From Suunto to Polar

First walk behind, with my new Polar Ignite. Abandoned Suunto camp due their communication regarding Movescount service (which I was happy user of). My really early first impressions of this watch and Polar in more general can be summarized;

• Sync to Android is faster, a lot. 
• Polar Flow with 24/7 activity history is pretty cool
• Smaller piece at my wrist is welcomed 

I could have chosen Suunto 5 but experiences with slow sync and soon to be gone Movescount pushed me towards Polar. Let's see how long this lasts. 

Happy holidays with X220

It's Christmas 2018 and -10°C outside. Been working with my second hand thinkpad X220 now and I have to say it's amazing machine. From 2011/2012 we get ultimate Linux laptop with i5 and keyboard beyond anything other.

I swapped HDD to 256 GB SSD and plugged in additional 4GB RAM module to make total 8GB available for my Debian 9.6. During these times, I've seen all those 1-2k€ laptops at store but none of them are at this level of comfort and functionality. And now comes the best part, this beauty was less than 200 € and it's A+ grade second hand unit from all aspects. Even battery from 2012 holds charge pretty well, even I am ready to replace that when needed.

Cleaning up and backup strategy

Most useful feature on my CF-54 is removable hard drive bay. It takes any 2.5" SATA drive and makes it breeze to upgrade and backup my work. As an developer and traveling dev, I cannot take all my work with me all the time and especially this turns my favorite CF-54 valuable tool.

I have two HD trays, which I rotate based on my work situation and travels I am taking. These serve also on update situations, since I just swap SDD out and archive it and buy new to install things from scratch.

By doing this, I have pile of SSD's archived with date and fully working environment - compilers, tools and probably some specific tweaks on my Linux. I have found this solution better, when I might need to return to some old project and deliver something on that. Since SSD prices are dropping, I believe this is pretty good backup strategy as well. Of course, I do run off site backups to USB HD's and USB sticks, but hardly any cloud based.

All I wish from Panasonic, please deliver CF-54 with i7, upto 32/64 GB RAM and couple of NVME bays together with decent Linux strategy (like Dell's project Sputnik). There are tons of professionals working with your gear and Linux.

Dell XPS 13 (9370)

Travels with Panasonic CF54 has turned to an end and promised to help a colleague to setup this XPS13 (9370) model for Linux use.

Hardware is decent, fragile and lacking interfaces (it only has 3 USB-C ports) if you compare to any Toughbook model. However this computer is awesome example how Linux has gained ground over Windows. All items just work under Linux and no annoyances are present with this setup.

I installed Debian 9 with KDE desktop environment and things works out of the box. Only thing I need to figure out is Bluetooth firmware. I has some compatibility issues for mouse and there was some instructions somewhere how to update this.

So my Sunday morning coffee (started at 5AM) has been success with this Dell.

Toughbook CF-54, Road Warrior ^ 2

I just realized that my CF-54 is over 4 years old and still going strong. It's been my companion on various travels across the globe. From far east jungle to east coast Starbucks and from northern minus degrees to middle east heat. Serving just fine. 

My specific unit is with non glossy FullHD touch screen, 16 GB RAM and 256/512GB removable drive and internal 1 TB M2 SSD. It has two battery, giving it reasonable good battery lifetime while running latest Debian 9.1. All devices work just out of standard installation (wifi, touch, LTE, audio, brightness and bluetooth, hibernate). So hardware wise it's very capable machine, giving some serious peace of mind when traveling. 

Only downside for really intensive work is SSD interface type, which is SATA. I realized this when compiling huge projects on embedded Linux world and SATA interface is slow, when compared to nvme ssd. 

I was offered to switch to Dell Precision 5520 or XPS 13 and I tried them extensively out during last spring. 




And even they had superior specs over my four year old CF-54, it was still huge disappointment. 5520 had 32 GB RAM, 1 TB nvme SSD and bigger display, but still - I just cannot live machine that fragile with my everyday job. 

For me laptop is mobility and traveling. I just cannot stuff that piece of plastic on overhead lockers on that third jump on fully booked plane, carry it with me on field operations while testing my code or anything else than just pure office work. 



So if you're after any serious Linux Laptop and you are able to live with SATA SSD, Panasonic CF-54 Toughbook is your choice. I've run Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora on it and it just works without a glitch. 

