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diff --git a/Documentation/ftape.txt b/Documentation/ftape.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7d8bb338403..00000000000 --- a/Documentation/ftape.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,307 +0,0 @@ -Intro -===== - -This file describes some issues involved when using the "ftape" -floppy tape device driver that comes with the Linux kernel. - -ftape has a home page at - -http://ftape.dot-heine.de/ - -which contains further information about ftape. Please cross check -this WWW address against the address given (if any) in the MAINTAINERS -file located in the top level directory of the Linux kernel source -tree. - -NOTE: This is an unmaintained set of drivers, and it is not guaranteed to work. -If you are interested in taking over maintenance, contact Claus-Justus Heine -<ch@dot-heine.de>, the former maintainer. - -Contents -======== - -A minus 1: Ftape documentation - -A. Changes - 1. Goal - 2. I/O Block Size - 3. Write Access when not at EOD (End Of Data) or BOT (Begin Of Tape) - 4. Formatting - 5. Interchanging cartridges with other operating systems - -B. Debugging Output - 1. Introduction - 2. Tuning the debugging output - -C. Boot and load time configuration - 1. Setting boot time parameters - 2. Module load time parameters - 3. Ftape boot- and load time options - 4. Example kernel parameter setting - 5. Example module parameter setting - -D. Support and contacts - -******************************************************************************* - -A minus 1. Ftape documentation -============================== - -Unluckily, the ftape-HOWTO is out of date. This really needs to be -changed. Up to date documentation as well as recent development -versions of ftape and useful links to related topics can be found at -the ftape home page at - -http://ftape.dot-heine.de/ - -******************************************************************************* - -A. Changes -========== - -1. Goal - ~~~~ - The goal of all that incompatibilities was to give ftape an interface - that resembles the interface provided by SCSI tape drives as close - as possible. Thus any Unix backup program that is known to work - with SCSI tape drives should also work. - - The concept of a fixed block size for read/write transfers is - rather unrelated to this SCSI tape compatibility at the file system - interface level. It developed out of a feature of zftape, a - block wise user transparent on-the-fly compression. That compression - support will not be dropped in future releases for compatibility - reasons with previous releases of zftape. - -2. I/O Block Size - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - The block size defaults to 10k which is the default block size of - GNU tar. - - The block size can be tuned either during kernel configuration or - at runtime with the MTIOCTOP ioctl using the MTSETBLK operation - (i.e. do "mt -f /dev/qft0" setblk #BLKSZ). A block size of 0 - switches to variable block size mode i.e. "mt setblk 0" switches - off the block size restriction. However, this disables zftape's - built in on-the-fly compression which doesn't work with variable - block size mode. - - The BLKSZ parameter must be given as a byte count and must be a - multiple of 32k or 0, i.e. use "mt setblk 32768" to switch to a - block size of 32k. - - The typical symptom of a block size mismatch is an "invalid - argument" error message. - -3. Write Access when not at EOD (End Of Data) or BOT (Begin Of Tape) - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - zftape (the file system interface of ftape-3.x) denies write access - to the tape cartridge when it isn't positioned either at BOT or - EOD. - -4. Formatting - ~~~~~~~~~~ - ftape DOES support formatting of floppy tape cartridges. You need the - `ftformat' program that is shipped with the modules version of ftape. - Please get the latest version of ftape from - - ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/tapes - - or from the ftape home page at - - http://ftape.dot-heine.de/ - - `ftformat' is contained in the `./contrib/' subdirectory of that - separate ftape package. - -5. Interchanging cartridges with other operating systems - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - - The internal emulation of Unix tape device file marks has changed - completely. ftape now uses the volume table segment as specified - by the QIC-40/80/3010/3020/113 standards to emulate file marks. As - a consequence there is limited support to interchange cartridges - with other operating systems. - - To be more precise: ftape will detect volumes written by other OS's - programs and other OS's programs will detect volumes written by - ftape. - - However, it isn't possible to extract the data dumped to the tape - by some MSDOS program with ftape. This exceeds the scope of a - kernel device driver. If you need such functionality, then go ahead - and write a user space utility that is able to do that. ftape already - provides all kernel level support necessary to do that. - -******************************************************************************* - -B. Debugging Output - ================ - -1. Introduction - ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - The ftape driver can be very noisy in that is can print lots of - debugging messages to the kernel log files and the system console. - While this is useful for debugging it might be annoying during - normal use and enlarges the size of the driver by several kilobytes. - - To reduce the size of the