ISC Tech Support - An Oxymoron!

[Bob Ford]

************ISC Tech Support - An Oxymoron!************

We have a Colorado Memory Systems DJ-10 "Jumbo" internal tape drive
that we were hoping to run on a 386SX with Interactive 2.2 UNIX.
The story we got from CMS was that the drive would work with the
ISC QIC-40 driver that was supplied with 2.2.    The DJ-10 is also
on the ISC list of tape drives that are compatible with 2.2.

Anyhow, we encountered problems with the ISC ft driver not correctly 
sensing that the end of the tape, and prompting us to insert a second
tape.  The driver returns many other errors, which result in hung processes.
The only solution is rebooting.  We called ISC Tech Support in Hollis, and
were told that this was a "known bug", and that the Development Department 
at ISC's headquarters in Santa Monica was "working on the problem."  
(BTW, we have a Response/ix support contract with Hollis.)  When we
attempted to find out when a solution would be available, we were told
that it could be anywhere from "two weeks to two months."  

Naturally, we wanted a time frame that was a bit more exact, so we
decided to contact Santa Monica directly.  Now, at this point things
got verrrrrry interesting!  Santa Monica Tech Support told us that
the problem with ft wasn't logged in their bug database, and that a
fix wouldn't be available until the next release, probably in November.
Who should we believe? My money is on Santa Monica.

Out of sheer desperation, we contacted CMS to see if they could help
us out of our situation, and found two helpful people in their UNIX
Tech Support Department, Matt and Mark.  Their most useful suggestions
were:

1.	Use "tar cvbkf 20 59000 /dev/ftape *"  for backup using 60 MB
	tapes.  This seems to work OK for us, although there still 
	isn't any prompting at the end of the first tape to insert
	another tape.  (BTW, change 59000 to 39000 for 40MB tapes.)

2.	Buy their integrated driver and menu-driven backup program for
	ISC 2.2 UNIX, available soon (2-4 weeks) from your friendly
	neighborhood  CMS dealer.  The "Reference Retail Price" is
	around $200.  

IMHO, think twice before you invest in a Response/ix support contract
through the ISC-Hollis office.  We haven't received much help from them on 
substantial problems and questions with the OS.  In fact, we didn't
even receive accurate information!  Try to get support through Santa
Monica if possible. 

Bob Ford
Philadelphia Phillies
Systems Department
Internet: astph!bob at psuvax1.psu.edu
UUCP    : psuvax1!astph!bob
-- 
Bob Ford             (814) 234-8592x6
astph!bob at psuvax1    psuvax1!astph!bob
Philadelphia Phillies