What are you using to send/receive the commands? m
----- Original Message ----- From: <j...@cimmeri.com> To: <gene...@classiccmp.org>; "discuss...@classiccmp.org:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk@classiccmp.org> Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2016 1:12 PM Subject: Re: Are old SCSI tape drives not all created equal? > > > On 8/19/2016 1:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: >> On 08/19/2016 09:24 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: >> >>> Where might I find information on how to form SCSI command data >>> blocks so as to try the above commands? I sent just an "01" to the >>> TEAC MT-2ST, and it did rewind.. >> John, what's your working OS platform? For fooling with SCSI, the ASPI >> interface of MS-DOS is pretty straightforward--and easy to use. > > Chuck, for the purposes of testing the Teac drive, I'm using MSDOS on a 486 > PC platform with an Adaptec SCSI interface. > > > >> http://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Hardware/ADAPTEC/adaptec/aspi_dos.txt >> >> ..and if you goof up, just hit the RESET button and you're back in >> business in a few seconds. >> >> A CDB's a CDB, so whatever you learn on DOS can easily be transfered to >> other OS interfaces (SPTI, SG, CAM, etc.). >> >> As far as tape-drive specific commands, there's always an ANSI T10 >> document, but that's like trying to learn about parking regulations from >> a university law library--it's probably all there, but you'll have to >> plow your way through a lot of stuff. FWIW, T10 doesn't refer to the >> things as "tape drives", but "sequential access devices". Here's a T10 >> draft: >> >> http://hackipedia.org/Hardware/SCSI/Stream%20Commands/SCSI-3%20Stream%20Commands.pdf >> >> By far and away, the best place to learn practical SCSI interfacing is >> from vendor's manuals themselves. One I found particularly useful was >> the HP 35470 DDS drive OEM product manual. Very clear writing style. >> >> Bitsavers is full of product manuals detailing exactly what and how a >> product supports. > > Thanks very much for providing these resource links. > > > So to recap what it is I *was* trying to do, and am *now* trying to do, > for any readers that are still curious about this: > > I was going through various tape drives to see which would be compat with > an Emulux UC07 SCSI interface on a PDP-11/34 and also a Microvax III with > a CMD SCSI interface. > > A good -- but not guaranteed -- predictor of which drives would work, is > to first see how well the tape drive will talk to Bart Lagerweij's > SCSI Tool Utility (an MSDOS program) with the drive connected to a PC. > > I ran into problems with two drives: an OnStream ADR SC-30 and a Teac > MT-2ST 60MB drive. I was most hoping the Teac would work as it's a > pretty cool little device, and is closest in vintage to the 11/34 > of all my tape drives except for a DEC TS05 and TSZ07. > > > Unfortunately, I could only get the OnStream the work connected to a > Windows machine -- with the right driver. Only with the right driver, > will it work with NT Backup or other software. > > The Teac isn't working anywhere yet, although the drive appears to > be functional and is responding to a few primitives. > > Neither of these two drives is going to work with the 11/34, so that > matter is closed. > > > The final matter is that I'd still like to get the Teac to function > with some software, just to watch it operate (you have to really like > mechanical things to understand this strange fascination). Having put > some time and $ into the Teac, it'd be nice to get some reward, even > if only then it gets placed on the shelf afterwards. > > > - John > > > > >
