louis@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Louis Schmittroth) (07/26/89)
I have installed Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo cartridge tape units on two diferent 386 machines running Xenix 2.3. A Xenix driver comes with the units. On my machine here at home, the unit now tears up tapes, and I am shipping it back. On the other machine at a customer site, the unit very often just stops during a tar and hangs the computer!. Also the only time I really had to do a restore from a tape, the tape was unreadable. So, I am looking for replacements, and willing to spend some more money. What is the concensus on cartridge tape units. In each case I can live with a 40MB unit, and if it takes 20 minutes to write a tape that is OK too. I might consider the Archive QIC 60 model ST600 Fastape which comes with a controller for my AT bus, but I don't know if that includes the Xenix driver, or if Xenix already has a driver. Another one that I could afford is the Archive QIC XL 40MB model 5540 for the AT. I would appreciate any comments on these or other possibilities. Please post or e-mail me. Louis Schmittroth
jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (07/26/89)
louis@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Louis Schmittroth) writes: >So, I am looking for replacements, and willing to spend some more >money. What is the concensus on cartridge tape units. In each >case I can live with a 40MB unit, and if it takes 20 minutes to >write a tape that is OK too. >I might consider the Archive QIC 60 model ST600 Fastape which >comes with a controller for my AT bus, but I don't know if that >includes the Xenix driver, or if Xenix already has a driver. The drivers for the Archive are built into Xenix by SCO. I am running this drive, and on Xenix 2.3.2 it goes like a bandit. SCO has supported the Archive for a long time now. JB -- Jonathan Bayer Beware: The light at the end of the Intelligent Software Products, Inc. tunnel may be an oncoming dragon 500 Oakwood Ave. ...uunet!ispi!root Roselle Park, NJ 07204 (201) 245-5922 jbayer@ispi.UUCP
qac@occrsh.ATT.COM (Quentin_Conner) (07/29/89)
jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) writes: >louis@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Louis Schmittroth) writes: >>I might consider the Archive QIC 60 model ST600 Fastape which >>comes with a controller for my AT bus, but I don't know if that >>includes the Xenix driver, or if Xenix already has a driver. I have the Archive Fastape model 60 and SCO 386 2.2.1 which came with a driver installable via the link kit and 'mkdev tape'. But, it will not write in the high density format. I.e. 60Mb on a 600 foot tape. >The drivers for the Archive are built into Xenix by SCO. I am running this >drive, and on Xenix 2.3.2 it goes like a bandit. SCO has supported the Archive >for a long time now. I wonder if the driver from release 2.3.2 will work with 2.2.1 or maybe I need to order an update from SCO. (probably prohibitively expensive) Quentin Conner -------------- qac@occrsh.att.com att!occrsh!qac
jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (07/29/89)
qac@occrsh.ATT.COM (Quentin_Conner) writes: [deleted] >>The drivers for the Archive are built into Xenix by SCO. I am running this >>drive, and on Xenix 2.3.2 it goes like a bandit. SCO has supported the Archive >>for a long time now. >I wonder if the driver from release 2.3.2 will work with 2.2.1 or >maybe I need to order an update from SCO. (probably prohibitively expensive) Assuming you are running 386 Xenix, the update from 2.2.1 to 2.3.2 will cost about $ 150 or so. The driver seems to be built into the kernel, so I do not think there is a way to move it from 2.3.2 to 2.2.1. JB -- Jonathan Bayer Beware: The light at the end of the Intelligent Software Products, Inc. tunnel may be an oncoming dragon 500 Oakwood Ave. ...uunet!ispi!root Roselle Park, NJ 07204 (201) 245-5922 jbayer@ispi.UUCP
fischer@netmbx.UUCP (Axel Fischer) (07/29/89)
I too can highly recommend the Archive Streamer series because the drivers are built in. Works perfect after installing the hardware. Fast and highly reliable. I would go for it again if I had the choice. -Axel -- Domain: fischer@netmbx.UUCP Europe: ...!tmpmbx!netmbx!fischer Rest of world: ...!uunet!pyramid!tmpmbx!netmbx!fischer
bruce@mdi386.UUCP (Bruce A. McIntyre) (07/30/89)
In article <1094@ispi.UUCP>, jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) writes: > qac@occrsh.ATT.COM (Quentin_Conner) writes: >>>The drivers for the Archive are built into Xenix by SCO. I am running this >>>drive, and on 2.3.2 it goes like a bandit. > >>I wonder if the driver from release 2.3.2 will work with 2.2.1 or >>maybe I need to order an update from SCO. (probably prohibitively expensive) > > Assuming you are running 386 Xenix, the update from 2.2.1 to 2.3.2 will cost > about $ 150 or so. The driver seems to be built into the kernel, so I do > not think there is a way to move it from 2.3.2 to 2.2.1. The update drivers for the short ARCHIVE board are available from either ARCHIVE or from SCO. You only have to request them, and the update disk is