Sun TAR

[David Elliott]

In article <25434 at cca.CCA.COM> g-rh at CCA.CCA.COM.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
>size differences).  They go all over the place.  Cartridges are a different
>matter -- there are several different formats in use in the industry and
>SUN follows their own drummer.  Someone have conversion software -- our

This is sad, and it's certainly not Sun's fault.

The various QIC formats all have their place.  Some pack data better
when you stream.  Some pack data better when you don't.  Some allow
unblocked reads and writes.  Most are incompatible.

The first Mips systems used QIC-11 with special headers to allow for
any size reads and writes.  This is great if you don't need to transfer
data to other types of systems (including Suns).

We now support standard QIC-11 and QIC-24, and QIC-11 with headers,
but the conversion was not easy.  We even had to supply various
flavors of software tapes for a while.

Let this be a warning to all systems manufacturers.  New controllers
(for any kind of hardware) may have fabulous features, but you had
better make sure that you aren't stuck when you use them.  That
"special double density packing mode" on your new disk controller that
allows you to get more space for the price may just turn out to be a
bust. Then, you get to tell your customers that they have to reformat
all of their disks, and "oh, by the way, they will only be half the
old size"...

-- 
David Elliott		dce at mips.com  or  {ames,prls,pyramid,decwrl}!mips!dce