abrams@bnlux0.bnl.gov (The Ancient Programmer) (07/29/89)
I'm trying to get an Exabyte 8mm tape unit for my Sun 3/280 with a VME buss, running SUNOS 4.0.1, and I would rather not have to install a "foreign" driver in the kernel. Salesmen, who all lie, have been giving me conflicting information. Has anyone installed an 8 mm tape unit using a VME to SCSI adaptor on a Sun 3/2xx which used the driver already present in the Sun OS? If so, from which vendor did you aquire it?
mr@racal-itd.co.uk (Martin Reed) (08/11/89)
We are quite happily running Exabyte drives under a vanilla flavour SunOS
4.0.3 with 3/280 boxes using Sun's "si" SCSI adaptor. Note that we are
only using the Exabyte as glorified 1/4" cartridge drives, not full blown
1/2" tape replacements. This means that we are only using them with well
behaved programs like dump and tar. We quite happily place multiple
dumps/tars on one cartridge. SunOS actually knows quite a lot about
Exabytes, even though they are *not* officially supported. Our supplier
is the UK distributor, so I guess that doesn't help you. The drives are
vanilla flavour, without any mods. Plug'n'go.
BTW, I am not trying to say that "foreign" device drivers are not adding
value, just that we have found no need to use them (and we develop our own
SCSI drivers for e.g. optical drives).
Martin Reed, Racal Imaging Systems Ltd
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+----------------------------------------------------------+craig@uunet.uu.net (Craig Petty) (08/15/89)
In article <569@brazos.Rice.edu> abrams@bnlux0.bnl.gov (The Ancient Programmer) writes: >X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 86, message 8 of 18 > >I'm trying to get an Exabyte 8mm tape unit for my Sun 3/280 with a VME >buss, running SUNOS 4.0.1, and I would rather not have to install a >"foreign" driver in the kernel. Salesmen, who all lie, have been giving >me conflicting information. > Foreign drivers have a lot to offer over the Sun scsi drivers. For one thing, many work. This definitely cannot be said about the Sun drivers. Just try using a SCSI disk with the SUN-SCSI driver. Chances are it won't work. And as any regular readers of this newsgroup know, the Exabyte has problems running under 4.0.1. (Unless you remove the st patch or something, but the patch must have been put there for *some* reason) I realize that many people are dealing with these shortcomings because they already have the SUN-SCSI combination. But for those who have a VME bus I would recommend considering that foreign driver. They often cost less than official Sun alternatives and support a much wider range of hardware. And with the Sun product, you will be purchasing several "known bugs" and "Sorry, the Exabyte is not a supported product". I'm sitting here using a system with our foreign :-) Host adapter and driver. Attached I have a 8mm tape drive, a 4mm tape drive, a Magneto Optical disk, a Maxtor XT-8760S, and a Wren V. All work like a charm. None require changes to the driver. None involved Sun support. :-)))) Craig Petty Summus Computer Systems P.O. Box 219270 Houston, TX 77218 713-492-6611 800-255-9638 fax: 713-492-0092 -- craig
leadley@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Scott Leadley) (08/18/89)
In article <569@brazos.Rice.edu> abrams@bnlux0.bnl.gov (The Ancient Programmer) writes:
<>X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 86, message 8 of 18
<>
<>I'm trying to get an Exabyte 8mm tape unit for my Sun 3/280 with a VME
<>buss, running SUNOS 4.0.1, and I would rather not have to install a
<>"foreign" driver in the kernel. Salesmen, who all lie, have been giving
<>me conflicting information.
<>
<>Has anyone installed an 8 mm tape unit using a VME to SCSI adaptor on a
<>Sun 3/2xx which used the driver already present in the Sun OS? If so,
<>from which vendor did you aquire it?
We bought ours from Applied Digital in Fairport, NY (about 10 miles from
the U of R) because it was convenient. But, the really good news is that
you don't need a new driver at all! I was told, and have verified, that
the SunOS 4.0.3 driver is adequate to the task.
