I bought one of those CF to Toshiba 1.8-inch IDE Hard Drive Converter since IDE Hard Drives are becoming harder to find now.

Would you care to tell us how you set up your CF card and adapter? Maybe as a step by step? For me the card and adapter are not being recognized and I suspect that there is some basic step in setting it up that I'm missing. I'm working on a 240 Type 2609 that will likely get some version of Puppy Linux for an OS. I have a wireless card ( Intel 2915ABG Mini Pci ) for it and am waiting on a 128MB RAM card to come in before I install anything.

Thanks to this thread I have learned about a new (to me) portable from IBM that I had never heard of before. The Workpad Z50.

Looks like an X styled Windows CE device and after reading a few articles on it and checking e-bay pricing it seems to be a good machine to get my feet wet with as far as Windows CE goes. I've never used that OS before but I never had a need to either. While I still do not have a need to run it now, my inner geek demands that I purchase the device and play with it.

Ah, yes. The Z50. I have a couple of them. They are excellent in many ways, probably could be thought of as the 1st Netbook. Windows CE is quite limited, but it has a suite of scaled down productivity applications (like Word) that are very useful. You can use a CF card (actually, 2 of them if you use a PCMCIA to CF adapter) and save your files there. Excellent (really I can't overemphasize this) keyboard, and the familiar trackpoint.

The screen is not TFT, but the passive LCD technology, and you can't compare it to TFT. I think the reason they used that technology is to improve on battery life, which is spectacular (the extended battery runs for 16 hours,) and there is an adapter which takes 8 alcaline AA batteries also (which means that you can have a "netbook" running on AA batteries.)

Another point where the Z50 excels is at sound recording. It's not high fidelity recording, but more of a note-taking quality, but the microphone picks up very well, which makes it an excellent choice for taking notes or recording during meetings. You can record to CF card to capacity, and using different encodings and bit rates (almost unlimited space.)

I'm in the process of installing NetBSD on one of mine as we speak, because I'm thinking of selling it in eBay, and hopefully that will increase its value somewhat.

But yes, I think you will enjoy tinkering with it.

I have a Z50, and I really like it, especially the "instant-on" ROM based OS. As far as I can tell, the 240 and Z50 are exactly the same size, except for the battery bulge that props the Z50 up at a slight angle, (slants about 1/4" from back to front) and have the same keyboard. The 240 is more powerful, but disk based, with much shorter battery time, and it must boot. If you want your data handy anywhere any time instantly, the Z50 is perfect.

********************************************************************

What kind of RAM does the 240 take? I have a 256Mb PC100 SDRAM SODIMM that is not low density (I ordered it for the 770Z ). Will it work?

It's very funny that you would mention the Z50 and 240. As I was reading this post I am in bed with a 240X (the one I'm typing in right now) and a Z50 to my right (I had it here because I was installing NetBSD on it earlier.) I just put the Z50 on top of the 240X, and they are almost exactly the same width and depth (the Z50 seems just a couple of millimeters smaller in each dimension.) The battery style is the same (the bulging kind,) but the battery in my 240X is more bulky than the one in the Z50.

The keyboard on the Z50 seems to me better than the one in the 240X, and the one in the 240X is excellent. The keyboard in the Z50 feels very solid, and the key action is simply the best I have ever experienced (I haven't used any clicky keyboards though.) That shows you that the Z50 was no joke, IBM really put a lot of thought into them.

As for the memory, I'm sorry but the PC100 SDRAM won't work. The only memory expansion possible on the Z50 is a 32Mb EDO RAM which brings the total to 48Mb of RAM (counting the builtin 16Mb.)

The instant on feature on the Z50 is nice. My favorite feature is the incredibly good battery runtime though.

> As for the memory, I'm sorry but the PC100 SDRAM won't work. The only memory
> expansion possible on the Z50 is a 32Mb EDO RAM which brings the total to 48Mb of RAM
> (counting the builtin 16Mb.)

I was asking about the PC100 SDRAM in the 240, not the Z50, but I finally found it in another thread. The 240 also requires low density RAM. Is the Z50 RAM standard EDO? there is a rumor that it's proprietary.

