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cartridge(HW)

cartridge, ct -- QIC-02 and QIC-36 tape device

Description

A single QIC-02 or QIC-36 cartridge tape drive can be supported by the ct device driver.

Error code correction (ECC) is supported for the QIC-02 though the /dev/ect0 device node.

If a SCSI tape drive is installed as the default device and there is no tape cartridge drive installed, it will be linked to the /dev/rct0 device node instead. If both SCSI and cartridge drives are installed, the SCSI device node cannot be linked to this node.

See tape(HW) for details of the ioctl(S) commands supported by the ct driver.

Quarter Inch Committee (QIC) recording formats

The following table shows the tape cartridge compatibility and capacity for the various QIC recording formats:

Format Cartridge Capacity
QIC-24 DC600A 60MB
QIC-120 DC6150 125MB
QIC-150 DC6150 150MB
DC6250 250MB
QIC-525 DC6320 320MB
DC6525 525MB
QIC-1000 DC9100 1.01GB
QIC-1350 DC9135 1.35GB 

 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |Format   | Cartridge | Capacity |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-24   | DC600A    | 60MB     |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-120  | DC6150    | 125MB    |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-150  | DC6150    | 150MB    |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |         | DC6250    | 250MB    |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-525  | DC6320    | 320MB    |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |         | DC6525    | 525MB    |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-1000 | DC9100    | 1.01GB   |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
 |QIC-1350 | DC9135    | 1.35GB   |
 +---------+-----------+----------+
Note that the high capacity formats listed are generally only supported by SCSI cartridge tape drives.

Minor device numbers

The minor device numbering scheme is shown in the following table. Using this information, you can construct the minor number of any allowable cartridge tape configuration.

The mknod command can be used to create special device files; see mknod(C) for more information.

Cartridge tape minor device bit representation

Bits
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Description
- - - - - - - X unit 0 or 1
- - - - - - 1 0 unit 2
- - - - - 1 0 0 unit 3
- - - - X - - - 1 = no rewind (/dev/n*), 0 = rewind on close
- - - X - - - - tape format 0 = QIC-24 (/dev/*ct0), 1 = QIC-11 (/dev/*ct2)
- - X - - - - - perform ECC on data (/dev/ect0, QIC-24 only)
- X - - - - - - fast mode (uses more memory)
X - - - - - - - 1 = control/override device (/dev/xct*) 

 +-----------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |         Bits          |                                                            |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |7 |6 |5 |4 |3 |2 |1 |0 | Description                                                |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |X | unit 0 or 1                                                |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |0 | unit 2                                                     |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |- |- |- |1 |0 |0 | unit 3                                                     |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |- |- |X |- |- |- | 1 = no rewind (/dev/n*), 0 = rewind on close               |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |- |X |- |- |- |- | tape format 0 = QIC-24 (/dev/*ct0), 1 = QIC-11 (/dev/*ct2) |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |- |X |- |- |- |- |- | perform ECC on data (/dev/ect0, QIC-24 only)               |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |- |X |- |- |- |- |- |- | fast mode (uses more memory)                               |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+
 |X |- |- |- |- |- |- |- | 1 = control/override device (/dev/xct*)                    |
 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------------------------------------------------------+

Diagnostics

The following error messages may be displayed on the console. See messages(M) for general information about kernel error messages, including a list of generic device driver errors.

Some of these messages print the unit number (#) of the drive on which the problem occurred. 

CONFIG: ct#: Cannot allocate nk tape buffer for dev major/minor
(CTBUFSIZE = nk too small)
Increase the size of the tunable variable CTBUFSIZE. 
CONFIG: Tape controller ct=type(0xbase,irq,dma) error n: Not found
The registers of the controller specified in the file /usr/sys/io/ctconf.asm were not found on initialization. 
CONFIG: Tape controller ct=type(0xbase,irq,dma) error n: Won't interrupt
The tape controller was found not to be capable of generating interrupts when it was initialized. 
NOTICE: ct#: No cartridge tape in dev major/minor
Usually requires a cartridge to be inserted. Also check for physical damage to the drive. 
NOTICE: ct#: Write protected cartridge tape in dev major/minor
The cartridge must not be set write protected if it is to be written to. Also check for physical damage to the drive and the cartridge. 
WARNING: ct#: n uncorrectable ECC errors on dev major/minor
WARNING: ct: n uncorrectable ECC errors
Error correction could not handle the errors found on the device. 
WARNING: ct: attempted to free invalid buffer
The driver attempted to free an inactive buffer. 
WARNING: ct: Block n [read|written] with difficulty
A block could only be read or written successfully after several retries. 
WARNING: ct: Block n needed ECC correction
Error correction was necessary while a block was being read. 
WARNING: ct: cannot allocate tape buffer
Allocation of enough kernel memory for a buffer failed when the device was being opened. 
WARNING: ct: cartridge tape is write protected
Remove write protect tab from cartridge. Also check for physical damage to the drive and the cartridge. 
WARNING: ct: no cartridge - check tape unit
Check that a cartridge has been inserted. Also check for physical damage to the drive and the cartridge. 
WARNING: ct: RDY or EXC failed to go active
The spin loop in the device driver interrupt routine timed out while waiting for the device to become ready. 
WARNING: ct: Unknown tape controller, ct=name ignored
The specified tape controller device name does not exist.

Files


/dev/erct0
error correction (ECC), raw interface device file (QIC-02 only)

/dev/nrct0
no rewind on close, raw interface device file

/dev/rct0
raw interface device file

/dev/xct0
control device file

See also

mkdev(ADM), tape(C), tape(HW)
© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003