obrooks@NSWC-WO.ARPA (06/15/87)
Last week I asked a question on how to transfer data , via tar, from a SUN 3 workstation to a DN580 using a cartridge medium. I tried creating the tape with a blocking factor of 1 on the SUN and read it on the DN580, but kept getting tape read errors. I spoke to the folks at Apollo and they said it may be the physical tape format is different. They said Apollo DN580 can only read Quick 24 format tapes and not Quick 11 tapes. Apollo said that it is dip switch setting on the SUNs. My question is what is Quick 24 or 11? And which is the standard? I even tried to 'dd' it off and couldn't. Please HELP! Send respones to obrooks@nswc-wo.arpa.
rees@apollo.UUCP (Jim Rees) (06/16/87)
They said Apollo
DN580 can only read Quick 24 format tapes and not Quick 11 tapes.
Apollo said that it is dip switch setting on the SUNs.
I have gotten this to work in the past. The problem is indeed QIC 11 vs 24.
As I recall, the Sun I used was capable of writing the correct format simply
by specifying a different minor device number (/dev/rst8?). Check your
Sun manual; that's how I figured it out.
I think Sun has at least two different cartridge tape controllers, and it
may indeed be a dip switch option on one of them.
For the record, we use the more modern of the two standards. The manufacturer
apparently considers the other one (QIC 11?) obsolete, and we didn't think
about compatibility with non-Apollo equipment that uses the older standard.
The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
-------krowitz@mit-kermit.UUCP.UUCP (06/16/87)
QUIC 11 and QUIC 24 are two different standards for the physical format
of the cartridge tape (IE. bits per inch, number of tracks, recording
method, whatever). From what I've been told, some of the earlier Sun
machines can write either a QUIC 11 or a QUIC 24 format tape depending
on the setting of a switch on the controller (or perhaps the drive itself).
QUIC 24 is the format used by Apollo, the newer Suns, and the Alliant
(Apollo's DSP9000) machines. 'dd' can only help you with the data format
of the tape (IE. byte swapping, blocking factors, etc.), whereas trying
to read a QUIC 11 format tape on a QUIC 24 drive is like trying to read
an 800 BPI magtape on a 6250 BPI drive.
-- David Krowitz
mit-erl!mit-kermit!krowitz@eddie.mit.edu
mit-erl!mit-kermit!krowitz@mit-eddie.arpa
krowitz@mit-mc.arpa
(in order of decreasing preference)weber_w@apollo.UUCP (06/17/87)
In article <8706151808.AA02705@yale-eli.arpa> obrooks@NSWC-WO.ARPA wrote about getting tape read errors when attempting to transfer a tar cartridge from a SUN 3 to an APOLLO DN580. He writes: > >My question is what is Quick 24 or 11? And which is the standard? >I even tried to 'dd' it off and couldn't. Please HELP! Send respones to >obrooks@nswc-wo.arpa. I am responding here and not privately, since this comes up frequently. Here is the scoop on QIC-11 and QIC-24 (QIC -> Quarter-Inch-Cartridge): Unlike 1/2" tapes, there are TWO standards for the layout of data on the tape: QIC-11 and QIC-24. APOLLO workstations read and write using the QIC-24 format. Suns which have the Emulex or Archive tape controllers can write tapes in QIC-24 (/dev/rst8) or in QIC-11 (/dev/rst0). The older Suns are limited to QIC-11 using /dev/rar0. Until the industry settles on a single standard for the format, the prudent course is to assume that cartridge tapes are NOT suitable for data interchange between different system vendors, and should only be used for backup and archive within a single system vendor product line. Howzzat?? ("Just the facts, please....") ...walt... -- Walt Weber PHONE: (617) 256-6600 x7004 Apollo Computer GENIE: W.WEBER Chelmsford, People's Republic of Massachusetts