Return to BSD News archive
Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!natinst.com!hrd769.brooks.af.mil!hrd769.brooks.af.mil!not-for-mail From: root@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Super User) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: [386bsd] Colorado Jumbo tape drive device driver. Date: 7 Nov 1992 08:37:51 -0600 Organization: Armstrong Lab MIS, Brooks AFB TX Lines: 38 Distribution: world Message-ID: <1dgkbvINN5vc@hrd769.brooks.af.mil> References: <raz.720786927@ultima> <1992Nov5.153537.1@vax.sonoma.edu> <1dchecINN4pk@hpsdlss3.sdd.hp.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: hrd769.brooks.af.mil Keywords: Colorado, No dice, Tape drive >|> > >This was discussed a few months ago, I believe the final answer was >that something in Colorado drive I/O was proprietary, and Colorado >wouldn't share, so you can't write the driver for them. I could be >wrong though, I didn't follow the thread too intently. > >Regards, >Matt Hello all, I was pursueing pretty much the same thread in comp.os.minix about a year ago. Does the Jumbo tape drive have a QIC number? If so, the address to write to for the complete scoop on the interface is available from Freeman Associates in California for FREE! If it does, drop me a line and I will scramble around here until I find all of my stuff. I had the same thought for my QIC-40 floppy tape drive for minix. The actual interface was a relative snap (although I never did commit it to disk), but the error correction algorithm used is very scary. I had to sit at the feet of a mathematician for a solid week before I understood the rudiments of finite field mathematics. Reed-Solomon ECC is its name, and it is not for the faint of heart!!! The project was pretty much undoable for Minix because of the requirement that one track of the tape needed to be in memory at a time to ensure complete, verified transfers. One thing is for sure though, there isn't a company alive that will tell you much of anything about the ECC method, mostly because most of the tape companies bought it as a black box to plug into their code. The authors did a GOOD job, and if anybody wants to plop down the $n^18 for it to be included in 386bsd (I don't) we could probably get the same code working here. After All the help I got with the Adaptec Controller question I asked last week, I figured this was the least I could do. TSgt Dave Burgess NCOIC AL/MIS