Trying to make an Everex 125 Meg tape system work (long)

Jon Diekema diekema at jdbbs.UUCP
Sun Jan 8 05:04:13 AEST 1989


I am having trouble getting my Everex Stream 125 Tape sub-system
to work under System V/AT version 2.4.0. The Everex Stream
125 package has the following components:

	o Everex QIC-36 Tape controller, EV-831 Rev F
	o Wangtek 125Meg DC600A cartridge tape drive 

The hardware configuration that I am using is:

    Computer: 		Suntek ATEGA 1000 (AT Clone)
    Processor: 		80286 6/12 Mhz (12 Mhz with 1 wait state)
    Ports: 		1 Parallel 2 Serial (all on the Motherboard)
    Bios:     		Phoenix 80286 ROM BIOS Version 3.00 9/1
    Memory:   		5 Meg total
              		640k base 384k expansion on the motherboard
			"The King Bishop" 4 Meg card from Micron Technology
    Monitor:  		NEC Multisync JC-1401P3A
    Video card: 	Paradise Auto Switch EGA
    Modem:		Evercom 2400 from Everex (internal)
    Printer:		Microline 82A from Okidata 
			80 columns 120 CPS with tractor feed
    Floppy disk: 	1.2M Teac FD-55GFV-17-U
    Hard Disk: 		Miniscribe 6085, 71.3 Meg, 1024 Cylinders 8 Heads
    Controller card: 	WDC 1985 vintage, WD1003-WA2

	Line printer Devices:
		lp0 - NOT used
		lp1 - connected to a Okidata printer
		lp2 - NOT used

	COM Devices:
		COM1 - serial port located on the motherboard
			/etc/ttypatch -t0 -a1016 -i4 -m0x0c
		COM2 - Evercom 2400 baud internal modem
			/etc/ttypatch -t1 -a760 -i3 -m0x08

The EV-831 tape controller is configured as follows:
	o Port 300-301, IRQ 5, DRQ 1, DACK 1
	
The Everex tape diagnostics, that run under MS-DOS, report a clean
bill of health. This gives me a strong indication that the cables
are connected correctly, and the tape controller is configured in
a reasonable manner. The standard UNIX kernel (version 2.4.0) didn't
come with the Everex tape driver installed. The link kit needed to
be run to create a kernel with this driver in place. There are two
files that needed to be modified, and they are shown below:

$ cat /usr/linkkit/cf/master
* %W%
*
* The following devices are those that can be specified in the system
* description file.  The name specified must agree with the name shown.
*
*                                       blk     chr
* name	vector	hndlrs	type	prefix	maj	maj	max #	struct decl.
*-----	------	------	----	------	---	---	----- 	----------------
*
wini	46	ocrwi	rbc	hd	0	4	4
flop	38	socrwi	rbc	fd	1	6	4
rdswap	0	ocrwi	rbc	rd	2	11	1
asy	36,35	ocrwi	ctn	asy	0	5	4
sema	0	sx	so	sem	0	0	1
mesg	0	s	so	msg	0	0	1
shmem	0	fex	so	shm	0	0	1
sxt	0	ocrwi	co	sxt	0	12	32
lp	39	ocwis	c	lp	0	7	3
cmos	0	rw	co	cmos	0	8	1
ev	37	ocrw	c	ev	0	9	1
kd	33	ocrwis	cot	kd	0	0	64
*
* The following devices must not be specified in the system description
* file.  They are here to supply information to the config program.
*
memory	0	rwi	srco	mm	0	1	1
tty	0	orwi	srco	sy	0	2	1
errlog	0	ocrs	srco	err	0	3	1
$$$
*
* The following entries form the alias table.
*
dsk	wini
$$$
*
* The following entries form the tunable parameter table.
*
buffers		NBUF
inodes		NINODE
files		NFILE
mounts		NMOUNT
swapmap		SMAPSIZ
coremap		CMAPSIZ
calls		NCALL
procs		NPROC
texts		NTEXT
clists		NCLIST
sabufs		NSABUF		0
power		POWER		0
emul		EMUL_0		1
maxproc		MAXUP		25
* hashbuf must be a power of 2
hashbuf		NHBUF		64
physbuf		NPBUF		4
csibnum		CSIBNUM		20
vpmbsz		VPMBSZ		8192
vpmnexus 	VPMNEXUS 	0
x25links	X25LINKS	1
x25bufs		X25BUFS		256
x25nexus 	X25NEXUS 	0
x25bytes	X25BYTES	(16*1024)
bx25links	BX25LINKS	2
bx25bufs	BX25BUFS	80
bx25bytes	BX25BYTES	(16*1024)
bx25hlprot	BX25HLPROT	2
bx25nexus	BX25NEXUS	0
sesbufs		SESBUFS		32
sesbytes	SESBYTES	(8*1024)
mesg		MESG		1
msgmap		MSGMAP		10
msgmax		MSGMAX		8192
msgmnb		MSGMNB		8192
msgmni		MSGMNI		10
msgssz		MSGSSZ		8
msgtql		MSGTQL		40
msgseg		MSGSEG		1024
sema		SEMA		1
semmap		SEMMAP		10
semmni		SEMMNI		10
semmns		SEMMNS		60
semmnu		SEMMNU		30
semmsl		SEMMSL		25
semopm		SEMOPM		10
semume		SEMUME		10
semvmx		SEMVMX		32767
semaem		SEMAEM		16384
shmem		SHMEM		1
shmmax		SHMMAX		65535
shmmin		SHMMIN		1
shmmni		SHMMNI		10
shmseg		SHMSEG		8
shmbrk		SHMBRK		32
shmall		SHMALL		1024
stibsz		STIBSZ		8192
stobsz		STOBSZ		8192
stihbuf		STIHBUF		(ST_0*4)
stohbuf		STOHBUF		(ST_0*4)
stnprnt		STNPRNT		(ST_0>>2)
stnexus 	STNEXUS 	0
emtbsz		EMTBSZ		8192
emrbsz		EMRBSZ		8192
emrcvsz		EMRCVSZ		2048
embhdr		EMBHDR		(EM_0*6)
emnexus		EMNEXUS		0
flckrec		FLCKREC		100
flckfil		FLCKFIL		25
autoup		AUTOUP		20

