Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!qantel!lll-lcc!pyramid!decwrl!sun!guy
From: guy@sun.uucp (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: magtape device naming conventions
Message-ID: <7711@sun.uucp>
Date: Sat, 27-Sep-86 20:41:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.7711
Posted: Sat Sep 27 20:41:44 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 30-Sep-86 07:23:13 EDT
References: <3957@brl-smoke.ARPA> <256@decvax.UUCP>
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 19

> How about the following? ...while {l,m,h} is "l"ow, "m"edium, or "h"igh
> density depending on make and model of the drive.

While the scheme used in S5R2 shares the same unfortunate tendency to use a
single letter (the same "l", "m", or "h") when a longer description ("800",
"1600", or "6250") would be clearer, at least it provides a standard way of
getting at a given drive at a specified density; "l" is always 800, "m", is
always 1600, and "h" is always 6250.  There should be a standard way of
requesting a particular density that will work on all drives that support
that density; the numerical value of the density should appear in the name
used to select that density.

It might also be useful to request a "default" density (probably 1600BPI)
and a "maximum" density, but those should be kept distinct from requests for
specific densities.
-- 
	Guy Harris
	{ihnp4, decvax, seismo, decwrl, ...}!sun!guy
	guy@sun.com (or guy@sun.arpa)