🚀 go-pugleaf

cg-atla!weber@decvax.UUCP (Jeff Weber):
> 1/4in tape of the type that Sun sells is not spec'd to be capable of going
> between machines.  It is spec'd to be able to read back into the same
> machine that wrote the type.

This is totally false.  The QIC tape drives *are* spec'd to interchange
between machines.  What is not guaranteed is that a tape written on a
machine that is out-of-spec can be read on another machine.  The tape
drives gradually drift out of spec, and need periodic maintenance if you
are relying on them to interchange.  Sun's tape copying center cleans
their drives frequently and "PM"s them periodically to make sure that they
are well within specs.  You can either have the drive manufacturer check
and adjust it, or send one of your technicians to a class to get the test
tape and learn how.

Unfortunately Sun stopped shipping the manuals that the tape drive
manufacturers provide with each tape drive.  This means there's no way for
you, the Sun customer, to find out these little tidbits.  Instead you get
sugar-coated manuals like the kind you get with Macintosh peripherals --
the kind that say "plug it in here, try it, call tech support if it
doesn't work".  In other words, the kind that assumes right off the bat
that you are stupid *and* non-technical.

Sometimes the man page for a device will cross-reference the
manufacturer's manual, of course not giving the city, state, phone number,
or order number -- that would make it too easy to be a Sun customer.  But
if you are persistent you can probably find the manufacturer and contact
their "literature distribution" or "publications" department to get a
copy.

	John Gilmore