You probably have the extended battery in your 240X. There is a standard battery that does not stick out. With it, I think the 240 lays flat like a 600.

IBM made two mini PCI modem cards with Wifi. Will one of these work in the 240?

That's not quite true.
The 240X and 240Z have a different chipset from the 240. This chipset supports faster RAM (PC100 as opposed to PC66 on the 240), but on the downside it only supports up to 256 MB of RAM.
As the 240X (and 240Z, to my knowledge) have 64 MB soldered to the mainboard, you could only go to 192 MB normally.

There where two options to get more RAM into your 240X:
- buy one of the really rare 192 MB memory modules (never seen one myself, but supposedly you can find one of them every once in a while on asian versions of eBay)
- unsolder the RAM from the mainboard and use a 256 MB memory module

I am pretty sure the Z50 RAM is proprietary, and only 32Mb modules are available.

Yes, I think I have the extended battery in my 240X. The Z50 doesn't have the extended battery on (although the battery still bulges.) I also have a Z50 standard battery, but I just don't use it.

I have no idea about the Wifi cards on the 240, sorry. I use mine with a PCMCIA Wifi card.

Hi,

- Intel minipci Pro 2200 works OK.

- In 240x you DO NOT need to unsoldere anything. Please see topic "240x and 256M again". A simple and probed software hack is all you need.

Cheers

I need the Hard Drive Caddly/Connector, I found that the connector is attached to the caddy. I found one on PCHUB.com but it is out of stock. Part Number: DA0BS1TB8D3
http://www.pchub.com/uph/laptop/38-3637 ... apter.html
I can't find any on ebay.
And the CF Adapter will not read and I don't want to risk bending one of the pins off the 240 and may have to replace the motherboard, So I just want to buy the orginal connector for it.

Hi,

The CF adapter you tried is as per: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=73179&start=0

Try other card preformated in your 240.

Works for me!

Hard drive cover for 240 is available at the website below. Connector and mounting screws are included. IBM Part Number is 10L1950. Shipping cost is about $10 and delivery is very fast.

http://www.indexworldwide.com/10l1950.html

I found a seller that sold me a HDD Cover/Caddy/HDD Connector set for $13.

Is the 240 CPU upgradable? To what? What kind of board/socket?

Quote:
"In 240x you DO NOT need to unsoldere anything. Please see topic "240x and 256M again". A simple and probed software hack is all you need."

The topic refers to a hack in Win2000.
Has anyone tried this with succes in Win XP?

No, the 240 CPU is soldered onto the board.
You could try to find a 240x board (with CPU), those fit into the 240 frame.

Can my ThinkPad 240 (non X,Z) graphics be upgraded or be ajusted? My 240 has 800X600 witch I think it can handle up to 1024X768 resolution, but it don't fit on the screen. I think the ThinkPad 240Z and the i1124 shows the screen full in that resolution.

You mean you want to upgrade the screen to 1024x768? The 240 definitely can output 1024x768, though I think you would need to replace the ribbon cable to the type found in the 240Z or i1124. The combined cost of this cable and LCD would probably exceed the cost of the i1124 that I just sold.

So it deals with the LCD type and cable? And yes on my external LCD it displays the 1024X768. And I can live with 800X600 as theres nothing wrong with my 240 other than I can to upgrade the RAM in it. Its running Windows XP Professional on a 64MB stick, will a 1 stick of 256MB work?

The 240 has 64MB of onboard RAM, and you can put a low-density 256MB PC100 module in the upgrade slot for a total of 320MB. Look for "33L3070" on eBay.

I have owned three 240's. Excellent as collector's items, but the 800x600 screen is way too low-res for any real work to be done. The 240X is also only 800x600.

> but the 800x600 screen is way too low-res for any real work to be done.

What are you doing with it? I do real work on mine all the time, and on the Z50 (640X480) and the Casio E-125. The Casio is only 240X320 (or 320X240 with "landscape" software) and that's a little limited, but not for a *Pocket* PC.

We just define "real" differently.