From: afgun@engin.umich.edu (Andrew F Gunnesch) Subject: Re: Tape Drive Questions Date: 28 Jan 1993 18:12:09 GMT
In article <2250@osiris.bosch.de> mchapman@eis.k8.rt.bosch.de writes:
>I asked these questions to the TAPE channel but got no answers except
>for some hate mail telling me I should not be so dumb as to ask and
>serveral mails saying "hey, I want to know the answers too!!"
>So can someone **PLEASE** enlighten us all and post the answers here!
>
>What is Qic-02 Qic-36 Qic-80 and what is a colorado jumbo?
>
>Hey! I'm really confused! Can someone please enlighten me and
>other ordinary mortals what all these qic numbers are. It
>would also be good to know what tape drives from what manufacturers
>are what standards.
>
>For instance the colorado jumbo 250MB drive. (Its adverised just
>like that and nobody seems to be able to say what it is except that
>it is QIC compatible!!!!) Is that QIC-125?
>Could I read/write QIC 80 tapes with it?
>Do I want to (for data interchange)?
>
>What is the most interchangable tape format?
>
>What interfaces are supported with linux up to now?
>
>What interface has a colorado jumbo, archive xxx, everex xxx etc?
>
>What are the chances of getting enough info from the
>manufacturer to write/adapt a driver for it?
>
>What are the chances of someone who knows nothing about
>tape drivers (but a bit about unix drivers) writing a driver
>for it?
>
>What standard do people use to exchange tapes (QIC-80 QIC-125 ??)
>
>Any constructive enlightenment would be appreciated.
>I think this is of sufficient interest to post any replies
>to comp.os.linux.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mike
Here's what I can offer you. I'm not sure on the correctness, so
please take my posting with a grain of salt.
QIC-36 is a "basic" tape drive interface. The next step up is the
QIC-02 intelligent interface. For SCSI, there is QIC-104/111 as an
interface. Larger capacity drives use QIC-121, a SCSI-2 interface.
Note that the QIC-36 interface can only do QIC-24 as a recording
format.
These drives have several recording formats. QIC-24, an older format,
has a native capacity of 60MB, uncompressed, using the 600A tape.
The next step up is QIC-120, using the 6150 tapes. You get 125 MB
on a QIC-120 drive with this tape. A QIC-120 drive should be able
to read QIC-24 tapes. Above this, there is QIC-150. On the 6150
tape you will get 150 MB, and 250 MB on the 6250 tapes. Read compat-
ibility is QIC24/120. QIC-525 uses DC 6525 cartridges for 525 MB or
DC6320 cartridges for 320 MB. One of these drives should be able to
read QIC-120 or 150 format tapes.
Above and beyond this are completely SCSI drives, mostly SCSI-2 that
do from 1 to 10 GB/tape, uncompressed.
The minicartridge drives are a whole other ballgame. I'm not terribly
familiar with those, suffice to say that common formats are QIC-40/80,
and then QIC-100/128 and above.
Colorado Jumbo drives are the minicartridge variety, and tend to run
off of the floppy diskette drive controller.
Many Archive, Everex, Wangtek drives are QIC-02 or the SCSI interface.
I've had experience with this type.
The drivers are not simple to write, and timing is critical in the
floppy-controller style drives. Perhaps a bit too tight for reliable
use under Linux. I do not know HOW complex one of these drivers is,
though I've heard that someone has one in alpha testing. I've used
Hennus Bergman's QIC-02 driver with my setup with good results, though
my machine isn't fast enough to stream.
Archive told me that my SC-400 is a QIC-36 card, but it DOES work with
the QIC-02 driver for Archive cards.
Hope this information is what you were looking for. Good luck, and
please contribute to the development of Linux if you can!
--andrew
Andrew F. Gunnesch /-\ "I disapprove of what you say, but I will
afgun@caen.engin.umich.edu | | __ __ __ defend to the death
==> Evil CAEN sysadmin <== |===| |__| | | | | | | your right to say
What? I just work here | | | |__| |__ |__ |__| it." --Voltaire
-- Andrew F. Gunnesch /-\ "I disapprove of what you say, but I will afgun@caen.engin.umich.edu | | __ __ __ defend to the death ==> Evil CAEN sysadmin <== |===| |__| | | | | | | your right to say What? I just work here | | | |__| |__ |__ |__| it." --Voltaire