First of all, I'll list some of my specs:
-Linux 2.2.6 Slackware 4.0 distribution
-i486DX66 processor with 24MB RAM, 64MB swap
-MoBo: 3 VLB slots, 4 16-bit ISAs, and 1 8-bit ISA
-VLB I/O card with 2 IDE ports and 1 FDC (all on standard
IRQs...i.e. 14/15 and 6, respectively)
-3Com 10baseT (3C509b) 16-bit ISA on IRQ 10
-and some generic, 16-bit ISA, screwy video card(I usually have this
box off of a monitor and do stuff via telnet and so the video card
doesn't matter too much to me)
-WDC 340MB and Conner 85MB hard drives(IDE; master, slave,
respectively; IRQ14)
-a 2x-but-reported-by-Linux-to-be-an-8x CDROM drive(IDE; IRQ 15)
-1.44MB floppy
-Ditto 3200 Easy (as for the "Easy" part...no, not in Linux)
-Parallel port Zip100 drive(IRQ 5)
-The floppy and Ditto are on the same FDC. The floppy being the `B'
drive and the Ditto being the `A' drive(Yes, I'm pretty sure that's
important.)
Domenico:
I've got an Iomega Ditto 3200 insider FDC tape drive. I was trying
and trying to get it to work with the Ditto Dash (2Mbps accellerator).
It just wouldn't work. So, tonite, I finally decided to try something.
What I had learned from some past experimentation was that I could get
Linux (tar, to be specific) to access the drive by removing the 3.5"
floppy drive completely(by taking the cable off of the FDC port and
removing it from BIOS)and putting the tape drive on the FDC where the
floppy had resided previously. Then, by installing `ftape' and
`zftape'(`insmod ftape' and then `insmod zftape'), I could issue the
command `tar cf /dev/nqft0 etc' and hear the tape start to spin away!
What I've got set up now allows me to use the floppy drive
semi-normally (it comes up as read-only when the read-only switch on the
disk is not set...strange...) and to use the tape drive. Now, I haven't
explored the use extensively. All I know is that I can mount the floppy
as read-only and give `tar cf /dev/nqft0 etc' and hear the tape drive
spin. I haven't yet tried to copy stuff to the floppy or to recover
files from a tape.
What I had to do was to give up on the accelerator card and put both
the tape and floppy on the standard FDC(yes, this runs at
500Kbps...slow:)). The floppy being `/dev/fd1' and the tape being
`/dev/nqft0'. So, if you'd like to do this, make sure you've got a FDC
cable that has connectors for two drives, make sure you set your BIOS to
not see drive `A' and rather see drive `B' as what was once your drive
`A', and make sure you have the tape on the connector at the end of the
cable and your floppy on the connector between that one and the one you
plug in to your motherboard or I/O card.
Hope this helps. If you'd like, I can send you what more I find out
as I continue to experiment with this setup.
Andy Haninger
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
