greetings new to TBT and the Toughbook world

[thesupercroc]

Hello TBT

I'm just entered the land of toughbook ownership. I bought a CF-18DHAZXKM 512MB ram and 40GB HD (ETA of 02/12) . I ordered an 160GB HD (ETA sometime this week) and IBM power supply (ETA 02/13) for it. I want to get 1GB stick of ram for and put linux on it.

I just have a couple of question for y'all.

Is Ubuntu 10.10 the best distro for a cf-18 mk2?

Is their any place other then ebay I should look for a spare battery and RAM?

Is it bad that I'm looking for another CF-18 before I even get the first one in the mail?

[OperationDinnerOut]

I have a CF-18D as well, running Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, without some of the upgrade drama every six months (seriously, this kills my interest every time I try Ubuntu again).

You'll need to start with Mint 13 (that's the latest that supports the 18D's non-PAE processor), or you can go with Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). You can upgrade regular Mint 13 to 16 (the current), which I just did recently, but it can be a pain. 13 works well.

Anyway, welcome to the world of Toughbooks!

[toughasnails]

Is it bad that I'm looking for another CF-18 before I even get the first one in the mail?

Yes that's what happens...we have all been down that road before. and it never ends . Not sure what you are paying for the CF-18's but the CF-19's have come down a lot in the last 6 months that some are the same price...CF-19MK2 for around $199.99 shipped

[thesupercroc]

I have a CF-18D as well, running Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, without some of the upgrade drama every six months (seriously, this kills my interest every time I try Ubuntu again).

You'll need to start with Mint 13 (that's the latest that supports the 18D's non-PAE processor), or you can go with Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). You can upgrade regular Mint 13 to 16 (the current), which I just did recently, but it can be a pain. 13 works well.

Anyway, welcome to the world of Toughbooks!

I'm looking at the mint 13 download page and I see Cinnamon, KDE, MATE and Xfce versions both 64 bit and 32 bit as well as no codecs. I know that I need a 32bit ver other then that I have no clue. Any ideas?

Yes that's what happens...we have all been down that road before. and it never ends . Not sure what you are paying for the CF-18's but the CF-19's have come down a lot in the last 6 months that some are the same price...CF-19MK2 for around $199.99 shipped

hhhmmm I will have to do as looking in to that most of them I have seen were over $300.

[SHEEPMAN!]

I like the xfce desktop in 15 but am using the cinnamon desktop in a cf-53. Stock package but pae.

Your CF-18 will not install Mint 15 but it will run it.

I have a Mint 15 xfce installed in a CF-29MK5 that runs fine in a CF-29 MK1. Upon install...the Linux distro checks for pae and dumps you if not supported. BUT once installed on the CF-29 caddy it will RUN in any of them.
IOW install with pae machine....swap drive to CF-18 and give it a shot. The only cost is time.

The why I like 15 better is it has a favorites menu stacked alongside the main menu.
The why "xfce" is it purports to be a light weight desktop. IOW...2Gb and under ram go light on the desktop. Less graphics and gui/s.

Back to basics...if there is a xfce package of Mint 13 LTS grab it and use it. (Long Term Support)...menu pops up with right click. It's pretty slick.

Your rig is 256ram on the mobo. Max ram is supposed to be 256+1024.

[OperationDinnerOut]

I'm looking at the mint 13 download page and I see Cinnamon, KDE, MATE and Xfce versions both 64 bit and 32 bit as well as no codecs. I know that I need a 32bit ver other then that I have no clue. Any ideas?

I use MATE personally, but I think Xfce is a good starting point if you're new to Linux, especially on the 18D's older hardware. I'm somewhat old-school, and I like the GNOME-2 look of MATE (pronounced "mah-tay", like the beverage). The machine is slightly sluggish, and a lighter-weight environment like Xfce would probably make a noticeable difference - though I've not used Xfce myself in a while!

Get the codecs-included version (if it's for your own use). Codecs are optionally separated out for legal efficiency with OEM-type mass deployments, or for international use where those codecs might be restricted by patent or anti-copyright law.

[thesupercroc]

A quick update for you all. I downloaded mint 13 Xfce and i found a dvd with ubnutu 9.04 on it. I put the 9.04 on 40gb drive that came with the laptop ( which i am using to make this post:0) the ETA on 160gb HD is now next week so i will have time to play on the smaller drive for a bit.

I also found an 80gb HD that I will play with as well.

Tomorrow I will do more playing with settings and distros. It is nice to have an OS on the laptop at least.

[thesupercroc]

well I tried unbuntu 9.04 and 10.10 on my BT and they work but I could ot get gmail or VLC to work on either one. So I now have mint 13 Xfce it is runnig well so far how ever the touchscreen need to be calibated and brightness hot keys don't work. Any ideas to fix that?

[SHEEPMAN!]

You have mint 13 installed on a hard drive,, yes? Did you install all recommended updates...important.
From terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d #makes a directory

From synaptic package manager find and install xinput-calibrate.
From menu run calibrate touchscreen. Leave the terminal open.
From ANOTHER terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf

Cut and paste results from calibrate touchscreen into 99-calibration.conf in gedit text editor and save.

At one point it is normal to have two terminals and the text editor open. # separates code from instructions FYI. The X in X11 is a capital letter. Spaces are critical as is capitalization.

Sample from CF-30. The point is you cut and paste it all. For instance leaving End Section off will invalidate the code.

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "calibration"
MatchProduct "Fujitsu Component USB Touch Panel"
Option "Calibration" "311 3881 268 3942"
EndSection

That should sort a working touchscreen.
I'm not the button man....others may chime in. UNCNDL1 for instance.
Moderator do we want to move this to Linux Section yet?

[toughasnails]

thesupercroc...if you can start a new thread here http://www.toughbooktalk.com/viewforum.php?f=39 I will move these post to it for you.