I just smile to Panasonics efforts to sell this beauty with Windows 10 and at the same time I am so glad if any of our competitor takes that path :)



 

CF-XZ6 has arrived

Panasonic CF-XZ6 has arrived. It works good with Linux. In case you want to know more, comment or get in touch.

Short summary

• Intel® Core™ i5-7300U vPro™ Processor [works]
• Display 12.0” QHD (2160 x 1440)  [works]
• Touch display [works]
• Touchpad [works]
• LTE Modem [works]
• On Fly removable tablet part [works]

Tuning Toughbook CF-20

All black Panasonic Toughbook CF-20 

Here goes few pictures of my tuned up Panasonic Toughbook CF-20. After installing Linux on this, I see this to be ready for any professional tasking.

This black back turned out to be pretty nice, hiding brand and model - but making it unique from outside. Highly recommend this modification.

Few pictures of connectors at side of tablet part of computer and keyboard base:

Early verdict on CF-20 running Linux

After few days with Toughbook CF-20, here goes initial impressions running this thing with Linux.  

First - even when this device is small, it makes form factor to very pleasing to move and travel with. I managed to attach camera strap on display for easy carry. There is actually two different position where this kind of strap can be attached.

Secondly I applied some black sticker on back of display, hiding that all silver color of original back and Panasonic Toughbook logo's. Mainly I do this because reflections to my vehicle windows when using in drive situations. And top of all, I was very pleased how it makes this device look like in total.

-> Will update picture of that new black later today.

Interfaces 

This small laptop has more interfaces I could ever imagine. First time I have thing where I can have two wired LAN ports available. HDMI and VGA is there as RS-232 with 9-pin D-connector(!). USB's, SD and MicroSD card readers included as well (yes, two of those!).

I can hardly wait to get this thing side of Mac Powerbook user (with single USB C in that).

 

Travel ahead 

I am looking to take some serious travel with CF-20 in coming weekend. 

I've done these trips before with CF-54, which is good workstation for developer, but this time I check can I manage with smaller one. From this, that strap alone for carrying computer has been only thing which I've missed on my CF-54. Carrying it always with an handle takes one hand away.

Toughbook CF-20 with Linux

Toughbook CF-20 arrived and no Windows on this one. Installed Ubuntu 16.04 to test latest hardware with latest software and it worked.

First some quick specifications of CF-20:

• Intel^® Core™ m5 vPro™ processor 
• 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD hard disk
• 10.1" digitizer touch screen with 1920x1200 resolution
• Awesome amount of interfaces
• LTE module (1199:9041 Sierra Wireless, Inc.)

USB device ID's for touch and LTE:

ID 5986:0656 Acer, Inc
ID 5986:0689 Acer, Inc
ID 056a:0148 Wacom Co., Ltd
ID 0eef:c066 D-WAV Scientific Co., Ltd 
ID 10c4:ea60 Cygnal Integrated Products, Inc. CP210x UART Bridge / myAVR mySmartUSB light
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0424:2744 S
ID 1199:9041 Sierra Wireless, Inc.

First impressions

First this device is small. Almost too small to do every day computing (which is mainly development work for me). 10.1" display with 1900 x 1200 resolution makes it pretty small print. Zooming comes in handy almost in every program. I've defaulted DPI value a bit up to make menus and icons bit larger.

I will head up to LTE configuration and update here how it goes. First Panasonic Toughbook with MicroSIM on LTE module.

UPDATE: LTE Works just fine. Network manager tweak applied and everything works.

I would say that Panasonic Toughbooks have been one of the most Linux friendly computers which I've played with. 

OPSEC With Panasonic CF-54

Been traveling a lot and my Toughbook CF-54 has been serving good. Since projects we do are mostly confidential for specific customers working in intelligence sector - we are always taking OPSEC pretty seriously.

One feature I could not live without is removable hard drives. Every time I have to leave my laptop behind, I extract HD to carry along. This makes machine in hotel room total brick for anyone interested.

And yes, I have not booted Windows since '90's. That's another OPSEC tip. 

Panasonic CF-54 with ubuntu 16.04

Did some upgrades to 16.04. Found out that LTE module (1199:9041 Sierra Wireless, Inc.) in CF54 needs to be reconfigured.

Here's how:

Add /etc/modprobe.d/ncm.conf with following (and reboot):

options cdc_ncm prefer_mbim=N


This makes network manager able to see and configure your LTE.

