Use a CF card as SSD for IBM X41 (for beginners)

[guanghua19]

"Has anyone tried an SSD in the X41?" is a good post but has too much information there.

[Dodges Unlimited Inc.]

Wow! - Thanks @guanghua19! - How comforting to know there are still some philanthropic folk out there! - You are surely blessed for your work! - What a 'Star'!

Chris.

[tim S]

I think it's safe to say that a difinitive outline on attaching CF cards to a laptop is impossible. This is because not all CF card brands are 'seen' the same way by the laptop.
Some are seen as 'Fixed Drives', while others are seen as 'Removable Drives'.
There are also single CF to IDE adapters as well as Dual CF to IDE adapters to consider.
Here's what I have found based on Windows XP and an X40.
The fastest card(s) you can afford will give the best results, don't bother with cards below 300X. On cost per MB, CF cards aren't exactly cheap so get the best you can afford.
Windows will load from the CD onto a 'Removable Drive' but with certain 'features' missing. These are not deal breakers but if you need a pagefile, system update, clean disk and a few other bits and pieces then the "Removable Disk' has to turned into a "Fixed Disk'. This can usually be done using your particular CF card manufacturer's utility (Google). Once done, I have not found away to return the CF card state to 'Removable'. The laptop will show it as 'Removable' but it still performs as a 'Fixed Disk'. I don't think this is a big deal but....
If one goes the dual CF to IDE route then two of the same cards won't work at all. By same, I mean two cards showing as 'Fixed Disks' or two cards showing as 'Removable'. Having one card showing "Fixed' and the other 'Removable' does the trick.
I guess it's a bit like master and slave in a desktop.
I hope this helps.
Tim S

[Dodges Unlimited Inc.]

Hi Tim!

Thanks for your trouble - I was thinking in terms of using Linux as Windoze causes so much trouble - I try to keep as far away as I can from M$ ...

Best wishes,
Chris.

[guanghua19]

Chris,

Thanks for your warm words. Just let you know I tried xubuntu 8.04 on my x41 before. Wifi, video, and sound card all work without installing additional drives. Bluetooth seems not functionning.

The only reason I use Winodws is that I need to have M$ Word installed. I make a living by writing technical documents in M$ Word.

Good luck with your linux.

John

[Dodges Unlimited Inc.]

Hi John! - My 'warm words' are richly deserved Sir! ... I would be most interested to see some of your technical writing if it is available to 'Joe Public'? - Having once worked for Big Blue (IBM), I really miss quality Technical Authoring ... Ho hum ...

I'm in a rather tricky situation with my IT 'development' & 'learning curve' - I'm so exasperated with M$ Windoze Vista that I've just installed a lovely speedy Samsung Spinpoint 1TB HDD in my main PC and installed Windoze XP-Pro on it, as a 2nd HDD to a Western Digital 1TB Green Power with Mint Elyssa - They have a HDD each now, for their exclusive use, so they shouldn't complain! I'm now 'half-way' however between Windoze & Lovely Linux - In a sort of 'No Man's Land' (Eek!) ... I have too many Windozy applications for my digital photography editing to give it up, although I much prefer Linux for Internet Security, stability, speed, ease of use etc. UFRaw/The Gimp & Digikam don't have the slick graphical interfaces most of use know and love in Windoze ... Also Linux TV viewing, OCR and other things besides are just too techy/geeky for me in Linux just yet, which is a pity ... On another issue, XP-Pro won't connect to the Internet either, which is odd as Linux finds it straight away - No problem I suppose, as I use Linux for all my 'surfing' anyway - Security again! So, I suppose I should be grateful that my Windoze XP installation lives in a 'world of its own' safe from nasty malware & viruses! - I don't think 'updates' are much of an issue either - If my software works and 'does the job' - Leave well alone, eh?!

I've also recently tried to get VirtualBox running with Minty Freshness, but that too seems beyond me ... I got it running with a virtual XP, but not 'Guest Additions', so unable to read/write real data files - Hopeless ... I wanted to be able to flip comfortably and quickly between applications and OSs without having to reboot ... Oh well.

Pardon for going 'off the thread' here? - I couldn't resist chatting with you and my other wise peers here! I'm always glad and interested if anyone wants to 'pick up' on any of the issues/problems I've mentioned?! - More likely they (and you?) think "what a twit" and have better things to do! Meanwhile, I dream of a day when I can use my PCs and X40 as tools without having to spend countless hours fiddling with hardware and software - It seems so frustrating, counter-productive and non-constructive ... Perhaps you feel the same sometimes too?

Anyway, tomorrow I have to spend more time with another dual-booting PC on which Windoze XP has 'thrown a wobbly' I hope I can 'rescue' it without a complete re-install or worse, trashing it in a fit of pique/exasperation ...

Are these things 'sent to try us'? - I wish not ...

Happy padding y'all,
Chris.

[gatorbait]

What happened to the original link?

[guanghua19]

I am thinking to update it. But have not done that yet.

here you go,

http://www2.msstate.edu/~gz19/

[quote="gatorbait"]What happened to the original link? [/quote]

[nchoe123]

so far so good...

transcend 300x 8gb CF in place. an adapter from ebay (from hongkong), under $20 shipped. slid in fairly easily, no bent pins or anything.

i can tell that it's a speedy drive.

only incident so far: no trackpoint working yet, only external usb mouse. no idea why that would be.

ordered a 16gb SDHC card and a 2gb sodimm (hey it was $22), so that'll be much better than the 1gb i have now. this is my sister's X41, technically.

[erchni]

The link dosent work guanghua19