$ cat /usr/linkkit/cf/dfile.wini
* @(#)dfile.microport	2.3
* Copyright 1986 by Microport.  All Rights Reserved
* Default configuration settings for Winchester rooted kernel.
wini	0	2
flop	0	1
rdswap	0	1
root	wini	0
pipe	wini	0
swap	wini	1	20000	6000
dump	wini	0
asy	0	4
sxt	0	8
lp	0	3
ev	0	1
kd	0	8
cmos	0	1
emul	0
buffers	0	* 2.3.0
inodes	125	* 2.2
files	120	* 2.3.0
mounts	8
swapmap	75
coremap	150	* 1.3.8
calls	50
procs	75	* 2.2
texts	40
clists	0	* 2.3.0
mesg	1	* 1.3.8
shmem	1	* 1.3.8
sema	1	* 1.3.8

$ cd /usr/linkkit/cf
$ make wini
	This makes a relinked kernel called /usr/linkkit/system5.

$ cp /usr/linkkit/system5 /system5
	This makes the linked kernel the system default. Before doing
	this, you might want to save off /system5 to something like
	/OLDsystem5. This comes in handy if the new kernel won't boot.

The $ make wini operation displayed the following tables. These
tables describe the block and character devices that are present 
in my system.

Block Devices
major	device	handler	count
 0	wini	hd	 2
 1	flop	fd	 1
 2	rdswap	rd	 1

Character Devices
major	device	handler	count
 0	kd	kd	 8
 1	memory	mm	 1
 2	tty	sy	 1
 3	errlog	err	 1
 4	wini	hd	 2
 5	asy	asy	 4
 6	flop	fd	 1
 7	lp	lp	 3
 8	cmos	cmos	 1
 9	ev	ev	 1
11	rdswap	rd	 1
12	sxt	sxt	 8

You may have been wondering, If I'll ever get around to describing
the problem. Well here is:

	I get the illusion that I am writing data the tape, but am 
	unable to read it. Using cpio -ocv, the tape drive sounds
	like it should and more importantly the cpio -ocv runs to
	completion without hanging or giving any indication of errors.
	Reversing the process, gives the "out of phase" message.
	
2> find z* -print | cpio -ocv >/dev/mt/rmt0
z_news_feed
z_tape
14 blocks

3> cpio -itcv </dev/mt/rmt0
Out of phase--get help
Perhaps the "-c" option should be used

4> l /dev/mt
total 0
brw-r--r--   5 root     sys        1, 70 Dec 29 07:48 0m
crw-rw-rw-   3 root     sys        9,  0 Jan  7 13:19 1m
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9, 64 Jan  4 21:57 erase
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9,  4 Apr 21  1988 norewind
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9,  8 Jan  4 21:53 pretension
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9, 16 Jan  4 22:00 reset
crw-rw-rw-   3 root     sys        9,  0 Jan  7 13:19 rewind
crw-rw-rw-   3 root     sys        9,  0 Jan  7 13:19 rmt0
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9, 16 Jan  4 22:00 rmt16
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9,  4 Apr 21  1988 rmt4
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9, 64 Jan  4 21:57 rmt64
crw-rw-rw-   2 root     sys        9,  8 Jan  4 21:53 rmt8

Plea for Help:

	Does anybody have any ideas of what I am doing wrong or
	suggestions for things to try? I thought this was going to
	be simple matter, but has instead turned into a nightmare.

-- 
diekema at jdbbs.UUCP                 	|  Jon Diekema
..garp.MIT.EDU!wybbs!jdbbs!diekema 	|  JD's Connection  	(616) 669-3792
USMAIL: 7719 Park Lane             	|  Jenison, Michigan	2400
        Jenison, MI  49428	   	|



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