I got this little gem from a very good friend and retro-enthusiast Alexandru a while ago and only recently got the time to fiddle with this. What can I say, it feels like an older-school iPad and the fact that it can run Windows XP and all the things that come with it makes it super bonkers! The processor isn’t a very speedy one, it’s only 1GHz This got only 256 MB of RAM, but I will definitely upgrade it to about 1GB so it’s a bit zippier. I will also replace the 5400RPM HDD with something else. I tried installing windows on a CompactFlash card, but unfortunately, it couldn’t boot off him for some reason.
Because my tablet came without a HDD, I have made a quick tutorial on how to have this as a fresh install similar to the factory experience:
Step 1: Download the recovery ISOs from archive.org. HP Compaq TC1100 Factory OS Restore Discs
Step 2: Burn ISOs to CDs or use Rufus to write an USB stick with CD1 ISO, then you can just copy the SWSETUP directory from CD2 to the USB you just made. I used an old 2GB stick and it was more than enough, both images use about 1.25GB combined.
Step 3: Install Windows as you usually would, but keep in mind this ISO already has a serial number into the unattended install i386\WINNT.SIF file, so you won’t need to input one. This will install Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, which includes Service Pack 2.
Step 4: Finish configuring Windows regional settings and users as normally
Step 5: Install drivers. From the CD2 (or USB stick), go to \SWSETUP\APPINSTL\ and run SETUP.EXE, tick everything and let it crunch. Restart
Step 6: Based on how (un)lucky you were, you still might have a few items that don’t have drivers installed. For me there were quite a few, so I’ll list them below and the drivers I used for them. To be able to easily identify each of the component, right click on it, choose “Properties”, then go to the “Details” tab. Make sure that “Device Instance Id” is chosen and make note of the value below it. The install method is simple, right click the item, choose “Update driver”, and search for the driver in these directories:
- Video Controller (VGA Compatible) — This is easy, choose “Don’t search, I will choose which driver to install” and just choose NVIDIA GeForce 2 Go (Microsoft Corporation)
- Unknown device — ACPI\COMPAQ_TABLETTPC_BUTTONS — search in \SWSETUP\BTTNDRVR\DISK1, it’s the driver for the tablet’s side buttons
- Unknown device — ACPI\FPI2002 — get file sp21627.exe, it’s the “FinePoint Innovations Serial HID Tablet drivers / Compaq Compaq Tablet PC TC1000”, basically it’s the touchscreen driver. (Source)
- Unknown device — PCI\VEN_1114&DEV_0506 — this is the integrated Wi-Fi Card, which chipset is reported to be at76c506. So if you need Atmel Corp. at76c506 Driver Windows XP, use this file: Intersil_Corporation_Intersil_PRISM2.5_Mini_PCI_Adapter_5x86.zip, unzip it and let the Hardware Update Wizard search the driver in the extracted directory. (Source)
- Unknown device - PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1059_ — this is the integrated Intel with the reported chipset 82551QM. I took this driver and now the card is identified in Windows as “Inter (R) PRO/100 M Mobile Connection”. Try installing the Windows drivers before trying the separate driver archive. If it fails, unzip the archive and and let the Hardware Update Wizard search the driver in the extracted directory.
- Compaq Card Reader (Card Bus) - If the device identifies as “PCMCIA\COMPAQ-PC_CARD_SMARTCARD_READER-446E”, unzip SLB_Reflex_USB_Lite_Smart_Card_Reader_Allx86.zip and let the Hardware Update Wizard search the driver in the extracted directory. (Source)
Step 7: Restart and check if everything works. By the way, if you think the tablet pen is not working, make sure you have a fresh AAAA battery inside.
After all is done, you can use it as a normal computer or to do whatever the hell you want with it, after all it’s a Windows XP computer. I will definitely throw some puzzle games onto it, some of the ones I played during the Old Computer Challenge as they would work really nice with the pen.
You can read more about HP Compaq TC1100 on Wikipedia, HP Drivers, HP