driver you can trim the maximal amount of - debugging information available during kernel configuration. Please - refer to the kernel configuration script and its on-line help - functionality. - - The amount of debugging output maps to the "tracing" boot time - option and the "ft_tracing" modules option as follows: - - 0 bugs - 1 + errors (with call-stack dump) - 2 + warnings - 3 + information - 4 + more information - 5 + program flow - 6 + fdc/dma info - 7 + data flow - 8 + everything else - -2. Tuning the debugging output - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - To reduce the amount of debugging output printed to the system - console you can - - i) trim the debugging output at run-time with - - mt -f /dev/nqft0 setdensity #DBGLVL - - where "#DBGLVL" is a number between 0 and 9 - - ii) trim the debugging output at module load time with - - modprobe ftape ft_tracing=#DBGLVL - - Of course, this applies only if you have configured ftape to be - compiled as a module. - - iii) trim the debugging output during system boot time. Add the - following to the kernel command line: - - ftape=#DBGLVL,tracing - - Please refer also to the next section if you don't know how to - set boot time parameters. - -******************************************************************************* - -C. Boot and load time configuration - ================================ - -1. Setting boot time parameters - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Assuming that you use lilo, the LI)nux LO)ader, boot time kernel - parameters can be set by adding a line - - append some_kernel_boot_time_parameter - - to `/etc/lilo.conf' or at real boot time by typing in the options - at the prompt provided by LILO. I can't give you advice on how to - specify those parameters with other loaders as I don't use them. - - For ftape, each "some_kernel_boot_time_parameter" looks like - "ftape=value,option". As an example, the debugging output can be - increased with - - ftape=4,tracing - - NOTE: the value precedes the option name. - -2. Module load time parameters - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Module parameters can be specified either directly when invoking - the program 'modprobe' at the shell prompt: - - modprobe ftape ft_tracing=4 - - or by editing the file `/etc/modprobe.conf' in which case they take - effect each time when the module is loaded with `modprobe' (please - refer to the respective manual pages). Thus, you should add a line - - options ftape ft_tracing=4 - - to `/etc/modprobe.conf` if you intend to increase the debugging - output of the driver. - - -3. Ftape boot- and load time options - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - - i. Controlling the amount of debugging output - DBGLVL has to be replaced by a number between 0 and 8. - - module | kernel command line - -----------------------|---------------------- - ft_tracing=DBGLVL | ftape=DBGLVL,tracing - - ii. Hardware setup - BASE is the base address of your floppy disk controller, - IRQ and DMA give its interrupt and DMA channel, respectively. - BOOL is an integer, "0" means "no"; any other value means - "yes". You don't need to specify anything if connecting your tape - drive to the standard floppy disk controller. All of these - values have reasonable defaults. The defaults can be modified - during kernel configuration, i.e. while running "make config", - "make menuconfig" or "make xconfig" in the top level directory - of the Linux kernel source tree. Please refer also to the on - line documentation provided during that kernel configuration - process. - - ft_probe_fc10 is set to a non-zero value if you wish for ftape to - probe for a Colorado FC-10 or FC-20 controller. - - ft_mach2 is set to a non-zero value if you wish for ftape to probe - for a Mountain MACH-2 controller. - - module | kernel command line - -----------------------|---------------------- - ft_fdc_base=BASE | ftape=BASE,ioport - ft_fdc_irq=IRQ | ftape=IRQ,irq - ft_fdc_dma=DMA | ftape=DMA,dma - ft_probe_fc10=BOOL | ftape=BOOL,fc10 - ft_mach2=BOOL | ftape=BOOL,mach2 - ft_fdc_threshold=THR | ftape=THR,threshold - ft_fdc_rate_limit=RATE | ftape=RATE,datarate - -4. Example kernel parameter setting - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - To configure ftape to probe for a Colorado FC-10/FC-20 controller - and to increase the amount of debugging output a little bit, add - the following line to `/etc/lilo.conf': - - append ftape=1,fc10 ftape=4,tracing - -5. Example module parameter setting - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - To do the same, but with ftape compiled as a loadable kernel - module, add the following line to `/etc/modprobe.conf': - - options ftape ft_probe_fc10=1 ft_tracing=4 - -******************************************************************************* - -D. Support and contacts - ==================== - - Ftape is distributed under the GNU General Public License. There is - absolutely no warranty for this software. However, you can reach - the current maintainer of the ftape package under the email address - given in the MAINTAINERS file which is located in the top level - directory of the Linux kernel source tree. There you'll find also - the relevant mailing list to use as a discussion forum and the web - page to query for the most recent documentation, related work and - development versions of ftape. - - Changelog: - ========== - -~1996: Original Document - -10-24-2004: General cleanup and updating, noting additional module options. - James Nelson <james4765@gmail.com> |