available. I have done this several times when upgrading an SCO system from XENIX286 to XENIX386. You do NOT have to upgrade from 2.2.x to 2.3.x as the drivers will be linked into the current kernal on installation of the drivers. It is then included when you configure the tape drive. I use Interrupt 5, as I don't have either a bus mouse or a second parallel printer. The drivers built into the kernal for 2.2.x are for the LONG Archive controller but you still need to configure it manually. You cannot use the autoconfigure mode, you must set the parameters when installing the drivers. Note: The DOS program delivered with the ARCHIVE drive will not work on a machine running at a clock speed faster than 8-10 Mhz, but the XENIX drivers will work on machines up to 20Mhz at least. (I have not tried it on any faster machines) bruce -- ========================================================================= Bruce A. McIntyre, McIntyre Designs, Inc. VOICE(215)322-1895 143 Bridgetown Pike, Langhorne, Pa. 19047 DATA (215)357-2915 {wells|lgnp1}!mdi386!bruce bruce@wells tbit+
davidsen@sungod.crd.ge.com (William Davidsen) (07/31/89)
In article <815@occrsh.ATT.COM> qac@occrsh.ATT.COM (Quentin_Conner) writes: | I wonder if the driver from release 2.3.2 will work with 2.2.1 or | maybe I need to order an update from SCO. (probably prohibitively expensive) When you consider that 2.2.1 is real old, it will cost you less than $100/year ;-) I think the upgrade is about $150, although it may have changed since I priced it. I think it's worth it. After 2.3.2 you will probably want to go to SCO3.2, but I understand there's a bit of "culture shock" in the sysadm area. I'll know in a month or so when I get a chance to install a really full blown system (ie TCP, X11, etc). bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM) {uunet | philabs}!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
qac@occrsh.ATT.COM (Quentin_Conner) (08/03/89)
bruce@mdi386.UUCP (Bruce A. McIntyre) writes: [stuff of my own deleted] >The update drivers for the short ARCHIVE board are available from either >ARCHIVE or from SCO. You only have to request them, and the update disk >is available. I have done this several times when upgrading an SCO system >from XENIX286 to XENIX386. You do NOT have to upgrade from 2.2.x to 2.3.x >as the drivers will be linked into the current kernal on installation of >the drivers. It is then included when you configure the tape drive. I use >Interrupt 5, as I don't have either a bus mouse or a second parallel printer. >The drivers built into the kernal for 2.2.x are for the LONG Archive controller >but you still need to configure it manually. You cannot use the autoconfigure >mode, you must set the parameters when installing the drivers. Note: The DOS >program delivered with the ARCHIVE drive will not work on a machine running >at a clock speed faster than 8-10 Mhz, but the XENIX drivers will work on >machines up to 20Mhz at least. (I have not tried it on any faster machines) Okay, how about 2.3.2? Do drivers for the short ARCHIVE controller board come with release? Or do I have to specifically request them? When I ran "mkdev tape" I specified a type "A" controller, Interrupt vector 5, and base address of 0x200. This works with devices /dev/rct0 and /dev/rct2 which apparently have different formats. They both seem to have a capacity of ~10 MBytes on a 600 ft tape. I have the short controller board and model 60 drive. It is supposed to store 60 MB on this length tape. Well, I went ahead and ordered the new release so I will see if it is any better, besides it will be nice to get HDB uucp with the 'e' protocol anyway. That way I can take advantage of my 9600 baud MNP6 modem with my uucp neighbors. BTW, the machine in question runs at 16 Mhz and the fastape programs seem to work with DOS. Also, as if this wasn't enough rambling, I am hoping that 2.3.2 will cure a bug with installing a Wyse WY-995 multiport serial card. When it's driver is linked with the kernal, upon booting I will get a message from running "logger /dev/error /usr/adm/messages" in /etc/rc something like: logger: read error - bad device. Oh well, my machine never has errors anyhow. :-) Quentin ------- qac@occrsh.att.com att!occrsh!qac
bblue@crash.cts.com (Bill Blue) (08/06/89)
In article <110@mdi386.UUCP> bruce@mdi386.UUCP (Bruce A. McIntyre) writes: >The drivers built into the kernal for 2.2.x are for the LONG Archive controller >but you still need to configure it manually. You cannot use the autoconfigure >mode, you must set the parameters when installing the drivers. Note: The DOS >program delivered with the ARCHIVE drive will not work on a machine running >at a clock speed faster than 8-10 Mhz, but the XENIX drivers will work on >machines up to 20Mhz at least. (I have not tried it on any faster machines) You can get FASTAPE, the DOS program to work at higher bus speeds. It's a little odd, but it works consistently. When you execute FASTAPE on such a machine, just hold down the space bar (or any key) while it tries to init the board/drive. It'll come right up and everything operates normally after that. --Bill