grx0551@uoft02.utoledo.edu (03/05/91)
We have an IBM PC/RT at our location. We ended up buying
a 9-track 1/2 inch 1600 bpi tape reader from Dickens Data
Systems. The tape drive is a Cipher-F880S, which is a
genuine SCSI device. Dickens added a "steel box" at the back
of this device, and supplied a driver.
Currently we are in the process of trading in the RT and
getting an RS6000-530. It has a SCSI interface, hence I
tried to hook up the same tape reader, and had no luck.
My questions:
1. Is IBM's RS6000 SCSI, an Industry Standard SCSI?
2. Can I buy a Cipher 9-track tape drive and hook it
up, without any hardware additions?
3. Do we need a special driver written for this?
The reason I am writing this is, I paid Dickens an astronomical
price, which was 4 times the list price of the drive directly
from Cipher for the drive, cables and driver software. Now they
want, the cost of the drive for new driver software and an
additional steel box behind the drive. I bought the drive from
them only 6 months back.
I would appreciate any response in this matter. Thanks.
Raj Amireddy/
Pat Erabelli.
Solartec Inc.,
(216)332-8551johnson@tanstaafl.austin.ibm.com (Fred L. Johnson) (03/06/91)
> 1. Is IBM's RS6000 SCSI, an Industry Standard SCSI? Yes. To quote from the SCSI adapter spec, "This adapter conforms to the SCSI ANSI standard X.131-1986. The adapter acts as an initiator with a conformance level of 2 as defined in the standard. Fused terminal power is supplied through a diobe by the adapter, and parity is implemented." > 2. Can I buy a Cipher 9-track tape drive and hook it > up, without any hardware additions? I don't know. > 3. Do we need a special driver written for this? Probably. The SCSI tape device driver was written to specifically support the 3 IBM tape drives (unlike the disk drive that has an osdisk definition to handle other SCSI disks). Fred L. Johnson Internet: johnson@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com IBM Austin IBM Internal: johnson@tanstaafl.austin.ibm.com AIX BOS Field Quality IBM VNET: FJOHNSON at AUSVMQ 11400 Burnet Road, 994/3401 phone: (512) 823-4706 Austin, TX 78758-3493 tie line: 793-4706
frank@ulticorp.UUCP (Frank Cannavale III) (03/07/91)
In article <1991Mar4.203348.3058@uoft02.utoledo.edu> grx0551@uoft02.utoledo.edu writes: >We have an IBM PC/RT at our location. We ended up buying >a 9-track 1/2 inch 1600 bpi tape reader from Dickens Data >Systems. The tape drive is a Cipher-F880S, which is a >genuine SCSI device. Dickens added a "steel box" at the back >of this device, and supplied a driver. > > 1. Is IBM's RS6000 SCSI, an Industry Standard SCSI? Yes, it's real scsi. > 2. Can I buy a Cipher 9-track tape drive and hook it > up, without any hardware additions? Yes, but it must be scsi. That 'steel box' is the scsi converter. > 3. Do we need a special driver written for this? Yes, you sure do. When I tried doing a config, ended with 888, etc... I am continuing to investigate this, however... >The reason I am writing this is, I paid Dickens an astronomical >price, which was 4 times the list price of the drive directly >from Cipher for the drive, cables and driver software. Now they >want, the cost of the drive for new driver software and an >additional steel box behind the drive. I have 2 RT 130 systems with dickings F880. I looked briefly at converting that drive to any of the System 6000s here. It is not worth the effort. Get the IBM 9-track drive, if you really, *REALLY* need 9-track. There is no other easy way of putting 9-track on that box. The IBM 9-track is, by the way, OEMed from HP. Looks just like a 7980 inside. Ultimate resells IBM and HP & we have found the HP stuff to be really great. If you need that drive its worth the price.~ From "IBM Risc System/6000 Quick Reference Guide as of November 19, 1990 (1991 Prices)" Model: 9348; Feature: 012; Magnetic Tape Unit Model 12; $22,000; 9-Track, 6250/1600 bpi, 1MB buffer, all but 930. BTW, I don't know if IBM re-roms the 9-track from HP to change the scsi id stuff, as they do with the exebyte 8mm tape drive. I've had both opened up and the IBM version of the 8mm clearly had roms with an IBM copyright, but I don't remember seeing any IBM copyright labels on the roms in the 9348. (Just a lot of HP chips) HP sells a scsi version of the 7980, but I only have the HP-IB versions, so never tried using a scsi 7890 (from HP) on a S6000. The HP7980 is about the same price as the IBM 9348, but the HP7979 (1600 bpi only) is only 13,400 (December 1990 price guide - HPIB interface) Don't know what will work for you, but that is everything I know about 9-track in the System 6000. -- Frank Cannavale III UUCP:!uunet!ulticorp!frank NET:ulticorp!frank@uunet.uu.net "Yesterday Mr Hall wrote that the printer's proofreader was improving my punctuation for me, and I telegraphed orders to have him shot without giving him time to pray." Mark Twain (Speaking about his publisher)