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From: rbabel@babylon.rmt.sub.org (Ralph Babel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Streaming Tapes, Multi-Syncs and Towers
Message-ID: <05709.AA05709@babylon.rmt.sub.org>
Date: 17 Jan 91 03:23:03 GMT
References: <1991Jan16.050943.2082@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: cbmvax.commodore.com!cbmehq!babylon!rbabel (Ralph Babel)
Lines: 71

In article <1991Jan16.050943.2082@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
mlgy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:

> 1) Streaming Tape Backup devices -
> I only know of one Amiga specific tape-drive - the WT-150
> made by GVP.  What other options do I have?  What other
> software/hardware do I need to take a standard SCSI tape
> drive and plug it into my Amiga?

To operate a tape streamer, all you really need is a SCSI
host adapter board and a device driver that supports
HD_SCSICMD (aka "SCSI Direct"), a special command that is
used by most tape streamer software to send raw SCSI
commands to a SCSI target.

> I think I remember reading someplace that GVP's unit uses
> a Wangtek SCSI tape-drive as the hardware - anyone know?

Yes, GVP do sell the Wangtek 150 MB streamer.

> If so, is there anyway I can just get the GVP software
> driver and buy the Wangtek (or another SCSI) tape-drive
> someplace else and get it working with the Amiga?

Sure, no problem. All you need is a bare GVP SCSI host
adapter (the device driver ROM is included, of course) and a
tape backup program. As far as I know, GVP's TapeStore
software is available separately.

> What other 3rd party (PD or commercial) software drivers
> are there and what hardware do they work with?

It's not really third-party "drivers". The device driver has
to be supplied by the manufacturer of the SCSI board.

       data to be written to tape
                   |
Read() (file mode) | CMD_READ (image mode)
                   V
 tape backup software (e.g. TapeStore)
                   |
        HD_SCSICMD |
                   V
             device driver
                   |
                   | (magic)
                   V
           SCSI host adapter
                   |
     SCSI protocol |
                   V
             tape streamer

If the tape backup software is an AmigaDOS handler, then the
usual packet-mechanism is used to send data to be stored to
the tape handler.

> Also, what tape format should I look for in order to
> maintain compatibility with Amiga Unix?

Using a tape handler, it should be possible to use "tar". I
haven't tried it, though. I don't know about stand-alone
Amiga backup software supporting UNIX format.

> (BTW, I've got a GVP Impact SCSI controller upgraded with
> Series II ROMS.)

Apart from the tape streamer and the backup software, that's
really all you need.

Ralph