 ! Found 4 HDD & caddy's, they already had DVD/C/D-RW!. In 1982, I paid 3 times the amount I paid for these for 32 KB memory and FDD controller ! So then I bought 2 CF-29's and the caddy's with HDD. Followed that with 14 ( ! ) CF-30's. So I will be busy sorting things out for a few months. One thing I have a question about is there some master reference for CF-30's (since they are obsolete and no longer listed on current Panasonic website) that lists the part numbers, change dates, supplier and compatibility or rationalized parts? I saw a post in the CF-31 discussion about some changes which means parts can't be used between Mk 1 and MK 3 units. I have 3 Mk 3, 1 Mk. 2 and 10 MK 1's (good deal on those! I am especially interested in
changing Upper from one unit to another. I contacted a refurbisher that does Toughbooks for Panasonic- apparently only interested
in selling their labor with parts and warranty. They suggested trading in units ( "but they are of low value for trade-in, due to their age" ) to get new model at full markup. No thanks! I will probably go for Linux, rather than Windows 10- some of the machines have Win 7 and some still have XP, SP3+ on them. Anyway, every body Have a Happy New Year!

welcome.

I suggest working on one at a time.
Be a little more specific. Such as Cf30 mk1 top lcd on a Cf30 mk3.
Give us some information such as full model numbers and we may have a service manual.
Most parts on a Cf30 can be swapped from mk to mk.


Here is a good thing to start reading
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... ad.264961/

Well good! No sense going slow at first.

There is a lot of information in this forum....actually more like a lot of talent.

Straight above here is a big arrow. Clicking will give you original set-up by Full Model #. public_downloads/index.php?dir=Old_Configurator/ namely "old configurator". CF-30 still appear new while CF-29 is under "all discontinued".

If/when you need help on a unit please put the Full Model # in your post and put the post in the right folder. Nobody will yell at you it just keeps it all together. As you said things can be different between Marks.

I lean towards Linux and am leaning hard towards MX-14.4 or Mx-15 beta on the CF-29. Take a look at NON-PAE if your 29's are MK3 and earlier. A boot-able USB of 14.4 will run in any of your units that shows USB in boot order. (Not 29MK1 and 2)(Do-able with ploplinux bootloader on CD/DVD though)

So the "stick" can be used to check all your machines. 29 and 30. My CF-31MK3 is running MX-15-beta. You may get a black screen once in a while but we can fix that.

Welcome to the nuthouse....straight-jacket needed on aisle 29 "stat".

We'll be talking,

Jeff...have a fun New Year...