Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 23:39:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Jake Hamby <jehamby@lightside.com> To: Peter da Silva <peter@taronga.com> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: QIC-80 tape driver sucks.. Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.950904233626.302B-100000@localhost> In-Reply-To: <199509050437.XAA02376@bonkers.taronga.com>
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On Mon, 4 Sep 1995, Peter da Silva wrote:
> >Is anyone using the floppy tape driver in FreeBSD for QIC-80 extended
> >length tapes? I have a Colorado Jumbo 350 and the 'ft' program really
> >screws up when I use the DC2120-XL (170MB) tapes. I'm also thinking about
> >upgrading to a T1000 Travan drive which supports up to 400MB
> >(uncompressed) tapes but I'm afraid it will have a similar problem.
>
> Upgrade to SCSI. Floppy tape is fundamentally broken and unfixable.
>
> NECXDirect has some pretty cheap (6-700 bux) SCSI QIC and DAT drives.
>
If I had $600-$700 to spend I would probably have bought a DAT or 8mm SCSI
drive, but I thought it would be much more economical (since this computer
is for home use and my backup needs aren't that great) to stick with a
floppy tape backup since it only cost $170.
Don't blame the hardware for FreeBSD's lack of driver support. Linux
supported my QIC-80 drive just fine. As soon as I analyze Linux's FTAPE
and the existing broken FreeBSD drivers, I'll try to come up with a
better solution, and if I do, I'll be happy to maintain it for the
FreeBSD team. I'll keep everyone posted...
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Jake Hamby | E-Mail: jehamby@lightside.com
Student, Cal Poly University, Pomona | System Administrator, JPL
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