wanted information on QIC-40/QIC-80 tape drives.

[Robert A Bullington]

In article <50 at talgras.UUCP> david at talgras.UUCP (David Hoopes) writes:
>
>Hello net-land,
>
>    I am looking for information on using QIC-40 or QIC-80 tape drives (the
>ones that attach to the floppy controller) on SCO Unix, SCO Xenix, and
>Interactive Unix.
>
>    I would like to know the pros and cons of using these type of drives.
>Which ones you would recomend?  Which ones do you not recomend?
>
David,
	You may be surprised to learn (as I was) that attaching a tape drive
to your floppy controller will preclude restoring your root filesystem from a 
tape backup (assuming you have an emergency boot floppy).  This is only 
possible when the tape backup is connected to an independant controller card.

	My experience with the Colorado Memory Systems JUMBO drive have been
mixed.  Mechanically, the drive has performed excellently.  The Xenix drivers
I purchased for use in the floppy controller-dependant configuration performed
well and acted as a well integrated part of the existing Xenix OS.  However;
when I tried to obtain root restore capability with an independant controller,
I discovered that I had no choice but to use CMS`s menu-driven driver - a 
program which operated inconsistently, required an ANSI console for
configuration, and discouraged use of the resident Xenix backup utilities
by limiting features such as data compression and multi-volume tapes to 
CMS's own set of backup utilities.  CMS, wherever you are - if you wish 
to cater to the UNIX/XENIX market, show some respect for the elegance of
the OS; make your programs read termcap/terminfo!

			Hope this is helpful, best wishes,
					Robert Bullington



--
Robert A. Bullington
20 Village Street #2
Marblehead, MA  01945
617/631-8334