TPDD server: Difference between revisions

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There have been many TPDD emulators over the years. This is just a few that are currently still developed, or at least maintained, or at least still usable, on current operating systems and hardware.
The [[TPDD|Tandy Portable Disk Drive]] is a floppy drive that connects to a Model T via the serial port.
* [[LaddieAlpha]]
 
* [[mComm]]
There have been many TPDD emulators over the years starting all the way back when the TPDD itself was still current and running on platforms that are obsolete now. A full list including all the old ones would be interesting to compile in one spot just to see. This is just a few that are currently still developed, or at least usable on current systems.
* [[dlplus]]
 
* [[SD2TPDD]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Platform !! Notes
|-
| [http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=LaddieCon LaddieCon] || Windows ||
|-
| [http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=LaddieCon#LaddieAlpha LaddieAlpha] || .NET || Windows, OSX, Linux. Possibly others like FreeBSD if they have Mono or can run linux's Mono runtime.
|-
| [http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?direction=&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum mComm] || Windows, Android, Python || Seperate versions for Windows, Android and Python. The Windows and Android versions include bootstrapers. The Python version can run on any platform that has Python. The python version does not include a bootstrapper.
|-
| [https://github.com/bkw777/dl2 dl2] || posix || Linux, OSX, FreeBSD, Windows via Cygwin or MSYS2, and probably any other unix-like os. Includes a bootstrapper. Forked from dlplus.
|-
| [[PDDuino]] || Arduino || Includes a bootstrapper.
|-
| [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3es0NLJmd2c Backpack Drive] || hardware device || Includes a bootstrapper.
|-
! colspan="3" | Old / Other
|-
| [https://archive.org/download/M100SIG/M100SIG.zip/Lib-09-PERIFERALS%2FPDE.EXE PDE] || MS-DOS ||
|-
| [http://ftp.whtech.com/club100/com/dl-arc.exe.gz DeskLink] || MS-DOS ||
|-
| [[WP2DOS]] || MS-DOS || TPDD emulator plus utility to convert WP-2 documents to more standard formats.
|-
| [[Portcomm]] || MS-DOS || TPDD emulator sold by Club 100.
|-
| [[M100COM]] || MS-DOS || TPDD emulator written in QuickBASIC
|-
| [http://www.knitandsew.demon.nl/dk/fb100emu-en.htm FB100 Emulator] || Windows || Targeted for knitting machine users
|-
|}
 
 
Handy dosbox commandline to run MS-DOS apps on Linux in the current directory with COM1 connected to a serial port like /dev/ttyUSB0
  dosbox -c "serial1 directserial realport:ttyUSB0" .
 
<!-- if github stops working:
  $ wget https://archive.org/download/M100SIG/M100SIG.zip/Lib-09-PERIFERALS/PDE.EXE
-->
Example:
  $ wget https://github.com/LivingM100SIG/Living_M100SIG/raw/main/M100SIG/Lib-09-PERIFERALS/PDE.EXE
  $ dosbox -c "serial1 directserial realport:ttyUSB0" .
  C:>pde 1
 
 
<!-- junk to finish disposing of later
 
==For "Model T"s==
The normal way to use a TPDD is to install a [[TPDD_client]] on a "Model T" such as TRS-80 Model 100 or NEC PC-8201a.
 
Several such clients have been made. The drive came with a utility disk and a functional dos called "floppy" which supports only the TRS-80 Model 100, 102, or 200.<br>
Others have been made by 3rd parties that provided more features or smaller ram footprint or more flexible installation/usage, and run on all the other Model T's from Kyotronic, NEC and Olivetti besides the Tandy models.<br>
Various special purpose utility programs have been written by users as well.
 
==For PCs==
TPDD used standard double density 720k 3.5" disks, but used a format that is incompatible with modern pc drive controllers.<br>
Normal MS-DOS formatted disks are written with MFM encoding, while the TPDD used FM encoding.<br>
Even using special software to read non-standard formats, you can't make a normal drive & drive controller read or write FM.
 
