abnjh.490 Tapes on Unix

[Howard A. Landman]

> As I read your complaint, you want it to be as simple as it was in the
> old days, when UNIX ran on minis and you physically hung your own
> tape, and set all the options  and pushed all the buttons yourself.
> What I have been trying to point out is that
> 		**THOSE DAYS ARE GONE FOREVER**.
> The mainframes provide a (potentially very) complex tape interface,
> because it all has to be done by remote control.  You arent allowed
> in the computer room, so you cant see what the tape is doing and
> correct errors on the fly.  UNIX is now running on mainframes (UNIVAC 1100
> series and IBM 370 series, to my personal knowledge.  I hear rumors of
> Crays and others as well.)  It is time for unix tape handling to
> grow up.

Sorry, Rick, I'm afraid I have to cry "Bullshit!" on this one.  While it is
true that UNIX now runs on some hefty mainframes, it is also true that UNIX
runs on quite a few microcomputers.  If you look at the total market for UNIX
systems I think you will find that the dollar volume of mainframes is small
compared with the dollar volume of smaller systems (VAX-11/780 and below).
Autoloading, streaming, rack-mountable tape drives now sell for WELL under $10K.
The average price of a UNIX system is dropping, not rising.  So from a
statistical viewpoint your argument is meaningless.

I do about half my work on a 780 and the other half on a 68000-based CAD
workstation (guess whose).  On the VAX I mount all my own tapes, and so does
everyone else, because there is only one tape drive.  On the workstation I not
only mount tapes, but floppies, and paper and pens (for the plotter) as well.

In other words, I want it to be as simple as it is in the new days, when UNIX
runs on micros and I physically hang my own tape, and set all the options and
push all the buttons myself.  And it is.  And I love it.

		**THOSE DAYS ARE JUST BEGINNING**

		Howard A. Landman
		ogcvax!metheus!howard