Xref: utzoo comp.unix.xenix:7456 comp.unix.i386:324 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcdchg!ddsw1!karl From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix,comp.unix.i386 Subject: Re: Xenix vs. Unix? Summary: Me thinks you have a broken drive or controller, or try 2.3.2 Message-ID: <1989Sep5.213627.13558@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Date: 5 Sep 89 21:36:27 GMT References: <12@dynasys.UUCP> <14@nstar.UUCP> <1989Sep3.222437.25599@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <34@nstar.UUCP> <26@fleet.UUCP> Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL Lines: 74 In article <26@fleet.UUCP> mel@.UUCP () writes: >In article <34@nstar.UUCP> larry@nstar.UUCP (Larry Snyder) writes: >>> Xenix also works with nearly everyone's tape drives. 386/ix works with >>> Wangtek only. I could go on; the hardware support on 386/ix is "somewhat >>> lacking" IMHO. > >SCO Xenix isn't all that great at tape drive support either. Ever since I >switched to 2.3.1 Xenix it takes TWO attempts at starting the tape drive. >(I'm using an Archive 150 meg/QIC02 internal on my HP Vectra 386/RS20) >(I also tried an Emerald controller as well as the original Archive unit) We don't seen anything like this. We have both 60 and 150 MB archive drives in the field, with both long and short controller boards. No problems reported. Let's not even mention the Irwin 145 series, which SCO also supports. And that even works (which, given the brain-dead nature of the Irwin drives, is amazing in itself). We used one of those for several months before we got a QIC/02 unit here. >I recently called SCO support after going trough numerous checks of addresses. >interrupts, etc. Their answer was "O'yeah, we do have a few problems with >some tape drivers. They're on our 'list', but I'm not sure when (or if) >they're going to fix them". > >Great!! I can't wait to tell my customers about this. Just start up your >backups twice because the first time there's an allergy between the tape >unit and the CPU so it requires a smooth-out-the-wrinkles false start. >BTW 'tape reset' hangs the tape drive so completely that the CPU has to be >rebooted. Would you trust any backups that require this type of maneuvering >to make it go? 'Tape reset' hangs the drive? Then you definately have problems or your driver/board isn't configured right. I use "tape reset" all the time, and it has never hung a drive or controller, or a machine (with the exception of when our 60MB QIC/02 controller really did die, then it hung the entire system! Can't blame SCO for that one, however, the controller was smoked.) >Archive wasn't the only one with problems either. The rep was hard pressed >to give me an answer on just one "brand" that worked correctly. Well, Wangtek, Archive VP series, and the older SC499-based units (long Archive controller boards) all work without any "false starts" in our systems, with both the Televideo (which we used to sell) and our current line of clones (Legend). Believe me, we'd hear it if this kind of problem occurred with our customers; they're "office people" and when there is an error message, or a (horror) hung process we get a phone call! We're running 2.3.2 and 2.2.3 (one instance), as are our customers. Perhaps you need an update. 2.3.1 (one) did have problems, but not that kind (that I remember anyway). It would, if memory was fragemented too much, return a "system too busy" message (this was one that really pissed me off). 2.3.2 seems to have fixed that one. >Perhaps by letting "you" know what's going on some action will be taken on this. >It seems like having reliable backups should require problems of this nature >to be given the highest priority. Our backups are highly reliable. In fact, with the ecc tape devices ("erct0") we haven't had a single bad tape yet on read-back -- and we quite often do need to restore the things (a result of playing with partition tables, driver development :-), etc. 386/ix, on the other hand, recently was unable to restore a tape that was made a few hours prior on 2.0.1; this was with a 60MB Wangtek. Our customer was not amused. There is no "ecc" tape device on 386/ix. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, !ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"