From: lliou@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Lily Liou )
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.hardware
Subject: Re: ArchiveViper2525,25462 NextStationTurbo,PCcase,hard disk
Summary: 3 subjects in one posting...
Keywords: help, Tape drive, hard disk, external case from PC-land
Date: 23 Jan 93 00:42:05 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

Part of this message is in response to a posting by 
pmelo@inescc.pt.  I was unable to send mail to that address,
if anyone knows Paulo Melo or is able to forward mail there,
I would appreciate your forwarding this message on my behalf.
Thanks! :-)

Paulo, e-mail I sent to your address kept bouncing back so
I'm posting this to the net.  

I recently bought a Wangtek drive, 5525ES, a 525MB tape
drive, similar to the Archive Viper, I think.  I have
the same problems you describe, the control commands work,
but writing to tape fails (no cat, tar, dd, dump).  The
only write that seems to work is the mt where marks
signifying eof are made...  Not all that useful!

I hadn't thought that raw tape devices (rst0, nrst0, rst1, nrst1)
could even use fixed block sizes, so that wouldn't seem to
be the problem?  
I had thought the problem may have been in the default tape values,
so I tried to calculate the tape length, bytes/inch, and
track number for a tape cartridge (as opposed to magnetic or
videoformat tapes), but NeXT dump doesn't seem to have
keys to specify these options for 'dump'.  (Unlike the Sun,
which uses user-defined parameters when the defaults are
not appropriate)

I'd be interested in any suggestions you might have
received from net.people, or anything ideas you
or anyone might have:-).  Maybe we could figure this
out together?  I'd hate to have to return my nice
tape drive.  Does anyone out there have any experience
with the Wangtek tape drives?

Thanks,
 Lily Liou
lliou@sdcc3.ucsd.edu

P.S.  Those of you who know about my previously posted
request for info about 1GB+  hard drives... well, I haven't
made a decision yet, although I'm still looking.  Cube
Route's distributor doesn't carry Toshibas either, due
to purported problems with a high rate of returns on
the item (5 out of 30?).  So I'm left with either getting
the Toshiba from a less NeXT-oriented place, or one of
the other 3.5" drives.  I'll keep you updated with
a summary of the decision parameters :-)...Next week.....

Also, I've gotten a request or two for info on how I turned a PC
case into a case that will hold peripherals for the NeXT.
If there's general interest in this, please let me know
and I'll post my procedure.  A baby PC case is way bulkier
than the slab, but I didn't want a half dozen individual
cases littering (expensively) my desk.  And yes, it's
far less expensive than buying custom cases.  
I only have the (as yet not functioning correctly) tape drive
in the case thus far, but all the connections seem to
work fine, and the length of ribbon cable I used is
not longer than what's crammed inside my Macintosh case
so there probablywon't be an [electronic] noise problem
when I add other hardware...

Thanks to the people who advised me that PC cases do not
supply the full stated voltage (+/-12V and +/-5V) until
there's a load connected across the +5 line.  (0.5 watts
in my case).  I was pretty confused as to why the voltmeter
only registered 4volts for the 12 volt line...