CF-18 fixup mixup

[pentium]

So I have received two Panasonic CF-18 toughbooks.
One has a Wacom Digitizer (with the pen), 900mhz Pentium M, 256mb DDR ram and a sticker for Windows XP tablet but the LCD is cracked. The other has a touchscreen, 1.2ghz Pentium M, 512mb DDR2 ram, and a sticker for Windows XP Pro. It however has a good LCD.
Both came with batteries and caddies and the LCD between the two systems are identical so I can peel the digitizer off the broken one and swap it out if I want and that is what I want to do so I can then run XP tablet and the digitizer on the much faster machine (and I have DDR2 ram growing on trees at work so it's the preferred choice).
The problem however is that while a connection exists for the touchscreen on both computers, only the slower 900mhz motherboard (by the way, the processors are BGA and permantntly on the boards) has the connector for the digitizer to plug into. The 1.2 has the pads for the connector but it's just not there.

I read up a little and apparently the digitizer is serial and not USB which explains why the touchscreen model has a serial port while the digitizer model does not. Can I be safe to assume that the removal of the serial port is because of the digitizer using the same resources and that the connector pads for the digitizer (14 pins) and the serial port (9 pins, obviously) are directly connected together and that if I were to transplant the connector from one board to the other and remove the serial port I should be fine or will there be additional SMT components I would be missing?
I can't probe the pads and the serial port to see if the connections exist right now as I left my DMM on again and the battery has died.

[mockingbird]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

Pentium M with DDR2?

[shovenose]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

wondering that to...but my netbook has a 900mhz celeron m and ddr2 so itsdefinitely possible!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

Pentium M with DDR2?

Um, yeah.
That was new with the i915 mobile chipset. - Released in 2005.
.
Besides Laptops the configuration was also used on some MODT boards.
I have 4 or 5 of those in inventory.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

and what exactly is the difference between a touchscren and a digitizer? i thought they were the same.

[NxB]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

You will have to probe it and see. I don't know if a dmm will be enough.

Why remove the serial port? You can reassign the resources. I assume they took it out for other reasons: $$ option, customer didn't need it, etc.

Assuming the CF-18 with the pentium m 1.2 has a touchscreen model/option, moving the connector might just work. Trace the pads back and see where they go. You might be able to eye what is going on with the connector without using a scope. Having another laptop to compare to also helps.


I find the resistive touchscreen much more useful than the wacom/rfid combo. It might be useful if you draw but the older ones aren't all that accurate.

[pentium]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

and what exactly is the difference between a touchscren and a digitizer? i thought they were the same.

This confused me for a bit as well but I'll sum it up.

Touchscreen: You can move the cursor around the screen using nothing but your fingers. It's nice if you don't want to hassle with a pen but it is less accurate of the two.

Digitizer: Essentially you strap a Wacom tablet to the back of the LCD screen.
You are not able to do things on the screen using your fingers but by use of an inductive pen which is a lot more accurate.
If you draw or do things along those lines, this is really nice.

I'm still wondering why the one board has the connector removed. If it's an option, why make the socket optional as well so if the unit is ever upgraded, you have to replace the whole logic board? Cut down on costs?

[ratdude747]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

This confused me for a bit as well but I'll sum it up.

Touchscreen: You can move the cursor around the screen using nothing but your fingers. It's nice if you don't want to hassle with a pen but it is less accurate of the two.

Digitizer: Essentially you strap a Wacom tablet to the back of the LCD screen.
You are not able to do things on the screen using your fingers but by use of an inductive pen which is a lot more accurate.
If you draw or do things along those lines, this is really nice.

I'm still wondering why the one board has the connector removed. If it's an option, why make the socket optional as well so if the unit is ever upgraded, you have to replace the whole logic board? Cut down on costs?

no, they assumed nobody would upgrade. why upgrade when you can force your customers to buy new... $$$ $$$

you could use a pen-style stylus on the touchscreen....

[PCBONEZ]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

Touchscreen = Digitizer
The Wacom unit is high resolution suitable for drawing or writing.
Standard units don't have as many 'contact areas per inch', so to speak so drawing would be crude. [If the software/driver even supports it.]
.

[ratdude747]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

3rd party could let you draw... i know compiz with linux could do it (i did it a lot)

[PCBONEZ]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

Don't mean drawings like cartoons.

[pentium]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

3rd party could let you draw... i know compiz with linux could do it (i did it a lot)

But I'm not using linux when I ahve a nice certificate of authenticity for Windows XP Tablet on the bottom of the computer.

[NxB]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

You don't really "upgrade" toughbooks. You replace them. Their customers are mid or large companies with people in the field who break other laptops. You spec out what you want according to your needs and buy like 50 of them.

Wacom option is probably for guys who fill out forms, etc. Resistive touchscreen is for vehicle mounted stuff with big buttoned custom apps.

I have a wacom based tablet from around the same time and its not so hot. 1024x768 is not precise enough. My resistive screen from 2002 or so is much more useful.

[pentium]

Re: CF-18 fixup mixup

It still seems a lot more expensive production wise to manufacture various toughbooks with and without connectors than just make one common board and then throw on whatever options are needed.