Those Toughbooks are great. We use them for diagnostic test computers in the car service business. We have a couple that are well over 10 years old, although we have had to have repairs done to the peripheral ports due to the millions of times of plugging in and unplugging cables.
panasonic toughbooks are neat because a lot of differrent models actually take the same power supply as a IBM ThinkPad so if you run into one and cannot find a power supply look at IBM ThinkPad power supplies
This is the first disassembly of a CF-27 I have seen. Looks far easier than I thought! The electrolytics on the boards of these are probably top-notch quality (considering the temperature extremes these laptops were made for), so I don’t think they’ll break down quite as badly as some of the others do. Anyway, good video!
3:33 Mitutoyo is known for measurement equipment for the machining industry. ...for Machinists. Like calipers, micrometers, and a lot more. Top three in the industry. That loop is NOT cheap and surely light years above your amazon grade magnifying loops.
I've used their loupes after messing with cheap ones. They make a HUGE difference. Edit: I guess it's technically a magnifier, not a loupe, because you don't hold this in your eye socket like you would a jeweler's loupe.
Hi Adrian! About the joystick interface, yes, you could use both ports at once. For the first one you should choose "Interface II" or "Sinclair Joystick" on the games, for the second one choose "Kempston Joystick".
Wow that is a very nice Loop for magnifying things. I had a loop given to me around 1998. I have taken good care of it & still use it every day. I keep it in a pill bottle with cotton. I've had it around 22 years now
These were great industrial laptops. We used them in cranes for the size...I'm thinking one model was the 25 the other a 17. I remember replacing the hard drives a few times over the years and they were encased in a clear rubbery shock protector. They took a beating and some high temps but always worked.
Awesome job fixing this thing up!! My boyfriend seems to be talking about Toughbooks every other day (he loves laptops and industrial computer equipment) and some of that enthusiasm has rubbed off on me, so it was wonderful seeing one of these things get restored! x3
The Speccy joystick interface will support 2 joysticks. First port (numbers) is known as Cursor Joystick, Second (31) will be Kemspton. These options are in nearly all speccy games....
Ive still got an IBM 380D from 1996 and its built properly and really tough. The case is all metal, no crappy cheap plastic and of course it still works.
Used a CF-19 for work for over 7 years. Loved it. Was great for travel and out in the field. Used it in heavy rain all day and in the snow/100 f degree heat. I hated the switch to Ipads. They overheated on 80 f degree days and were terrible in rain and snow (even with expensive cases and screen protectors) but the built in camera made my job a bit easier. Great video have been really enjoying your channel. I found you a few years ago after I saw the field found C64 video. Keep it up!!!!
Hey Adrian. I've been following your channel for a little while now and just wanted to say that I'm so glad you are keeping the old tech current. I'm a close neighbor...a small town just south of Oregon City. Always cool to see local tech folk. Keep up the good work.
Inorder to hold the pin in more firmly you can adjust the tension of the hinges by tapping them lightly with a center punch. Not to hard though or you'll lock it up entirely. The joystick adapter probably fell behind a shelf at an electronics store and found later on in life then thrown around various storage rooms for years and finally auctioned off as part of a lot when the building was getting cleaned out. Lots of box damage but probably never opened until relatively recently
Had a Toughbook for a while... the version I had had an interesting option for the hard drive caddy... it was insulated and had a heater built in! Clearly a model suitable for the bitter winters up here on the northern Plains.
Kapton tape can also be used for shielding specific components that might leak RF. i worked for a company whose entire job was modifying computer cases and external peripherals like printers and scanners so that they would not leak any RF that could be useful in a Tempest attack, ie RF eavesdropping. a large amount of the work used a lot of strategically-placed copper fibre gasket tape and Kapton tape. that might give you some ideas as to how to test your Kapton tape?
This gives me memories of my old school Inspiron 8200 (which was actually a Latitude model) and my Latitude D830. A screw driver, the service manual PDF, and a lot of patience (and some spare parts) and you could replace anything. And I did.
I have a Toughbook CF-31 with 8GB of RAM that was refurbished, and I'm honestly surprised it ever needed repairing, as the thing weighs 9 pounds and is basically bombproof!
Disassembly without service guide? That's me as well, hahaha. Gotten cleaned up my Nikon DSLR, oh boy that was messy, but done flawlessly. Definitely thumbs up from me!