Scott Leadley - leadley@cc.rochester.edujc%cs@ucsd.edu (John Cornelius) (08/22/89)
In article <798@brazos.Rice.edu> you write: >X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 96, message 1 of 15 > >In article <569@brazos.Rice.edu> abrams@bnlux0.bnl.gov (The Ancient Programmer) writes: >>X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 86, message 8 of 18 >> >>I'm trying to get an Exabyte 8mm tape unit for my Sun 3/280 with a VME >>buss, running SUNOS 4.0.1, and I would rather not have to install a >>"foreign" driver in the kernel. Salesmen, who all lie, have been giving >>me conflicting information. >> > >Foreign drivers have a lot to offer over the Sun scsi drivers. For one >thing, many work. This definitely cannot be said about the Sun drivers. >Just try using a SCSI disk with the SUN-SCSI driver. Chances are it >won't work. And as any regular readers of this newsgroup know, the >Exabyte has problems running under 4.0.1. (Unless you remove the st patch >or something, but the patch must have been put there for *some* reason) I suppose it depends on who you get it from but generally speaking I believe that you are in error. There is no problem running an Exabyte under 4.0.1 provided you have a reasonably recent release of the firmware. Most exabyte problems I am aware of result from either old firmware, multiple terminations on the SCSI, no termination on the SCSI, use of unmatched SCSI cables, use of the wrong driver on the right SCSI controller, or using the Sun-2 SCSI controller (sc) to drive the SCSI. I have seen a fairly small number of Exabytes that were actually broken but it is the case that Exabytes work on Sun-3 and Sun-4 systems under SunOS-4.0 and above without modification to either the hardware, firmware, or the software. You can even boot off of it if it's set up as st0. There is only one piece of software that I have seen that is even a little bit useful that is not standard Sun software and that is Peter Beren's mdump program. While I don't feel a need to use it I know that quite a few customers like it. As for drivers, why put yourself at the mercy of a tapedrive supplier when you want to upgrade to a new operating system revision? That's just inviting problems as far as I can tell. Also, while I am not a salesman and hold the generic saleman in fairly low regard I object to the notion that salesmen lie, they generally do not do so, at least not intentionally. What they DO do, is tell you more than they actually know. There is a difference. >I realize that many people are dealing with these shortcomings because >they already have the SUN-SCSI combination. But for those who have a VME >bus I would recommend considering that foreign driver. They often cost >less than official Sun alternatives and support a much wider range of >hardware. And with the Sun product, you will be purchasing several "known >bugs" and "Sorry, the Exabyte is not a supported product". Well, there's support and there's support. Take a look at /usr/sys/sundev/streg.h and you'll see the Exabyte parameters and support. While the "support" has been deleted from Sparcstation 1 distributions I understand that it is an "option" and I expect to see it back in 4.1. >I'm sitting here using a system with our foreign :-) Host adapter and >driver. Attached I have a 8mm tape drive, a 4mm tape drive, a Magneto >Optical disk, a Maxtor XT-8760S, and a Wren V. All work like a charm. >None require changes to the driver. None involved Sun support. :-)))) I too run all of these devices on a standard Sun SCSI (si0) with no drivers other than those supplied with the operating system. While I don't mind you spending your money on needless endeavors (my company sells this stuff) I'd much rather you spent it on something you need. John Cornelius jc%andataco.uucp@ucsd.edu Andataco (800)334-9191 9550 Waples San Diego, CA 92121
pjg@lictor.acsu.buffalo.edu (Paul Graham) (08/31/89)
It is true that the 4.0.1 SCSI driver will not work with an Exabyte drive with firmware circa January this year on a 3/50. This is not hearsay. However you can skip the SCSI upgrade and be happy. You do get very good results with the 4.0.3 driver, but for now you can't find out how much tape remains with the Sun driver. This alone might be worth running a foreign driver for some sites. Paul