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Date:      Fri, 11 Jun 1999 13:37:22 -0400 (EDT)
From:      "Christopher T. Johnson" <cjohnson@neunacht.netgsi.com>
To:        bob@pmr.com (Bob Willcox)
Cc:        wilko@yedi.iaf.nl (Wilko Bulte), shocking@prth.pgs.com, current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Further on tape & CAM problems
Message-ID:  <199906111737.NAA73059@neunacht.netgsi.com>
In-Reply-To: <19990501092120.A13451@luke.pmr.com> from Bob Willcox at "May 1, 1999 09:21:20 am"

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Sorry for the long delay on this.  I finally have working tape again, got
it fixxed about 3 weeks ago.  Upgraded to current as of May 24th and put
the old drive back in.  Everything is working correctly again.  I'm a bit
scared to change out the tape drive for more testing.
	Chris


> On Fri, Apr 30, 1999 at 12:36:25AM +0200, Wilko Bulte wrote:
> > As Bob Willcox wrote ...
> > > On Thu, Apr 29, 1999 at 10:26:36PM +0200, Wilko Bulte wrote:
> > > > As Bob Willcox wrote ...
> > > > > On Wed, Apr 28, 1999 at 08:45:36PM +0200, Wilko Bulte wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > shipping 8200's (this was right at their end-of-life) was:
> > > > > 
> > > > > MX: 2680
> > > > > SV: C034
> > > > > 
> > > > > This is for generic models.  OEM models may have different versions
> > > > > due to customizations.
> > > > 
> > > > And these are not recommended for general use.
> > > 
> > > Hmm, why is that?  The newest of the IBM branded Exabyte 8200's that I
> > 
> > That is what I've been told by an Exabyte engineer years back. I can only
> > guess that some OEMs need adaptations to the firmware behaviour that are
> > incompatible with what the rest of the world needs (or has standardised
> > on, e.g. in the ANSI SCSI standard). Again, guessing.
> 
> Well, I can only speak for the IBM OEM'd drives that I have (as a
> retired IBMer, I've been picking them up at their employee surplus
> store here in Austin, TX).  For these drives the generic firmware works
> just fine.  I can see why Exabyte wouldn't openly recommend the change
> though.
> 
> Back in the late 80's, when I was still working for IBM on AIX, I do
> recall that we did have some customizations in the firmware for the
> RS/6K AIX systems.  In addition to changing the Inquiry command Vendor
> ID data, I believe there were some functional changes (I don't recall
> the details).  I have always suspected that the functional changes are
> likely what made the IBM OEM'd drives fail on FreeBSD!  The upgraded
> firmware IBM drives work on both (as "Other SCSI Tape Drive").
> 
> > 
> > > have have precisely these firmware levels in them (2680 & C034).  Also,
> > 
> > Mine works OK with that f/w. Not that I use the 8200 often anymore, 
> > I like my DLT4000 much better than the 8200. ;-)
> 
> I much prefer my Exabyte Mammouth drives as well  :-)
> 
> (But I do seem to get some fun out of playing with the 8200's I get for
> $10 apiece from the surplus store :-)
> 
> Bob
> 
> -- 
> Bob Willcox             The man who follows the crowd will usually get no
> bob@luke.pmr.com        further than the crowd.  The man who walks alone is
> Austin, TX              likely to find himself in places no one has ever
>                         been.            -- Alan Ashley-Pitt
> 



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