- This topic has 25 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated Jan 5-1:35 am by rokytnji.
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rikardfribergvs
Hello
Anyone that have runned AntiX on a Panasonic CF-28 Toughbook? I might acquire one for a cheap price and it would be fun to put it to use.
Here are some specs (512mb ram on the one I might acquire):
https://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8354501_toughbook-cf28-specs.html
christophe
Half a GB of RAM will be tight. If you go that low on RAM, don’t expect much. Not as your “main” computer, anyway. With RAM that low, the processor is bound to be slow, too. That one in the link is a Pentium III, which is very slow by today’s standards.
Maybe as an old project to see how low on resources you can go & still enjoy it. I have an $11 USD Pentium 4 project laptop that also has 500 MB RAM. I bought it recently as a project to see what I could do with it (as maybe you intend to do). It’s slow & runs out of RAM fast. It’s fun as an experiment, but I wouldn’t want it as my main machine, if I had any other options.
The main problem is a modern graphical browser. They eat up the RAM. But on that Pentium 4, I change up the way I work, and it’s fun. I use lynx browser, a text mode browser, with which I can log into the forum, etc.
It can be done. But it depends on what you want to use it for. I started with antiX core, and built up from there, but you could also use the other ISOs to make a CD or DVD.
confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019
olsztyn
Maybe as an old project to see how low on resources you can go & still enjoy it.
Toughbook could make a challenging project, indeed. A couple years ago I was running antiX on Thinkpad T23, which was a similar specs machine – CPU Pentium III M, 768M memory.
For internet browsing I was using Palemoon and it worked.
With Toughbook with 512M Ram I would install larger Ram for more reasonable expectations. My more immediate concern would be though if this Toughbook comes with DVD drive or just floppy drive, as I think DVD was an option. I think it has one USB1 port, so antiX would have to be installed from DVD to the hard drive.
Interesting project to make it work…Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters
punranger
According to the antiX website, you should be able to make it work, but I think that claim is rather old, and rarely put to the test. Now, I don’t think you should pay more than a symbolical sum for the laptop. But if you decide to go for it, it would be great if you shared your experience. We could all learn something from it. Unless you are experienced or want to spend a lot of time learning new things, I would go for the full version. The hard drive should have plenty of room for the full version. If you search the forum, you can find several posts with tricks to reduce RAM usage. Although I found most of these tricks to have rather marginal effects in the real world, they might just be what you need to make such a machine functional.
antiX linux: The best way to revive an old computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTaUAP6sSg
Thanks everyone!
I am trying to buy it from an auction site. Have wanted one since I used a toughbook at work long ago (when it was new and fairly expensive). I will not use it as my main machine – it is an experiment – but it would be fun if I could make it work good enough (for taking notes, using the command line to contact servers et cetera) to bring it to meetings as a gimmick.
The ad does not say if it got floppy or CD/DVD. I kind of hope for a floppy. Of course it will make things more complicated but it seems that it is possible to buy a CD/DVD from ebay. Then I could use CD to do the installation and then switch to the floppy. I got an old Thinkpad A31p with a working internal floppy that I run Debian on which is great fun.
Found some old blogs and threads of running Linux on the Panasonic CF-28. Here is one: https://byrd740.wordpress.com/linux-on-cf-28/
If I win the auction (I am the only bidder so far) I will work on it during spare time in december. I will keep you posted.
ModdIt
@olstyn memory is max at 512 as below spec from link in first post shows.
Software and Memory
The Toughbook CF-28 operates on a Microsoft Windows XP or 2000 platform using a low-voltage,
Mobile Intel Pentium III M-Processor in either 1GHz or 800MHz. It includes a 30GB hard drive and
256MB of SDRAM memory that can be expanded up to 512MB. The 1.44MB floppy disk drive holds 3.5-inch
floppy disks and also accepts the optional DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive.Bring it to meetings as a historic (gimmick) device sounds interesting. Hope you are succesful, my
last bosses would surely have suffered apoplexy attacks :-).
rokytnji
Ran antiX for years on a panasonic cf-48 .
I bumped the ram to 1.2 gig though. 256MB stick is soldered into mobo. Inserted 1 gig ram stick < max for motherboard and bios> in the ram stick slot. Only 1.
