messer@drivax.UUCP (Adam Messer) (04/11/90)
To Dimitri Rotow. All others please forgive me for posting this message, but I have not been able to reach Dimitri through mail. Hello Dimitri Rotow. My name is Adam Messer. I am a developer of an operating system named FlexOS for Digital Research. Several months ago I purchased a Bell Tech tape drive for evaluation with my operating system. Our goal was to develop drivers and software that our development staff and our customers could use. When we received the drive we found that it came without the specs and only had unix drivers and software. When I called the company we purchased the drive from they said it was a discontinued model and they would not send us any specs or driver source. Even a set of DOS utilities would have been helpful because we have a DOS compatible product called DR-DOS. At least our staff would have some way to backup/restore, and I figured it wouldn't be too hard to reverse engineer the DOS utilities. I got the telephone number of Intel tech support from a recording at the old Bell Tech number. After several tries I reached someone who was nice enough to send us a set of DOS utilities. The reverse engineering process has proved to be very hard. About two months ago I remember reading a series of articles concerning Bell Tech tape drives. One of the articles was from you and stated that you might be able to give away specs and/or driver source. A reply to your article from Steve Friedl said that if we write to '[address]' you might send info. Unfortunately I was not able to figure what '[address]' meant. Our VAX is not 'well connected', and we have to use strange paths to send messages to almost anyone. I tried several times to send you a message, but they were all rejected. This tape situation has become very important to my company. Many of our customers are demanding tape backup. The company we ordered the drives and controllers from have enough left to satisfy our current demand. Anything you could send in terms of specs or Unix/DOS source code would be greatly appreciated. The manual that came with the drive says 'XTC Tape System'. The board is a full length long board. I don't have the info with me right now, but if you could help us and you need more info, I can easily get it. I will check for 'news' from you in this group or, our mailing address is: Digital Research 70 Garden Courte Monterey, Ca. 93940 If you do send anything in the mail please write 'Attn. Adam Messer' on the package or our shipping person will send the package to our manufacturing building 'the Black Hole of Calcuta'. Again, many thanks for any help.