Updates

Beta is doing good, with version 1.0.1 having fixes all major user complaints. I am preparing 1.0.2 which should support partitioned cards.

Zodiac and iQue support close

it seems that i've fixed the major roadblocks for these devices and soon they will be supported too.

Beta Updated

PalmSDHC has been updated to version 1.0.1 fixing a few internal bugs. Update is free and to update delete driver, soft reset, and install new driver. Old keys will work so keep the key.

Beta available + summary

News via PalmPowerups:

	PalmSDHC
BETA, The release version is coming later, and will cost $20 USD. <GET A TRIAL KEY>

As you may be aware, most Palm devices that do not carry a "Treo" or "Centro" brand cannot read or write to the new SDHC cards. This leaves everyone owning such devices behind in terms of storage and costs. SD cards top out at 2GB, while SDHC cards are available at 32GB sizes already, and 16GB cards can be obtained for less than $80 USD.

Palm Inc has repeatedly refused to write an SDHC driver for their handhelds. This has long been regarded as a lost cause by most Palm owners. Luckily Palm Inc are not the only ones in power to help. PalmPowerups to the rescue! We've been hard at work creating an SDHC driver for your devices. It is very difficult and has been one of the most complex projects we've ever undertaken here. It is made harder yet since each individual device needs to be uniquely supported and programmed for.

Today we're glad to announce that for for a small set of devices the driver has entered beta testing. Due to huge demand to make the beta available to everyone, it has been decided that the beta will be available for purchase as well. It is more expensive than the final version will be, for reasons that are beyond the scope of this document. Internally we've been using it on our devices, and it works well, so we're reasonably confident that it will work for you too.

There are many benefits from this driver even if you do not have an SDHC card yet. For example with this driver the card access speed will grow very noticeably, and the card access will not shut off at low battery levels. And of course, now you have support for SDHC cards.

There are caveats of course. First, to use cards whose size is 4GB or over, your device needs to support the FAT32 filesystem. Only Palm LifeDrive and Palm TX ship with it included. All other devices will need to install a FAT32 driver. There is only one option for where to get one - Palm Inc. We here at PalmPowerups are currently investigating writing our own due to reasons mentioned later in this document. For now you may download our wrapper and installer for Palm's FAT32 driver here: [LINK]. All you need to do is install it to RAM and reset. Your device will now support FAT32. Please note that Palm's FAT32 driver is VERY inefficient and slow when mounting cards. Thus on slower devices it can take up to 30 seconds to recognize an inserted 32GB card. This delay goes down for smaller cards, and when we release out own FAT32 driver, it will go away. Also this delay is not present on LifeDrive and TX devices. Another caveat, which is well known to our customers who purchase PowerDrive, is that PalmOS cannot display card sizes over 4GB or free space over 4GB. This does not mean it cannot use them, just that the display of card size and free space will be wrong. This is usually just a cosmetic error, and will usually not cause errors or problems. We are investigating a possibility of releasing a patch to alleviate this problem, but there is no certainty on this yet.

Current beta supports the following devices:

• Palm TX
• LifeDrive
• Tungsten T5
• Tungsten E2
• Zire 72
• Zire 31

The following devices are next on the roadmap and should be supported soon:

• Tungsten E
• Tungsten C
• Tapwave Zodiac
• Tungsten T3

The process to get a trial version is simple. First you need to register a username on www.PalmPowerups.com. Then you need to download the trial version PRC file. To do this, click the "download" link under the PalmSDHC icon on the front page. Now run it. It will give you your device ID, which will be something like 2134CD6E. Write this down. Your device will now reset; this is normal. Now click on the <GET A TRIAL KEY> link on the top of this article, and fill in the required data. Please be very careful to fill it in correctly. when you do this, you will be given a link to download a keyfile. Download it and save it to a safe location, you will not be able to re-download it. You now need ot install it to RAM of your device. Do so, and run PalmSDHC again. It will blink and return to the launcher screen. The SDHC driver is now active. Your device will get your attention and tell you about the trial expiration and limitations. You will have unrestricted access for 3-4 days, after which the driver will become read-only and speed-limited to a very low speed of 50 KB/s. At this point you may delete it and soft reset to remove it, or purchase it to get a new key file, that will not expire. To do so, click 'buy" under the PalmSDHC icon on the front page and follow the usual PalmPowerups purchasing process.

This is a beta version, so please report any bugs and problems you may have with it. Of course when the release version comes out, you will be entitled to the upgrade for free. The release version is coming later, and will cost $20 USD. Also note that for the beta, the driver must stay in ram, and you must run it after a soft reset to regain SDHC functionality. This is a precaution against driver conflicts.

As always we're not responsible for any data loss or any damage that may occur as result of using our software and all efforts are made to ensure it does not happen. Please read this document carefully before proceeding.

News

I get a lot of emails daily from people, with content resembling this:

Can i please buy the driver now? I know it's in beta, but i'll pay any money to have it now. Please please please?

