From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.applications,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Tape Backups, Quarterback
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 17:44:05 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

In article <BxIyHA.Fpy@comp.vuw.ac.nz> tribble@gphs.vuw.ac.nz (John Matthews)
writes:

|  I managed a while ago to get a ArchiveData Viper 2150S 150Mb Tape
|  Drive.  Since then, however, I have not had a lot of luck in using it
|  as a backup device.  I can read from it quite well though. 
|  [...]
|  I can write to the drive with BTNTape2.1, as long as I write only 1
|  block at a time. The drive has an internal 32K buffer, but this still
|  results in very slow backups (as the tape must rewind a bit every 32K)
|  and the only software that currently uses BTNTape2.1 is TAR. No
|  commercial software seems to allow for the writing of 1 block at a
|  time, or deals with this drive specifically. 
|  [...]

Did you buy the drive used?  Is it configured properly?

Even my office A1000 (w/ Supra 4x4, Quantum HDs, Archive 2150S) keeps the
tape drive streaming using AmigaTAR and BTNtape (both reads AND writes).

You didn't identify which Amiga and AmigaOS version you're using, nor did you
identify the SCSI controller.

I have *ALL* my Archive 2150S drives (on Amigas, Suns, SGIs, etc.) configured
for the factory-default 16K buffer; perhaps that's your problem.

Enclosed are the jumper settings for the 2060S/2150S which I usually post
to comp.periphs.scsi every month or so.

Thad Floryan [ thad@btr.com, thad@cup.portal.com ]

---------- begin enclosure

		 Viper 2060S and 2150S hardware setup


Hardware setup amongst the 9 sets of jumpers includes:

	SCSI ID:	3 sets of jumpers
	Serial:		this should NOT be set
	Diagnostic:	this should NOT be set
	Parity Enable:	setting depends on your interface; either EVERYTHING
			or NOTHING on the bus should be checking parity.
	Buffer Disc:	3 sets of jumpers select 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 and
			32K buffer sizes.  Factory default is 16K.  This is
			the number of bytes transferred over the bus in a
			single operation.  A mininum of 16K is required for
			the SCSI "COPY" command.


Where to find all this at the back of the drive:

	[OOOO]	TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT
	 [JJ]	SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

	Where:	[OOOO]	is the power connector
		 [JJ]	is the jumper block
		TTTTTT	are the three 8-pin terminators
		SSSSSS	is the 25x2 SCSI connector

	The jumper block looks like this (in the orientation as above):

	[ SERIAL ]	[  CF2	]	[  ID2	]
	[  DIAG. ]	[  CF1	]	[  ID1	]
	[ PARITY ]	[  CF0	]	[  ID0	]

	SERIAL: no jumper
	DIAG:	no jumper
	PARITY: jumper to enable

	============================= BUFFER ==============================

	SIZE:	2K	4K	6K	8K	12K	16K	24K	32K

	CF2:	o o	o o	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]   [o=o]   [o=o]
	CF1:	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]
	CF0:	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]


	============================= SCSI ID =============================

	ID:	 0	 1	 2	 3	 4	 5	 6	 7

	ID2:	o o	o o	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]   [o=o]   [o=o]
	ID1:	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]	o o	o o    [o=o]   [o=o]
	ID0:	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]	o o    [o=o]

	===================================================================


----------

  Rear side view of the 2060S/2150S      Left rear view of the 2060S/2150S

    __________  SER/CF2/ID2 jumpers    |  o o   o o   o o   oooooooo ooooo...
   |  ________  DIA/CF1/ID1 jumpers    |  o o   o o   o o
   | |  ______  PEN/CF0/ID0 jumpers    |  o o   o o   o o   :::::::SCSI conn.
___|_|_|______                         |__________________________________...
###|#|#|######  PC board               |##################################...

        ^ ^ ^   lef/mid/rig                ^     ^     ^   top/mid/bot
        | | |                              |     |     |
        | | |__ PEN/CF0/ID0 labels         |     |     |__ ID2/ID1/ID0 jumpers
        | |____ DIA/CF1/ID1 labels         |     |________ CF2/CF1/CF0 jumpers
        |______ SER/CF2/ID2 labels         |______________ SER/DIA/PEN jumpers


----------

From the Archive Viper manual:

Unrecorded cartridge specifications for Viper 2150S

Tape Spec.		Qualified Tape		Function

ANSI X3B5/87-165	DC600XTD		Read/Write (QIC-150)
						Read/Write (QIC-120)
						Read only (QIC-24)

ANSI X3B5/85-138	3M DC600A		Read/Write (QIC-120)
						Read only (QIC-24)

ANSI BSR X3.127		3M DC300XLP		Read only (QIC-24)


Note that DC6150 and DC6250 tapes are the preferred media for the 2150S.

---------- end enclosures