So, I wonder what the 'Incorrect Length Indicator Set' means?
That turned out to be the key!
Sorry to keep posting to myself, but I found the problem and thought maybe I could save someone else the pain. It turns out that kernel did not know about drive bacause the name had IBM in it. I added the following entry to /kernel/drv/st.conf, rebooted and it worked. Not sure what all the parameters mean. I just cut'n'pasted the corresponding unbranded Exabyte ones.
tape-config-list=
"EXABYTE IBM-8505", "Exabyte IBM-8505 8mm Helical Scan","IBM-8505";
IBM-8505 = 1,0x29,0,0xce39,4,0x14,0x15,0x8c,0x8c,1;
Andy
