It has become pretty common due to the prevalence of PC-based "mainframes" such as the FLEX. You can buy SCSI-attached mainframe-style tape drives from dealers, such as T3 and Cornerstone. I think about $5000 and up depending on new/used, model of tape, auto-loaders, etc. The tape drives typically come with software that does a "typical" job of handling mainframe tape labels. By "typical" I mean typical for cross-platform software where the author was clearly not part of the "culture" of the platform he or she was attempting to "emulate" (for want of a better word).
Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Art Celestini Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Question On Reading Mainframe Tapes on Other Platforms I've been asked to explore the feasibility of reading standard-labeled MVS tapes on other platforms. I know that 3580/90 devices can be attached via Escon/Fiber Channel HBAs, and that IBM offers a device driver for certain *nix systems. So, my question: Is anyone doing this? And if so, is there any available software that will handle the O/C/EOV functions (label checking, positioning, etc.), or would this all need to be built from the ground up, above the driver? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