Toughpad FZ-G1 with Linux

Got my hands on this yesterday. Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 with iKey FZ-G1 Jumpseat Keyboard attached. Like a tradition, I never even saw windows booting on this machine, because I installed Fedora 23 in two minutes to SSD.

First time for years, I felt like carrying some serious set of hardware, mainly due the weight of the combination. 10.1" screen gave me an 1980x1200 resolution which is pretty small print. After tweaking settings of GNOME3 to suit better, this device turned pretty awesome.

Toughpad itself is IP65 but keyboard is not specified to any IP ratings. Keyboard is whole rubber and I bet it stands some elements, but without any official IP rating.

We are working on a project where we utilize FZ-G1 and I probably will be able to share some details of it later on. 

Panasonic recommends Linux

I've been enjoying my CF-54 with Fedora 23 lately and this battery life amazes me every time. I can run this almost full day easily and carrying plain thing without power supply make life easier anyhow.

I also acquired second HD cradle while back, making my upgrade routines easier. This whole HD cradle was actually the thing which drove me to Fedora 23 testing, because I could leave my 'operative' setup on self intact while trying out something new. 

After all, I've been really satisfied for this setup. Running Linux on Panasonic Toughbook CF-54 is so far best experience and our company does this on multiple users with toughbooks with no issues.

Sticker on this one should say "Panasonic recommends Linux".

Extra battery for CF-54

Been using my CF-54 for a couple of months now and it's one of the best Linux enabled laptops I've ever used. I've been doing some travels lately and there are few features for this Laptop which I'd like to share.

First, I've been using extra battery on expansion bay.

It adds 32 Wh capacity to my standard inbuilt battery (41 Wh). So my CF-54 is now equipped with 73 Wh battery capacity. This gives me room to use this laptop for a full day just on batteries. I even survived a days with standard 41 Wh battery and this extra gives me almost double more.

Another nice feature which makes this thing really unique is removable HD with case. When ever I am forced to leave my laptop in Hotel room or other unmonitored location, I am able to take HD with me. Leave no valuables behind they say.

So, best Linux laptop so far. 

Ultimate Linux laptop (CF-54)

Today I got my hands on to new Panasonic CF-54. Installed Ubuntu 15.04 (64 bit) to it and found out that this is ultimate Laptop for Linux user! I never booted Windows on it and I suggest you to do same, if you have this gear.

Few points which will get this into class A laptop with Linux;

• Really rugged feel, but measures and weight are well in control
• Handle. This alone is the thing after you have been able to test one out. 
• 1920 x 1080 FullHD display, which is matte and has touchscreen
• Inbuilt 4G which works under Linux (see earlier post about Toughpad)
• Bluetooth, touchscreen, sound, wifi - works
• 4G with Sierra 7305 (1199:9041) 
• Exact model number is CF-54B3961MN

I will update this post after more experiences and details, but if you're after solid professional laptop for Linux use - look no further.

Updates

I've been using my Toughbook CF-54 now for a while as my main laptop and I cannot complain about anything while running Ubuntu 15.04 (AMD64). Everything just works so well that I am still amazed. I think Panasonic should advertise them as Linux able supplier, because it's starting to be good differentiation from other vendors, especially after Windows 10 failed to impress peoples.

I've been running like tenths of laptops as my main gear during last few years and equal to finding perfect laptop, I've been experimenting perfect carry on bag with various items. Just before my CF-54, arrived my Fjällräven Greenland briefcase and just last week I found out that CF-54 fits perfectly inside laptop pocket of this briefcase. It fits like clove in there, even it surely looks like that CF-54 is too big for the case, but no. It's perfect. I try to include some images in future. But if you're after ultimate Linux laptop and discreet carry on solution, try these two. They are amazing. Both of them.



 

Ubuntu Mate 15.04 to Toughpad

Based on my experiences on CF-AX2, I decided also reinstall Toughpad FZ-M1 with Mate version. And yes, it's beautiful and working. I did some font size tweaking to 16 px fonts and 7" screen serves my eyes pretty ok.

 

And same thing applies, Mate runs much more responsive even on this Celeron based hardware.

 

Panasonic CF-AX2 with Ubuntu-Mate 15.04

After installing Ubuntu 15.04 to Toughbook CF-AX2, I noticed quite heavy CPU and graphics adapter usage due compiz. I decided to give this little fellow an ease by installing Ubuntu Mate 15.04 for it. And how surprised I was. I ran cooler and lot more responsive than with Compiz equipped Ubuntu.

