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From: j@bonnie.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Which floppy based QIC-80 tape to buy?
Date: 25 Aug 1995 11:01:08 +0200
Organization: Private U**x site, Dresden.
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Message-ID: <41k3gk$e31@bonnie.tcd-dresden.de>
References: <41fg64$sqd@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <41hcrm$72n@daphne.ecmwf.int>
Reply-To: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de
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Michael Saunby <M.Saunby@ecmwf.int> wrote:
>As for the ft filter, it works, but when I have time I'd like to take
a look at the source because >if I use dump and the ft filter, hit ^C,
dump exits ok but ft just hangs around forever, nothing >can kill it.
This is likely a problem with the ft driver, not the filter. If you
can't kill a process, this typically indicates that it's hanging
inside the kernel in `disk wait' (i.e., uninterruptible wait), you can
see this at the D flag in the `ps' stat field. Since signals will
only be delivered at the transition from kernel to user mode, the
queued signals for such a process will never be delivered.
The ft driver is really a mess (caused by that type of hardware that
it wants to support), and it's no easy game to repair something there.
> Also I get timeout error messages for the floppy drive, which may,
or may not be >a problem.
Well, i've finally got my floppy tape working yesterday. (It's been
funded by some FreeBSD user [look into the CONTRIB.FreeBSD file] just
to provide some test device for us. I wouldn't really trust it. :)
I've also seen those messages, they are annoying, seem to be benign,
but indicate that there's something wrong...
>Can anyone recommend a good (but cheap) SCSI tape drive?
Get a second-hand QIC-150 tape. Even an oldie like the well-known
Archive Viper 150 will do a fine job (though somewhat noisy), i guess
you could get it reasonably cheap these days.
If you think about buying a new one, don't by something less than 525
MB (if you can afford it). I've got good experiences with the Tand-
berg series (running a 150 MB drive at home and a 1 GB drive at work).
--
cheers, J"org private: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de
http://www.sax.de/~joerg/
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)