frankb@usource.UUCP (Frank Bicknell) (07/04/89)
This is a plea to SCO to smarten up their tape(C) command a
little. It is already adequate (if you can call a serial device
like mag. tape adequate), but would be improved a bit if the
following additions were made:
1. Include an 'end' command which causes the drive to seek
the end-of-tape mark. This is handy for adding more
"stuff" at the end of the tape without manually doing
'tape rfm' commands until you hear the drive make funny
noises. Unscientific, but if you don't know how many
tape marks are on the tape, that's about the only way to
find the end.
2. Have the tape commands exit with status conditions like
just about every other Unix command. When 'tape rfm' is
executed, for example, it returns status '0' whether the
tape is at the beginning, end, or in the box! (ie not
in the drive.) One could write one's own 'tape end'
function if the rfm command would give some indication
of what happened.
I hope this reaches the ears of the SCO folks. Thanks for
listening. I am putting my comments on the network in the hope
of producing a bit more support for my cause (please e-mail
'em!).
--
Frank Bicknell
UniSource; 1405 Main St, Ste 709; Sarasota, FL 34236
killer!usource!frankb || frankb@usource.UUCP