To read or write a TPDD disk from a modern machine, you need a working TPDD drive and the special RS232-to-TTL level-shifting serial cable that came with it, and a "TPDD Client" software to talk to the drive over the serial connection the same way the M100 does.
 
There are several TPDD clients for more modern machines, although most of these are themselves also no longer modern.<br>
For example Lap-Desk and PDD.exe are both 16-bit DOS programs that don't work on Windows. (But DO work in dosbox on linux/freebsd/osx)
 
One thing that is usable today is [http://trs80stuff.net/tpdd/tools.html TpddTool.py], a TPDD Client utility written in Python.
 
==Others==
The TANDY WP-2 has support for using a TPDD built in to it's firmware.
 
There are TPDD Client apps for Cambridge Z88 to use a TPDD.
 
==Related Info==
There are also several [[TPDD_Emulators]], which are programs that don't *use* a TPDD, but they emulate *being* a TPDD, so a Model 100, 102, 200, WP-2, NEC PC-8201, PC-8201a, PC-8300, Kyotronic KC-85, Olivetti M10, Cambridge Z88, can save and retieve files on a modern computer using the TPDD protocol.
 
There are also a few hardware devices that emulate a TPDD.<br>
One was called a [http://www.club100.org NADSBOX], which is no longer available.<br>
Another is a combination of 3 diy projects:
:http://github.com/bkw777/PDDuino
:http://github.com/bkw777/MounT
:http://github.com/bkw777/BCR_Breakout
 
TS-DOS implements an extension to the original TPDD protocol to provide subdirectories.<br>
This only works with a TPDD emulator that also supports the extension. NADSBOX, PDDuino, and LaddieAlpha at least support the feature, dlplus does not, and I don't know about mComm.
:[http://bitchin100.com/wiki/index.php?title=Desklink/TS-DOS_Directory_Access TS-DOS Directories]
 
More references:<br>
(I think these are also in the M100SIG)<br>
:https://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/fetish/m102/web100/docs/pdd2-sector-0.html
:https://www.ordersomewherechaos.com/rosso/fetish/m102/web100/docs/pdd-sector-access.html
 
-->

Latest revision as of 19:01, 28 January 2024

The Tandy Portable Disk Drive is a floppy drive that connects to a Model T via the serial port.

There have been many TPDD emulators over the years starting all the way back when the TPDD itself was still current and running on platforms that are obsolete now. A full list including all the old ones would be interesting to compile in one spot just to see. This is just a few that are currently still developed, or at least usable on current systems.

Name Platform Notes
LaddieCon Windows
LaddieAlpha .NET Windows, OSX, Linux. Possibly others like FreeBSD if they have Mono or can run linux's Mono runtime.
mComm Windows, Android, Python Seperate versions for Windows, Android and Python. The Windows and Android versions include bootstrapers. The Python version can run on any platform that has Python. The python version does not include a bootstrapper.
dl2 posix Linux, OSX, FreeBSD, Windows via Cygwin or MSYS2, and probably any other unix-like os. Includes a bootstrapper. Forked from dlplus.
PDDuino Arduino Includes a bootstrapper.
Backpack Drive hardware device Includes a bootstrapper.
Old / Other
PDE MS-DOS
DeskLink MS-DOS
WP2DOS MS-DOS TPDD emulator plus utility to convert WP-2 documents to more standard formats.
Portcomm MS-DOS TPDD emulator sold by Club 100.
M100COM MS-DOS TPDD emulator written in QuickBASIC
FB100 Emulator Windows Targeted for knitting machine users


Handy dosbox commandline to run MS-DOS apps on Linux in the current directory with COM1 connected to a serial port like /dev/ttyUSB0 

 dosbox -c "serial1 directserial realport:ttyUSB0" .

Example: 

 $ wget https://github.com/LivingM100SIG/Living_M100SIG/raw/main/M100SIG/Lib-09-PERIFERALS/PDE.EXE
 $ dosbox -c "serial1 directserial realport:ttyUSB0" .
 C:>pde 1


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