One thing was missing, with two finger scroll on touchpad - I could not find an option to invert scrolling direction to "natural scrolling". DConf editor trick described in various forum posts did not affect, but founding this solved problem:

1. Open file (with sudo) for editing:

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

2. Add these lines to first "InputClass" section in

synclient VertScrollDelta=-111 
synclient HorizScrollDelta=-111

And it works. 

SSD Issues

Midsummer and some EXT4 failures on SSD on my Dell. I just swapped my Samsung 850 PRO to older Intel 530 SSD due latest TRIM related issues when this happened. (EDIT: check link, how promptly Samsung reacted to this SSD related post of Algolia!).

Under pretty heavy development load with virtual machines, I run upgrade to system and after reboot I couldn't connect to Wifi. I thought that there is an issue with signal (like some times before) - but this was not the case. Whole wifi interface was gone. It turned out that system was unable to load firmware to wifi card and it failed due this.

Couple of reboots later, system came up with read only file system and I saw the reason. EXT4 errors on my Intel SSD, reason unknown.

Update: Ended up changing SSD to rotating HD, before checking reasons for this behaviour. I also dis-enabled /etc/cron.weekly trimming from couple of SSD equipped Toughbooks, just to be safe side, if it's about TRIM failures on SSD's. 

Toughpad FZ-M1

I've been tuned my Toughpad for a week now and it seems to work nicely with Ubuntu 15.04. I decided to expand a bit of those scrollbars, font sizes and Firefox buttons - just to make it more handy to use with touch.

While this model I have is based on Intel® Celeron™ N2807, it's a bit slow going but runs on battery for few hours easily. I will try to check out exact figures later on. 

 

To summarize what I've got in this combo so far;

• FZ-M1 tablet with Intel® Celeron™ N2807 
• 2 GB RAM and 128 GB of SSD 
• Ubuntu 15.04 (AMD64)
• Integrated 3G/LTE modem, Sierra Wireless EM7305 [works]
• Multi touch screen [works]
• Audio, also 3.5mm HF audio w/ microphone [works]
• Screen brightness control [works]
• iKey ruggerd keyboard 
• Integrated LAN port (option for FZ-M1) [works]
• Bluetooth [works]

So I would say that this is hands down best Linux tablet experience so far. My main goal is to introduce this into one project shortly, but until that this serves my mobile computing platform while on move. 

 

 

Toughpad FZ-M1 with Linux

Today I got Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 for one project and this tablet rocks with Linux. I installed Ubuntu 15.04 (AMD64) for evaluation and almost everything worked out from box.

Basically this is not tablet, it's more like a tablet form computer. Meaning that you find full and easily accessible BIOS setup and it allows you to boot Ubuntu installation. I've played with Toughbooks over last ten years and I hardly never had any issues with them supporting Linux.

Since I installed Ubuntu with integrated hard disk encryption (LUKS), I believe I need to have keyboard present (to give passphrase on boot). That's why there is this wonderful iKey attachable keyboard.

This keyboard has nice backlight and totally waterproof keys. They are not as usable as normal laptop keys, but they withstand elements. So this is a thing.

Backlight issue

FZ-M1 backlight needed some tweaking to work with Ubuntu, but I managed to google solution for this. You need to create file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf and place this in file:

And add this into file:

Section "Device"
            Identifier  "card0"
            Driver      "intel"
            Option      "Backlight"  "intel_backlight"
            BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection


So, if you're after Linux tablet with serious professional touch - I would recommend this Toughpad in fully.

Update on modem

Sierra Wireless EM7305 MBIM vs QMI modes. It seems that Modem Manager has an issues with MBIM mode, so we have to enable QMI mode with this:

echo 1 >  /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/bConfigurationValue

After this, modem manager works and you can create your mobile connection just fine. Just remember to insert MicroSIM to your device:

Project

I am working on project where we are looking for small, almost phone sized PC hardware - capable to run Linux as vanilla as it could be. It seems that this FZ-M1 is closest what we have tested. I've checked out Lenovo tablets (Miix), some ATOM based tablets (HP), some Acer's etc. but all them failing either to install or support Linux in this extent. Most miserably is Lenovo MIIX, which has this Intel & Microsoft UEFI32 bit installation quirks.