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From: pda@litp.UUCP (Pierre DAVID)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: tcio(1)
Keywords: tcio command, HP9144, HP-UX
Message-ID: <2105@litp.UUCP>
Date: 5 May 89 13:26:12 GMT
Organization: M.A.S.I., Universite P. & M. Curie, Paris, FRANCE
Lines: 33


Hello HP gurus !

I have used the "tcio(1)" command to drive an HP9144 from a 9000/319
(HP-UX 6.21). It is a clear improvement as far as speed is concerned
compared to direct access to the drive.

However, I have some difficulties to fully understand some of the
behavior of this nice utility.

- from the documentation, I understand that "-S <n>" specifies
  the size of memory allocated by "tcio" for its use and is without
  relation with the physical encoding on the tape. However, I have
  noticed tapes written with -S 8 that could not be read again
  without this option.

- I have a similar problem with the "-Z" option. From the documentation
  I understand that this option allows a binary copy. So, for example,
  a tape written directly (by "tar(1)", for example) can be restored
  using "tcio ... -Z ... | tar ...".  My attempts have been stopped by
  a "tcio" hang, even "kill -9" doesn't work.

Generally speaking, I find that the man page is not very informative
about physical operations and formats.

Even more generally speaking, this remark applies to all HP-UX
documentation which lacks precise technical information about devices,
drivers... I find that, besides this point, the documentation is
truly remarquable.


Pierre DAVID
pda@litp.univ-p6-7.fr