Ide ATAPI tape drives work with Linux using scsi-emulation -- forget
about using the ide-tape module. Most kernels out of the box do not
have scsi-emulation set up since it conflicts with other tape drive
support. You have to configure and compile a kernel with a particular
group of seemingly un-related things turned on and others turned off.
It does work and work well *IF* you get it right.
Thanks to a posting by Timothy Moore (timothymoore@bigfoot.com) that was
discovered and brought to my attention by Bob Snibbe and whose web link
got permanently lost in my vast underground caverns, I present to you my
abbreviated version of Tim's ATAPI tape drive howto:
1. Kernel configuration: Under BLOCK DEVICES select SCSI emulation
support( if you manually edit .config or check it after configuration it
will be called CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI). Under SCSI support (yes I know
it's NOT a SCSI device! The kernel will see it as one though) select
SCSI tape support (CONFIG_SCSI, CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST) and *deselect*
IDE/ATAPI tape support(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE).
2. rebuild kernel, install, lilo etc....
3. If successful you'll see at boot up something like:
kernel: hdb: YADA YADA ATAPI Tape drive
...
kernel: SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
...
kernel: Detected scsi tape st0 at scsi1, channel 0, id0 lun 0.
You'll use /dev/st0? and /dev/nst0? . Most people link /dev/tape to the
device (ln -s /dev/st0 /dev/tape)
To test, put a tape in and type "mtape -f /dev/tape status" or use the
tar command save and read back a small file.
Paul: This might be a good thing to put on our FAQ page.
Ed.
That's it.
Paul M Foster wrote:
>
> On Mon, May 07, 2001 at 11:54:18PM -0400, mailandnews.com wrote:
>
> > Anyone have any advice about an seagate ide (atapi) tape drive? I can't get
> > two tape drives that worked under w98 and wNT to in Linux. The machines
> > were loaded with linux and the drives haven't worked since. The model is on
> > the SUSE's Linux compatibility list, and seagate has "blurbs" about using
> > the drive under linux. I must be doing something wrong.
>
> I've never read anything about, nor do I know of anyone who has ever
> used an IDE tape drive. The kernel drivers for tape drives (ftape
> package) are strictly for floppy or scsi tape drives only, as I recall.
> I've no doubt IDE tape drives are supported, based on your research. But
> the lack of helpful response may be because IDE tapes are a rare thing.
> You might check the LDP site http://www.linuxdoc.org for documentation
> on IDE tape drives. My best suggestion, which may not be worth much.
>
> Paul
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 20:09:59 EDT