Hi Adrian, from my very fuzzy rememberings of the old Speccy, that joystick interface will map the cursor keys (6,7,8,9,0) to Joy 1 and Joy 2 will use Port 31 on the Z80 bus (Kempston and some other joystick interfaces used this).
Stumbled on this video looking for something else and honestly your personality kept me interested (I am definitely into computer, haven’t heard 95 in so long HOW COOL!)
Toughbooks are sweet. I have a CF-M34 which I upgraded for WiFi capability, replacing the dialup modem card with a WiFi card. I even ran the antenna around the inside of the screen bezel. One of my favorite projects. I just wish I could modernize it a lot more, maybe switching the motherboard with a Raspberry Pi or something.
When you thing the video can't be greater than already is Adrian runs Planet X3 in all its glory and colors! The cherry at the top!!! (sorry my english is so bad)
Adrian, not for nothing you would probably do better with Linux on that TV Card / hardware. There is some real awesome video creation stuff on Linux also. Look at Explaining computers channel for those or look at kdenlive.
So jealous when I saw that keyboard tray lift out. I'm living with a wonky Enter key because I dread replacing the stick-on chiclet keyboard on my laptop..
**Adrian** yes it is your toughbook with out question. One of my friends used to have one at least 5 years ago. I seam to recall there being an optical/ DVD drive for it. In general I believe there are ide to sata adapters so people then use a SD card or simalair in place of the hard drive. Happy birthday
Hi Adrian, with regards to your spectrum interface, you have the Kempston type joystick interface required for the 16k/48k spectrum which requires a kempston joystick, the numbers you mention describe the values the spectrum uses to interpret what direction or what button is being pressed at any one given time on the joystick by the user, "Up = 9" "Down = 8" "Left = 6" "Right = 7" "Fire = 0" There was a "revised" joystick after the 48K Kempston, it was called the "Sinclair" specific for the 128K+2 & +3 Sinclair Spectrum's, although the output numbers are the same, the Sinclair Joystick was wired differently. Also, Mitutoyo is a company that specialises in micro precision instruments such as micrometers etc If you find my information of any use, I would love a mention in your future video's :) Keep up the good work.
The ZX Spectrum joysticks tend to be DB9s but there's two standards, there's the one most 3rd parties used which is the "Kempston", which is the classic old computer joystick that Atari, Commodore etc uses with 1 button, and then the "Spectrum" standard, which has a slightly modified pin layout, and is what the official Sinclair joystick interface used, in addition to the later model Spectrums that had a built in Joystick adapter. I think most games let you pick between using the keyboard, Kempston or Sinclair interfaces when starting up.
I worked at a hospital and watched a paramedic drop a toughbook out of the back of the ambulance onto the concrete and then chuck it back inside without a second hesitation. When I made a comment about this, they told me that when they return to their home station that they store it in a bucket of salt water for kicks and giggles. Those things are bulletproof.
I remember our IBM rep came to our office (before Lenovo bought their computer div) and they demoed the Thinkpad to us. The turned on a Thinkpad T61 if I recall -- and threw it up into the air and onto the concrete floor. Then stepped on it. Opened it up -- still working and booted. Sold ---- we have been using Thinkpad ever since.
Great video! I'm a Toughbook and Itronix GoBook hoarder! Hehe. Loaded Puppy Linux on one Toughbook. Works pretty good. Touchscreen doesn't work... The GoBooks make great music servers, very strong sound for a laptop.
Make a series called 'pimp my machine' where viewers can send in their retro computers and you give them a complete makeover and if applicable restore them to working order.
Protipp for Screwdrivers/screws: If you happen to have a dead middle aged HDD (from the later 90s or so, when they moved to Electromagnetic head positioning): keep the Magnets of the HDD and use that to keep the Screws from rolling away or to magnetize your screw drivers.
I did that magnet trick with one of my desk drawers, kept opening by itself randomly, which was fun when walking into it or swinging sideways on my chair and bashing my knee into it, bit of superglue and an ex HDD neodiddlyium magnet for it to grab the metal frame and sorted, drawer stays shut... :)
You can never rely on on a mem test. If you get errors then you know something is wrong, but even if you don't get any error the memory can still be bad.
So this pops up on my feed on my phone. I go to my laptop and can't find it in my feed there....because I hadn't subscribed, but I've watched enough of these videos that RU-vid says I like the channel... Subscribed now..
