Interest in Toughbook for launch computer?

[Tonimus]

I recently purchased an older Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 for myself for a computer to take with me to launches. Being rugged and having both serial AND usb connections, it works with the old DD flight computers and the new ones. It also runs OpenRocket just fine. Heck, I even added bluetooth to mine so I could play with the dongle for my Eggfinder.

At any rate, I was thinking about getting my hands on a few more CF-28s or 29s and I was wondering if anyone might be interested in something like that?

 

[markkoelsch]

Very tough computers. Also very slow by current standards. I assume running XP? How much?

 

[Rob702Martinez]

Very tough computers. Also very slow by current standards. I assume running XP? How much?

how much?

 

[Tonimus]

Yeah, old, slow hardware. The CF-28s run XP, I manage to get Windows 7 to run better on the 29s. The market is pretty fickle, so it really depends on what's available. Hence the question. I would probably do $100-125 for the CF-28s and $150-175 for the 29s.

I'm running a 29 with Windows 7 and a rubber keyboard, so it's pretty much impervious to dust/dirt.

 

[ksaves2]

Question: No doubt the TB's are resilent but a cheap tablet might be an option although yeah, WinBlows 10 might lead to some connectivity issues. I have a WinBook TW801 I locked down so it doesn't self update to 10 and it runs
a whole passel of software including tracking programs perfectly. The screens on laptops and tablets can be hard to see in direct sunlight but I've heard the Toughbooks are easy to see in the sunlight. Is that true?

Reminds me when I did my L1 "redo" some years ago I carted a Toshiba 150Mhz Pentium out to the site to Rocksim 5 like heck my rocket with the expected winds so I can drill the delay. It worked. Perfect deployment with no zipper!
Man, in those days the laptop batteries ran down pretty quickly when using a simulator plus it took a loooooooong time for the solution to be displayed too!

One bit of advice. If using a full sized laptop for rocket tracking consider it a base station for in flight monitoring till loss of signal (LOS) Carting a full sized laptop around pedestrian portable gets old very quickly for tracking.

They're great for simming on site, reprogramming altimeters and trackers (especially if someone else is on the same frequency your unit happens to be on!)
Kurt

 

[Tonimus]

They're great for simming on site, reprogramming altimeters and trackers (especially if someone else is on the same frequency your unit happens to be on!)
Kurt

This is the main purpose, at least for me. Runs Blacksky's software natively, no terminal app issues with my Eggtimer stuff, and runs OR. The CF-29 has a sun visible screen. I'm picking up a 28 to play with today. The Bluetooth part of mine is more of a "see if I can" kind of thing. 2.5gb of ram and a 1.6 ghz Centrino in the 29 and it is faster than you'd think.