Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 09:21:20 -0500 From: Bob Willcox <bob@luke.pmr.com> To: Wilko Bulte <wilko@yedi.iaf.nl> Cc: bob@pmr.com, cjohnson@neunacht.netgsi.com, shocking@prth.pgs.com, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Further on tape & CAM problems Message-ID: <19990501092120.A13451@luke.pmr.com> In-Reply-To: <199904292236.AAA14008@yedi.iaf.nl>; from Wilko Bulte on Fri, Apr 30, 1999 at 12:36:25AM %2B0200 References: <19990429164138.A89144@luke.pmr.com> <199904292236.AAA14008@yedi.iaf.nl>
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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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