Bitchin100.com presents DLPilot

DLPilot emulates the Tandy TPDD drive on PalmOS PDAs that have a serial port. So far it has been tested on the following serial Palms:

Palm Vx
Palm III
Palm IIIxe
Palm VIIx
Palm M505
Palm Tungsten T3
Palm Tungsten W
Handspring Treo 90
Handspring Visor Prism
Handera 330

w/ PalmOS must be 3.3 or greater
For those who don't know what a TPDD is: the TRS-80/Tandy TPDD ( Tandy Portable Disk Drive ) is a battery powered, ultra-quiet portable floppy disk drive that connects to the serial port of the TRS-80 Model 100, Tandy 102, NEC 8201a, NEC 8300, and other devices. Lots of Model 100 vintage laptop users have this drive, and some don't. They aren't plentiful anymore, and the old ones are breaking (I mean the drives, not the users!). So I created DLPilot to emulate these old drives.
I've been asked to make early copies available, so If you are willing to keep up with the alpha releases then you can buy what I have for $25.
When the final version is released it will cost $30. For those who buy before release, the upgrade fee will be only $5.

Send email to jhoger@pobox.com with your name and address if you would like to order a copy, and I will send you the invoice as a PDF file. I accept Paypal or check drawn on U.S. bank in U.S. funds.

In 6 months after the full release the source code will be released under the GPL License. I may release it for individual use for those that need it under a different license before then; ask me. In any event, I ask that you not redistribute the software before that point, so that I have a chance to sell some copies.

Details of the currently shipping version:

Validated working on the Tungsten T3 by Daryn Hanright!
Model 100/102/200 .DO ASCII format files are automatically converted to/from editable PalmDoc files
Currently can save/load binary files with no known issues
Now compatible with the WP-2 built-in diskette driver for saving/loading .DO files. Saved files are saved to PalmDoc format, but because no translation binary->ascii format has not been created yet for WP-2 files, they cannot be readily edited on the Palm PDA
WP-2 exported ASCII files (Ctrl-A from WP-2 file manager) will have line-endings converted by DLPIlot from 0D to 0A during transfer, so they can be edited in SiEd just like Model 100 .DO documents. The line endings are converted back to 0D when loaded by WP-2 from DLPilot.
Tested with standard FLOPPY.CO which comes with a TPDD-2 drive. It also works with TEENY, and the WP-2's built-in diskette driver.
Now works with TS-DOS ROM!!!
The file list now works (the rename/delete/duplicate buttons do not). So if you send or delete a file via your laptop, the change will immediately be reflacted in the list
You can now rename and delete files from your laptop (i.e. without popping up your PalmDoc editor).
Eventually there will be more automatic filters, like a BASIC program tokenizer/detokenizer and WP-2 format to tagged ASCII. For the moment, other than Model 100 text files, you should just think of DLPilot purely as a way of saving/loading files to your Palm PDA.
Because of some cheaply made HotSync cables, CTS flow control has been disabled in DLPilot. This should not affect DLPilot operation in any way, but for folks with a bad cable, it will keep DLPilot from getting stuck
DLPilot can now do an XON/XOFF text file upload... this permits bootstrapping of a disk driver onto your laptop, TEENY being the typical example.
If you have a Palm III you need to be running at least PalmOS 3.3, which is available free to Palm III,IIIx, V, IBM WorkPad 20x, 30x, C3 users at PalmOS 3.3 Upgrade

For vintage PCs that connect to floppy via a controller instead of a serial cable, check out Eric J. Rothfus's "Semi-Virtual Disk", a flash based floppy disk emulator which plugs directly into your vintage machine's floppy controller. Disk images are transferred to it from your PC via Serial cable. It has many other features too.

If you want to pay by PayPal* my address is jhoger@pobox.com
If you are in California, please add 7.25% to cover tax.
If you simply do not foresee having the money to afford DLPilot, let me know, we can probably work something out.

Screenshots of DLPilot on a Palm Vx PDA:

Mockup of screen with model combo box open

* PayPal charges me fees for using PayPal. If you want to go the extra mile (not required, I won't even give you funny looks if you don't) and pay my fees, here is the formula:
        Let x be the actual price of the goods + shipping cost
        Let y be the final price you ask the buyer to send you via
        Paypal.

        Paypal standard rate fees are y * .029 + .30

        Then y - x should be equal to the Paypal fee.

        y - x = y * .029 + .30

        Solving for y gives

        y - y *.029 = x + .30
        y ( 1 - .029) = x + .30

        So,

        y = (x + .30) / (.971)

So for $25 that would be $26.06