HP 7980S scsi 9-track

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Thu Oct 3 01:27:00 2002

"Bruce Lane" <kyrrin_at_bluefeathertech.com> wrote:
> I had an 88170 at one time. They're pretty much the same as
> the 7980. It will automatically sense the density of the tape
> you load, and will lock itself to said density, and it should
> certainly be able to handle all three of the standards (800,
> 1600, 6250).

It's less than certain. The supported densities are determined by the
installed board set. There are many 88780s out there that only do
1600 and 6250. Fewer that do 800 too. I have yet to run across one
that only does 1600 but it's a possible configuration; HP sold that
(w/HP-IB interface) as the 7979A.

For 7980s, 1600 and 6250 are standard and 800 is an option. 7980A is
HP-IB, 7980S is SCSI (single-ended). There's also an "XC" option
which does in-the-drive compression on 6250BPI tapes; I think this
option does not coexist with the 800BPI option.

BTW, a couple months ago Sun had a version of their service manual
for the 88780 up at:
  http://sunsolve.sun.com/data/800/800-3447/pdf/doc.pdf
It's missing the figures though.

> Bear in mind that you'll need some fairly specialized (and
> expensive -- in the $300 region) software if you want to use
> that drive on any sort of PC.

Last time I noticed, FreeBSD and Linux were able to make use of a SCSI
interface with an attached 88780.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Thu Oct 03 2002 - 01:27:00 BST

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