On Friday, 01/06/2006 at 08:15 CST, Alan Ackerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > VMFPLC2 puts the FST information in the front of the data, TAPE puts it in the > back, (or did I get that backwards?)'
You have the right of it. <rocking chair> I remember when Julie Smith and I worked on VMFPLC2 and TAPE back in VM/SP R4, eliminating unnecessary "backhitching" because of the way they used tape marks. On a multi-file DUMP they would write the file and then two tape marks (EOT), BSF to crawl back over the last tape mark, then repeat. (The tape drives in the 9370 really couldn't tolerate that.) Alas, that code is gone, with TAPE and VMFPLC2 having been rewritten yet again back in VM/ESA R1. </rocking chair> > I'm surprised that VMFPLC2 cannot read it. Perhaps they just changed the first > character of each record? Are you sure you have the right kind of tape drive? > I'm not so surprised that VMFPLC will not run. There is commentary in the code that explicitly states VMFPLC2 will not read pre-VM/SP PLC-format tapes. TAPE, on the other hand, will process any of the older tape formats. My oldest tape (from 1982) is probably no longer readable. (A) I would have to find a [clean] 7-track 3420, and (B) I never copied it to a fresh tape. It's probably a reel of clear plastic sitting in a ferric oxide dust bath. :-) Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
