Linux Tape Backup with Kernel 2.6.30

[Jim Duda]

I apologize if this is the wrong list for this question.  
Any advice on the appropriate list is appreciated.

I'm currently running the Fedora 10 distribution, with my own kernel (various reasons necessary).

This weekend, I upgraded to kernel 2.6.30; why not the latest (-:  

With this new kernel, I can no longer do backups to tape.

I've learned that with 2.6.29+, ide_scsi is no longer supported.

The ide_scsi driver would emulate a scsi tape drive on top of IDE and create /dev/st0.

I have an Seagate tape drive:
hdd: Seagate STT20000A, ATAPI TAPE drive
ide-tape: hdd <-> ht0: Seagate STT20000A rev 8A51
ide-tape: hdd <-> ht0: 232KBps, 6*54kB buffer, 400ms tDSC

I could always tar -f /dev/st0 (etc) for backup and restoral.

With the latest kernel, no ide_scsi means no /dev/st0.

The kernel documentation states that ide_scsi has been removed because the kernel
can now write directly to CDROM drives without scsi emulaton.  
It makes no mention of tape drives.

Attempting to use tar with /dev/ht0 (ide_tape) results in the kernel locking up.

I'm certainly not an expert on how scsi emulation and ide_scsi worked, 
but I've been using it for a long time without any issues.

Any information appreciated.  I've spent a couple of days hunting for an answer but I have struck out.
I didn't know where else to turn but this list.

Thanks,

Jim