Cf 28 should run fine and dandy once the ram is bumped up.
https://panasonic.fandom.com/wiki/CF-28#CPU
your ram is512MB PC133 SDRAM 512 MB 144Pins RAM SODIMM 144 pin
Just showing you the 512mb stick specs. 2 of those bumps you to one gig. The Pentium3 will be the browser choking point.
I added wireless N pcmcia and extra usb2 pcmcia cards to my panasonic. Had blue tooth going and everything.
Later on. We will tell you how to watch youtube on it. You might have to jump some hoops on that older hardware.I am not sure but I think a wifi card is already inside the cf-28. Should be a cisco card. Wonder if you are getting the touch screen model also.
Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problemsI got a shitload of old RAM in small sizes (512mb-2Gb) in a box in the cellar. So I will definitely try that.
Don’t know much about the one I am trying to buy. The one I used at work years ago did not have the touchscreen, so I have not even thought about that.
rokytnji
Here is where I made a floppy disc for usb boot. My cf-48 had only cd and floppy boot with hard drive selection choices.
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/plpbt.bin.htmlBooting and running on usb 1.1 is like watching paint dry. But these old netbooks are slow compared to todays gear.
That was why I have now a used 50 dollar Dell antiX 22 Chromebook. Packs more punch in a lighter tool box.
lsusb -vwill tell you if you have a touchscreen in a linux terminal running live.Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problemsbanned
Ran AutoCAD LT’97 on a Pentium2 professionally..
Along with PRO DTP package 🙂It is languishing in the shed along with its graphics tablet and puch.
AutoCAD LT’97 menu on a card overlay – then click a menu icon with the puch 🙂
Ah those were the days my friend..!
Going free to a good home in the UK if anyone can make use of it 🙂Cheers
ps Has anyone seen that fellow nutter or kindred spirit of mine with that Antix-LXDE video, where near the end he fires up HTop showing just 79MiB out of 1000Mib – and that is WITH lxterminal and HTop taking up a chunk of that 79MiB 🙂
I posted this today under Tips and Tricks..
Tip for mini and old PC users – Avoid Confusion
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/tip-for-mini-and-old-pc-users-avoid-confusion/
hope it helps enthusiasts 🙂
Got it now. Looks great and seems to work (Bios looks good – finds all units etc). I am going to start trying to install AntiX as soon as I can get into town and buy som CD-R:s. Very amateurish of me not having any at home. 🙂
christophe
Hi Punranger,
Perhaps a better choice would be to buy a Dell Latitude C510 C610 as very similar construction.
They share almost exactly the same specs except for the processors and the option for expanding RAM.https://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8354501_toughbook-cf28-specs.html
If you search the forum, you can find several posts with tricks to reduce RAM usage. Although I found most of these tricks to have rather marginal effects in the real world, they might just be what you need to make such a machine functional.
Yes; there is a much better solution than keep on buying more RAM if you are looking to speed things up a bit in real life 🙂
I have never seen the swap zone or got near the slow zone before going into swap.
Even when video editing 🙂 AntiX-22 Full LXDE 🙂
Cheersps Has anyone seen that fellow nutter or kindred spirit of mine with that Antix-LXDE video, where near the end he fires up HTop showing just 79MiB out of 1000Mib – and that is WITH lxterminal and HTop taking up a chunk of that 79MiB 🙂
- This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by banned.
Progress!
Found an old CD-R lying around. Unfortunately just 700mb so I had to choose Antix Core. Managed to install after a couple of attempts (some undefined problems). The bios-battery is of course dead after 20 years and it took me a while to understand why apt told me that the packages I were trying to install was not valid yet (will be valid in 7600 days”. Well success anyway at last.
Listened to Andy above and installed XORG and LXDE. Took a while to configure XORG (never done it before) but now it works. Computer boots, lightdm starts, I can login to LXDE. Might use Openbox later on. Quite fun to configure if you like XML.
Some things I still need to solve:
* Cannot get Midori to work – I can ping sites and use SSH in the terminal but I cannot browse. Might be some setting in Midori maybe.
* Have not checked sound yet, might do today.
* Have to change the bios battery.
* Have to check if there is working card for wireless. Otherwise I might buy a pcmcia-card.
* Might look for a new battery – seems to be the original battery.This was really fun actually!
Rikard
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