Date   : Sun, 11 Sep 2005 11:48:44 +0100
From   : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: MDFS Tape Drives

I'll try it with the Archimedes next time I have the A420/1 out.

I think the tape drives are not terminated normally as the MDFS
manual recommends the tape drive goes between the MDFS unit
and a Winchester drive.

I am using v.2.00 of the MDFS code.

Without a tape drive connected, the error message in the tape menu
(or if you try to do *DIR %TAPE) is "Error - no Bsy" ie. no drive connected.
But for some reason when the tape drive is attached, the machine crashes
altogether when you try to access the tape drive in utility mode.

Best wishes,


Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Johns
To:  BBC Micro Mailing List <bbc-micro@...>
Sent: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 10:45:35 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] MDFS Tape Drives

On Wed, 7 Sep 2005, Ian Wolstenholme wrote:

> At last I have some tapes for my MDFS tape drive!  But I can't
> get the MDFS to access the tape drive.  Can anyone help?

do you have version 2 of the "FS" code? Not sure which tape drive you
have, but SJ released a 120MB version, not sure if that would work with
the older FS code, tho if you have the 40MB version of the tape drive, I
guess that wouldn't matter.

> Even in utility mode, as soon as you press T for tape menu, the
> MDFS crashes again and has to be switched off before it will respond.

I don't recally my MDFS doing that, I think it just told you there was no
tape unit connected. Is the SCSI id on the tape set correctly - tho if its
from another MDFS, I cant think why it woulld be different!

> I hope somebody can help; it would be a shame if it didn't work now I
> hav managed to get the tapes.
>

Good luck. I have up with tape streamers after one fried my MDFS PSU. IIRC
they were odd beasts, appeared as a (very slow) hard disc, and supported
direct access.

Cheers

Chris