> > As I recall from the 'old days' that 4.3BSD did not have TK50 support.
> > Heck, for all I remember it may not even have had uVAX-II support B^).
> > I think the copy of RENO I had running on a uVAX-II did gronk the TK50.
> > Getting the tape to stream is a nice feature and a measure of performance
> > I guess...
> 
> 4.3 supported the TK50, as well as the KA630, but could not boot from the 
> TK50. There was a complicated procedure for getting 4.3 onto a microVAX. 
> this is also true for tahoe. It basically required one to have some kind 
> of UNIX on the machine already, usually meaning Ultrix, or else a larger 
> 9track drive in the thing, nto too common for a uvII to sport :-) 
> Reno did make it much easier to boot from TK50 and also has support for 
> the KA650, which has only recently been added to 4.3. 

I am trying to get a 4.3 up on one of my MVII critters.  I really do want
to see the difference.  So far, no luck, but close, and getting there.....

Also, by stroke of fortune, I got hold of a couple of scsi 9 track Cipher
M995 drives, and have been spinning tapes this weekend on the beast.
Alas, I don't have a scsi tape interface for an MVII, but have to run
the thing off a VS3100/M76.

.....

> > > Also, I want to find a 9 track reel tape for it (the table-top flat one
> > > that I think is a TU81 or something like that) and and a Qbus interface
> > > card so I can write some antique 9 track unix tapes.  Someday.....
> 
> I have a TU78 you can have.. not exactly table-top, though *grin*
> are you anywhere near pittsburgh, PA? 

Now that I have the Ciphers, I will pass.  Pittsburgh is too far to
travel.

> > I was surprised how quickly 9-track tapes vanished.  Keep an eye out
> > for such a unit!  9-track tapes are a bit awkward and the drives can
> > be a bit of a pain... compared with today's tiny backup stuff.
> 
>  yeah.. i back up my uv3600 on DATs :) they look very cute next to a nice 
> sized VAX (never mind how silly a dat tape woud look next to an 8800 or 
> something)

Well, I always wanted that wierd Sci-Fi ``Dr. DECenstein'' look in my
computer pit, and the things really work very well.  The low density
per tape area makes for long-lasting archival tapes.  Alas, 6250bpi
only nets 140mb per tape.  But, it sure raises the eyebrows when folks
hear the vacuum cleaner blower spin up as the tape loads.....(:+}}...
Also, when I ask for a tape reel, I get strange looks from the DAT
mini-micro-thumbnail-cassette types, who pass right by the stack of
reels over in the corner.

One problem that I have is that on the M76, with the Cipher drives
I can't get them to non-rewind on large files on NetBSD-1.5 Beta 1.
It will dd a boot loader, then at the end of a miniroot load, it senses
something and immediately autorewinds before starting the next file,
and then autorewinds after each file, making an improper boot tape.
It will tar on/off a tape just fine, though, so it is not hardware.
Ultrix handles it correctly, though.  I also noticed that the Ciphers
cause some sort of timeout or non request for next phase error on
the M76, but that does not seem to cause any problems.  And, when
I invoke a background erase ( mt erase & ) it locks up the console
until the erasing is done, rather than backgrounding the process.
It tries to background it, but never returns the console until done.
Is there anything offhand I could be doing wrong that might be
causing this to happen?

What tape cards would one recommend for a MVII with NetBSD onto
single-ended or differential scsi tape crives (I also have a
differential IBMbadged deck from an AS-400 that is in fine shape
IFF I can find a differential Qbus card for it.

Getting there.....

Bob