WTB or ANY info wanted: Panasonic CF-480 laptop

[Caleb Hansberry]

So, this'll make me seem a little eccentric, so here's the backstory: my first computer was a GRiD 1660. Not a very good computer really, but it was my first computer and now I'm nostalgic about it. After a while I noted there were other computers that were really the same basic computer - first a Tandy, which I thought not strange at all considering Tandy owned GRiD at the time, but then I found DECpc and Siemens-Nixdorf models, and someone pointed out the basic model was manufactured by Matsushita, which is also Panasonic. So I learned a basic Panasonic version of the laptop existed and finally found a clue showing the model I'm looking for is a CF-480. I searched Google the best I could, and Google books, but I could only come up with this picture:

So now that I know it exists, I want to add one to my collection, which if this is the base model, is going to be my "CF-480 variant collection" rather than my "GRiD 1660 variant collection".

What market was it sold in? about how many were sold, or in other words was it very uncommon? is the keyboard japanese? did it have a color model? was the CPU a 386sx or sl? are there any pictures of it? is anyone willing to part with their's?

 

[Paralel]

Yep, that's the base model. Good high-res shot. Those are rare. Give me a little bit, and I should be able to get you a basic spec sheet, as well as another variant you can look for, as I am almost certain this has a Tandy relative as well.

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Dude I found something, we're super lucky, I just started wading through results for "Panasonic 386sl" and found it on a ukraine site or something: http://retro-pc.ucoz.ru/index/cf_480c/0-353

 

[Paralel]

I found out the CF-480 is also known as the Tandy 3830 SL, there is also a SL/C variant with a color LCD. Yep, its a 80386SL as you thought, 25 Mhz. Maximum of 8 MB of RAM. It apparently uses some kind of proprietary 50 pin RAM module I've never heard of before.

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Thanks for the help! So there's the Panasonic, Tandy, and GRiD. If memory serves Ast bought Tandy, so I wonder if there is an Ast version, haha. So it was sold in an eastern european market, and the color model has a C appended to it.
Here are a couple copied pics of the CF-480 in case that site goes away, and since they were so tough to find:

Here's a collage of all five of this model of laptop I'm interested in:

 

[Paralel]

They are asking way, way too much for it, but here is a functional GRiD 1660 on E-Bay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Grid-1660-Rare-Laptop-working-Ships-Worldwide/113288323438

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Yeah, that one has actually been listed for years, but it took a break for a few months - I think the seller might have changed, but it's the same laptop.

Yeah its hilariously overpriced. I made an offer once, I think it was like $200 which is very generous, but he declined. Unless it's been recapped already, it's going to fail soon, even if someone were to pay $600.

 

[Paralel]

Agreed

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

http://www.sandyflat.net/digerati/ast486/drivers/grid/index.htm remarkable amount of relevant files

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323668737793 I'll have to pass on this one, but here is a rare example of a Panasonic laptop later than their beige models but older than their toughbooks:

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Bump, still looking

 

[dmiA]

Dude I found something, we're super lucky, I just started wading through results for "Panasonic 386sl" and found it on a ukraine site or something: http://retro-pc.ucoz.ru/index/cf_480c/0-353

If anyone is interested, I bought this laptop. Repaired it and now it works. By the way, I'm looking for a utility to configure the BIOS for it.

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Awesome!! Can you provide more pictures of the Panasonic laptop?

I can't remember off the top of my head how to configure the BIOS. I'll look on the laptops I have for a setup program.

Most importantly, what can you tell us about what was wrong with it and what you did to fix it? All of these laptops have problems now and it would really help me.

 

[dmiA]

In total, I have three models, this Panasonic, black and white Siemens-Nixdorf PCD-3Nsl and color Siemens-Nixdorf PCD-3NCsl.
When they came to me, none of them worked, complete replacement of all capacitors solved the problem for CF-480C and PCD-3Nsl, but PCD-3NCsl still did not work. It suffered the most from the leaked battery and I think that some tracks on the board could be broken, which I did not notice.

It is interesting that on Siemens you can press Ctrl-Alt-Esc and get into the BIOS settings, on Panasonic you cannot do this.

I have a few photos from the assembly of Panasonic and I also have a bunch of photos of the boards, which I have already forgotten which ones from which laptop of these three.

 

[Caleb Hansberry]

Thanks, it looks very thorough! Windows 95 is an interesting choice for a 386! The Siemens does have some enhancements that the others dont have, the base model is the same but they made some nice enhancements.

Did you replace the capacitors in the screen? If so, did they make any difference?

I see that RAM card says "smart" on it, whcih I don't remember mine saying - is it a different capacity than the others?

I have to ask, do you have any interest in selling the Panasonic?

 

[dmiA]

Windows 95 is installed on the hard drive that was in the laptop, I prefer dos + win3.11 for 386.

Panasonic has 4 megabytes of integrated RAM when Siemens is only 2. And the memory expansion card works on both of them and adds another 4 megabytes.
Unfortunately, this is the only memory card I have and I have nothing to compare with.

I changed the capacitors in the screen, I'm not sure, but it seemed to me that the image became clearer.

I do not plan to sell anything, I am slowly collecting what I manage to buy at a cheap price at local flea markets, mostly non-working or incomplete laptops, I like trying to repair them, although I am not a very expert in this.