[548] in linux-announce channel archive
Ftape-2.03 released
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Mon May 8 09:42:59 1995
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 13:48:10 +0300
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi, linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
X-Mn-Key: announce
From: bas@vimec.nl (Bas Laarhoven)
Subject: Ftape-2.03 released
Keywords: ftape, floppy tape driver
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Organization: ?
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.development.system
References:
===== Release notes for ftape-2.03, 07/05/95 =====
(Changes refer to the first ftape-2.02 release)
Support for wide and extended length tapes
------------------------------------------
The Conner TSM 420 and 850 drives are reported to be working.
I haven't received any reports about other brands; the TSM 420
and 850 seem to be the most widely used wide drives.
Extended length tapes (425 ft) with normal QIC-80 drives
are operating too (At least I've had no reports stating otherwise).
_Not_ yet completely supported (although they may work) are
QIC-3020 drives and 2 Mbps floppy disk controllers won't work at
the highest speed.
If someone is kind enough to send me one of these, I'll include
support for it too ;-)
Easier configuration
--------------------
Problems due to wrong settings in the Makefile are prevented
by using a configuration script that sets the necessary (kernel
version dependent) compile time options.
This kernel version is now determined from the sources found
at /usr/src/linux, or if not found, the old way using
/proc/version.
Versioned modules will be used automatically when supported
by- and configured in- the kernel.
Note that the current modules code (1.1.87) is still broken
and _needs_ the fix included in the insmod directory.
Please don't send me any more Oops reports caused by insmod :-(
Reduced module size
-------------------
The standard module size is much reduced and some compile time
options can even reduce it further. (I don't recommend this
for normal use but it can be handy for rescue diskettes)
Option: Approx. module size:
<standard> 150 Kb
NO_TRACE 125 Kb
NO_TRACE_AT_ALL 67 Kb
Much improved driver interruption
---------------------------------
Most possible loops have been broken and signal detection
has been improved.
In most cases the driver can be aborted by ^C (SIGINT) and
SIGKILL (kill -9) will generate be a sure kill.
(Note that aborting a tape operation may damage the last
data written to tape)
Improved error recovery
-----------------------
Ftape now returns an error (ENODATA) to the application if
a segment proves to be unrecoverable and then skips the
bad segment.
This causes most applications to continue to work (tar
and afio) loosing only a small amount (up to 29 Kb) of data.
Retried read operations will now be done slighly off-track
to improve the chance of success. Serious head off-track
errors will be detected.
FC-10 and FC-20 controllers
---------------------------
Ftape now supports both the old CMS FC-10 and the newer FC-20
controllers.
Because the operation of these cards is still undocumented,
thus far they will only work with the default settings (See
Makefile). Any feed-back on how to use them with other settings
will be welcome !
Compilation will fail if one changes the settings to illegal
values.
Kernels and compilers
---------------------
Ftape is currently being developped using the 2.5.8 compiler.
The older 2.4.5 probably works too (Set option in Makefile!).
I have no experience with any later compilers nor Elf support.
Any information on this is welcome.
The latest kernel I have tested ftape with is 1.2.6.
Compression
-----------
An impressive collection of changes for ftape including
on-the-fly compression is still lying on my desk.
If 2.03 proves to be reliable I might start integrating these
but as usual, I'm short in time :-(
Formatting
----------
There is still no way to format tapes under Linux. As far as
I know all attempts to write such a program have died now.
Since formatted tapes are rather common now, I think all we
need is a utility that writes a worst case pattern and verifies
that with the drive put in verify mode, reducing margins.
Any takers ?
Furthermore
-----------
Cleaned up messages.
Prepared to support multiple tape drives on one fdc.
Thanks to all the people who sent bug reports and helped me
improve the driver. Without trying to be complete I'll mention
Gary Anderson (without his accurate reports and unreliable
hardware there wouldn't be a 2.03), Stefan Kneifel, Robert
Broughton (FC-20, you were almost there ;-), Bjorn Ekwall
(for the versioned modules and buggy insmod ;-), Peter Fox,
Christopher Oliver, Ralph Whittaker and not the least Linus
Torvalds (for Linux and keeping me busy because of changes
to the kernel ;-)
Thanks to anyone I forgot, for the bug reports, the ftape
bashing and the mental support...
That's it for now. Have Fun,
Bas.
------------ LSM entry ------------
Begin2
Title =floppy-tape streamer (ftape) device driver
Version =2.03
Desc1 =Device driver QIC-117 compliant tape streamers that connect
Desc2 =to a floppy disk controller (Runtime loadable module).
Desc3 =Supporting QIC-40, QIC-80 and QIC-3010 drives.
Desc4 =QIC-3020 support is not yet completed.
Desc5 =
Author =Bas Laarhoven
AuthorEmail =bas@vimec.nl
Maintainer =Bas Laarhoven
MaintEmail =bas@vimec.nl
Site1 =sunsite.unc.edu
Path1 =/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes
File1 =ftape-2.03.tar.gz
FileSize1 =104793
Required1 =Kernel 1.0.0 or up for easy installation.
Required2 =insmod and rmmod from a recent modules package.
Required3 =(kernel must be re-build with FTAPE (QIC-117) support enabled)
Required4 =Gnu tar and cpio packages for testing and making backups.
CopyPolicy1 =GPL
CopyPolicy2 =
Keywords =tape device-driver qic 40 80 117 3010 3020
Comment1 =
Comment2 =
Comment3 =
Comment4 =
RelFiles1 =
RelFiles2 =
RelFiles3 =
Entered =07MAY95
EnteredBy =Bas Laarhoven
CheckedEmail =bas@vimec.nl
End
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