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Any Advice? Ubuntu on Panasonic Toughbook.

Hi everyone, Linux noob. I am installing Ubuntu on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-33. I was wondering if anyone had advice regarding drivers as the toughbooks have quite a few I/O ports, dual cameras, cellular antennas, and attached keyboard etc. Any advice is appreciated or even resources on where I could go to learn more about Ubuntu. Thanks everyone, take care.

AlfredEinstein ,

Please share your process and results. This project looks bad-ass.

#😘🤌

medic273 OP , (edited )

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/32e7106e-f3ee-425c-a2b5-1fc17a6c69c8.jpeg

Success!!

Edit: Used balenaetcher to flash Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, install was simple. I used ZFS for encryption (unsure how I feel about it right now, might switch this later), and activated Ubuntu Pro. During setup I selected ‘install 3rd party drivers’ and seemingly most hardware that worked before on win10 is working in Ubuntu.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 with Emissive Backlight Keyboard. Nothing special as far as hardware. Intel Core i5-6300u at 2.4 GHz, 16GB ram, 256 ssd (I mainly use 1TB SD cards for removable storage). It has extended battery packs which do add weight and bulk to an already chunky laptop but the quote to replace with standard batteries was $500 so I’m gonna wait on that.

Thanks everyone!

Blisterexe ,

If you want a more windowsy layout, you can use the "dash to panel# extension to accomplish that

HurlingDurling ,

Congratulations!

Now, decorate it with cool stickers!

phanto ,

I had a Tough Book that I had to run a one-liner script on boot so I could have sound. It was something to do with alsamixer. I remember that I couldn’t get any audio out of the silly thing without that script unless I plugged in and then removed headphones. Loved that machine though!

bustrpoindextr ,

I just blame alsamixer for that. There was a solid 6 months that I had to completely uninstall and then reinstall alsamixer on my Lenovo every reboot so I could have sound

medic273 OP ,

As of right now, audio is working! This is my 3rd toughbook and I’ve been super happy with them. I have put them through hell with travel, heat/cold, high altitude and the elements and they’ve been nothing but durable. Clunky yes, but I appreciate em. I’m happy to have something other than windows running on them but now I’m trying to get wine setup and running some of the niche applications.

phanto ,

I’ve had a lot of access with Lutris for apps you wouldn’t expect.

medic273 OP ,

I am working on Lutris now, trying to get the Panasonic Day/Night Utility working as well as some mapping software and boy is my noob status biting me in the ass lol. I have a lot to learn still. Thanks for the tip!

Verat ,

No experience with the CF-33, but I did use a CF-30 and as far as I could tell, outside the WiFi (back when drivers for that were a problem) everything on it worked out of the box, never had any accessories that plugged into the more proprietary connectors but everything I ever plugged in worked, including RS-232

Verat ,

Do want to add, on the CF-30 when I replaced the WiFi card with a newer Intel card I had to shave off the power control mini pcie pin so that the BIOS whitelist couldnt deactivate it, no clue if they still whitelist WiFi cards in newer models or the CF-33.

medic273 OP ,

Will check, this one is running an Intel Dual Band AC-8260. I won’t need to use WiFi too often (this is the laptop I bring with me on work deployments, no internet and if I run the Starlink I can put it in Ethernet mode). Thank you for your help.

Verat ,

If it isvalready equipped with an Intel WiFi card you should be good out of the box. Glad I could help!

medic273 OP ,

As of right now my I/Os are working. WiFi, mobile (gps unknown right now) but the card readers, hdmi ports etc are functioning. Forward camera works but rear still doesn’t (couldn’t get it working on win10 either, not a deal breaker) even the ambient light sensor. Any advice on getting Wine setup (I’m trying to run the Panasonic day/night to utility for a night vision/red screen mode, the only FOSS alternatives I’ve found have just been blue light blockers)?

Edit: Thanks again!

Verat ,

As you mentioned Ubuntu’s Night light, f.lux, and Redshift all work more like a color temperature adjust than like a red only mode, I found some people mentioning if you are running X you can use xcalib to set the color channels individually, but couldnt find a tool for it, not entirely sure wine would make that function work correctly but it is worth a shot, as for wine, if the version in the package manager isnt new enough there is also a PPA for Ubuntu for more recent wine versions, but I havent used those in a long time and cant strongly advise them, YMMV in installing them and keeping the system working long term, but I was always the sort with too many PPAs so I switched to arch to not deal with that.

Link to xcalib discussion here.

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

Run a live version, and see if everything works. Generally speaking, the TBs aren’t made for consumer Linux. Even Windows kind of works with it, but the drivers are spotty. Search for a CF-33 with Linux from factory, and install that version, if that even exists. The TBs are laptops for a very specific use-case, and support for them on the consumer market is lacking. Good luck, though!

Edit: quick search found this for CF-33 but is not Ubuntu specifically, and this specifically for CF-31 but it may still be helpful.

medic273 OP ,

Will do. Yeah, when I got it I did a fresh install of Win 10 Pro and did a driver download from the Panasonic site and still had issues getting the sierra wireless card, gps, and rear camera working. Yeah, it’s been a bit of a journey for my use case. I deploy into pretty austere environments for work and it’s been hard to both hardware (laptops, tablets, cell phones) that are extremely rugged durable and can run open source. Thank you for the help.

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

I’ve done antiX on the CF-30, but the touchscreen wasn’t working. I didn’t really use it in the first place, but it was still a bummer. To be fair, the touchscreen barely worked on its original WinXP with OEM drivers built specifically for it. Good luck! I really hope you get all the needed hardware running!

medic273 OP ,

Success!! Ubuntu 22.04 LTS installed and running. Surprisingly most of the drivers are working, including the touch screen digitizer (about as well as the Win10 pro which is eh. Like you, I don’t really use the touchscreen too much) thanks again!

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

Nice!!! I’m so glad you got all the important hardware working! I have a CF-54 (I think) that I got from a random auction with Win10. I never tried to install Linux on it, because of the failure of the CF-30 at work, but in light of your success, I may just give it a go.

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