PVR-500 might work still. According to my (file date modified) records I was using a PVR-150 (one tuner model) in 2013 on some 64-bit windows with the WinTV7 software...I think the tricky part to using that software would be convincing the installer that you have a WinTV disc so that it will actually install...I never had much luck with tuning in VLC or MythTV myself...
I would love to be carrying a Panasonic Toughbook (briefcase mode) while wearing a power suit and standing next to a Pearl white Tesla. The girls would be going crazy.
Actually, since the drivers for that capture card work in Windows 7, you CAN make them work with Windows 10. All you have to do is disable driver signature enforcement. 1. Press Windows key + X to open the power user menu. Select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu. 2. type *bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on* 3. Close the command prompt and reboot. Those steps should allow the driver to be installed, even though it's unsigned. Keep in mind that this disables the driver signature enforcement permanently, so you lose that extra layer of protection, but you can re-enable it later with "/set nointegritychecks off"
I had tried this before but doing this no longer works on 64bit windows -- only 32bit versions of Windows 10. (Unless you have tried this before? I think I tried it for some old serial UART drivers and couldn't get it working.) IIRC
@@adriansdigitalbasement Have you tried doing it through the advanced boot options menu? It's a pain in the ass, but the last time I checked, you can still do it that way. 1. Hold down SHIFT while clicking "Restart". 2. Select "Troubleshoot" on the "Choose an Option" screen. 3. Select "Advanced Options" on the next screen. 4. Select "Startup Settings" on the next screen. 5. Click Restart. That'll get you into the startup settings screen. On the startup settings screen, type 7 or F7 to activate the "disable driver signature enforcement" option. It'll stay disabled until you re-enable it, and unlike "Test Signing" mode (which is another way to do it), it doesn't put a watermark on your desktop. If you'd rather not jump through all the hoops to get into startup settings, open a Command Prompt (as admin) and type *bcdedit /set testsigning on* and reboot. If you *still* can't get the drivers to install, then there's something else happening that I don't know anything about.
Hello Adrian, Last week I restored my Panasonic Toughbook CF-18.The backlight was very dimm. The CCFL where burned out. So I have replace the CCFL in a LED Strip. I’ve made a custom PCB in the shape of the inverter so I can replace it. Anything works also the brightness function. If u have interest in it send me a pb.
Yeah Lars, I've always wondered about such an upgrade for a laptop. The CCFL makes they so hard to use as they dim with time. Would be awesome if you could share!
Thanks for an awesome video, i had one of these, i believe it was ex MoD and the coax was cut on that as well, so it may be a security thing, as my other one was intact
Awesome video adrian and what a way to show off a good old tough book with 8 bit keys planet x3 great game for a great laptop 8 bit would be proud you did that keep up the awesome vids
@@adriansdigitalbasement No, it was pretty reliable, and wasn't always treated kindly. :) Mine had a yellow top, BTW... not sure what the difference was.
also, I don't know where I got it (it's unbranded) but I've got a great demagnetizer/magnetizer. You rub your screwdriver on one part and it temporarily magnetizes it. Rub your screwdriver on the other half and it demagnetizes it.
Yeah I actually have one of those -- used it today to help although my small screwdrivers are non conductive (For safe working inside power supplies and CRTs) so wouldn't help with those.
Yep, definitely, you got "Krapton Tape" meh, I use it it's o-k. A lovely gesture from a fan though. I just need more fans lol. Love your work and you have inspired me and my YT venture.
As some already said, that tuner card could work under windows 10, but win7 might be better choice overall... You might get lucky with Linux as well, there are drivers for all kinds of tuners - I even managed to run USB one on raspberry pi. Alternatively there are also USB tuners for pal analog as well. Currently I own digital only USB tuner for DVB-T/T2/C. SmartDVB is my software of choice. I also do have winfast analog/dvbt TV card and it works nice with its software (on win7), sadly i can't tune analog signals anymore.
adrian with the hinges, squeeze the center bit with pliers and it will be less floppy and the bar will be more captive, you also need a ratcheting right angle screwdriver(c) any chinese seller on ebay
Love how these days if I watch a video on an out of date x86 computer, at the point it comes time to demo I think I would be shocked if I DIDN'T see Planet X3!
what model toughbook is that? I just bought 10 toughbooks at a police auction. 2 model cf28s and 8 model cf29s. planning on using them for raspberry pi enclosures.