For those devices that I personally have (TX,T5,LD,Zire72,TE2) I use the driver daily and it works, so I decided to give these people what they want. I will allow purchasing of the beta driver for those devices only, at a higher price. If you choose to do so, there are four main things to know:

1. When the final version comes you, you get the free upgrade of course
2. The final price will be around $20, thus you are paying a premium (whose size is to be determined) over it for getting it "right now"
3. This is not the final version and may have bugs. I use it daily on all my devices, and it works, but of course no guarantees for you
4. A trial version will be provided so that you may evaluate the driver. It will work for three days after which is will become read-only and limited to 50KB/s access to card.

More details of this (price, methods of purchase, etc) to follow. Please do not email me such letters anymore.

Responses to this idea are welcome in this thread

More Updates

• T|C DAL had a few bugs. Some fixed, some pending, device chart has been updated
• T|E2, T|C, and Zire31 AAL optimized and performance has increased 3x
• The driver, unlike PalmOne's driver, will run till battery is 0%, and not shut off at 10%

Zire31 & T|C

Zire 31 is now fully supported. T|C is readonly-supported, write-experimental
Device support post has been updated

FAQ and Device support

To answer a lot of the same questions I keep getting and to clear up the device support I am making this post.

FAQ:

Q:	When will the driver be released?
A:	As soon as i feel that is it ready to be released. This will be soon.
Q:	Does the driver has SDIO support?
A:	This is being investigated, but for now it does not.
Q:	Does the driver still support old non-SDHC cards?
A:	Yes. SD, miniSD, microSD, transFlash, MMC, MMCPlus, MMCmobile, RS-MMC, and SDHC are supported by this driver.
Q:	How fast is it?
A:	The driver is significantly faster than the original PalmOne driver that your device currently has.
Q:	Size limitations?
A:	None. The driver supports SD cards up to 4GB, and SDHC cards up to any size.
Q:	But my device does not support FAT32. Can I still use big cards?
A:	You can get a working FAT32 driver (a slightly modified PalmOne driver) by doing a search on this forum. With this you can use FAT32 normally
Q:	What applications support this new driver?
A:	All of them! The driver integrates with the OS and thus automatically gets used by every application.
Q:	My device is not listed as supported. What can I do to make it supported?
A:	I will need at least 30-40 people with that device to pledge to buy the driver at its current price once it is done, and I will need to get my hands on a device of that type. You will need to get or loan me one for the time while I write the driver. Offering to test is useless, I need the device in my hands, no exceptions.

SUPPORTED DEVICES:
For driver architecture, which explains what "AAL" and "DAL" mean see here

Device	AAL	DAL	Notes
T|X	done	done	fully supported
T|T5	done	done	fully supported
LifeDrive	done	done	fully supported
Zire 72	done	done	fully supported
T|E2	done	done	fully supported
T|C	done	fixing OS bugs	will support
Zire 31	done	done	fully supported
T|E	work in progress	done	limited to 16 Mbit/sec
T|T3	awaiting documents from Winbond	N/A	support planned
Zodiac	unsatisfactory performance	work in progress - DRM gets in the way	support planned
iQue3600	work in progress	Awaiting loaned device	support planned

if your device is not in this list, see the above FAQ for how to get it into this list.

Devices update

OK. My driver now supports all the devices it can out of the ones I have. Due to the device differences to support Device X, i need to have a Device X for a week or two. Remote testing doe snot help, so if your device is not in the following list and you want it supported, you need to figure out someone who can lend me one for a week or two, or a way to get me one in another manner. I have: T|E,T|E2, TX, LifeDrive, Zire72, Zire 31, T|T3, Zodiac. Without a device, the driver will be incomplete for your device and act badly. I can explain why:

The driver is composed of 3 Layers: The topmost is the SD/MMC layer that implements the SD/MMC protocol and is hardware-independent. The layer below it is the AAL - Architecture Abstraction Layer. It hides the device-independent SD interface details from the SD/MMC layer. Usually it is based on the SD/MMC controller in use. In most palms that is the processor. So for TX, T5, and LifeDrive the AAL is the same. Thus if you want, for example T|C supported, which has the same processor as the well-supported T|E2, I will not have to make a new AAL for T|C. The lowest level is the DAL - device abstraction layer. It is unique and different for each device. IT patches the OS to make it use the new driver, and talks directly to the hardware to check card lock state, check si card is inserted, and deals with the interrupts. This DAL is very hard to write without a device being present. It is possible that your device will work with a DAL from a similar device, but it will not be good. For example T|C can use the T|E2 DAL, but the device does not notice card insertion/removal and cannot use power management thus wasting battery power. I have decided to not support devices whose DALs I did not write and test well. So if your device is not in the above list of devices I have, and you want it supported, something needs to be done. Perhaps you know someone who can loan me one...

Tungsten E2 support

Ladies and gentlemen..please welcome the newest device to the PalmOS SDHC family: Tungsten E2. With a previous card size limit of just 1GB this device now eagerly uses 2GB and 4GB cards, and with FAT32 will gladly take even 16GB.

Beta Update #4

Beta it out to the testers who sent me the signed NDA.