Whither the ide-tape module
Bob McClure Jr
robertmcclure at earthlink.net
Mon Feb 28 19:45:49 UTC 2005
On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 11:13:31AM -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> >What the heck has happened to the ide-tape module in the 2.6 kernels?
> >The last FC2 kernel as distributed by KRUD,
> >
> >http://www.tummy.com/krud/
> >
> >that supported my IDE tape drives was 2.6.8-1.521. Kernel
> >2.6.9-1.6_FC2 does not. And now that I've upgraded to FC3, with
> >kernel 2.6.10-1.766_FC3, I'm stuck with a dead tape drive. The one in
> >my file server is still ok because I haven't and won't upgrade that
> >until I have my backup needs covered.
> >
> >Now that they are no longer distributing the kernel-source RPM, I
> >guess I'm supposed to download the latest from kernel.org and build a
> >custom kernel. Phooey, I thought I was free of that many years ago
> >when they modularized the kernel.
>
> The kernel source is available, but not as "kernel-source-version.rpm".
> You must download the "kernel-version-src.rpm" (a true source RPM), then
> do the "rpmbuild -bp" on it. The reasons for not including a kernel
> source RPM are documented in the release notes and I won't go into them
> here.
>
> <excellent instructions (which I will save) snipped>
>
> >Is there some alternate device I'm supposed to use?
>
> Nope.
I posted the same query to the krudusers list and just got the reply
that said to use the ide-scsi module. I tried it and it works fine.
The device is /dev/(n)st0 on my system.
> >Or do I bite the bullet and build a kernel?
>
> Build the kernel source as I outlined above. ide-tape is not part of
> the standard kernel build as there are, pardon my language, damned few
> people who used it.
Gee, and here I thought I was mainstream. :-) The aforementioned
respondent said ide-tape had been depreciated (sic) for some time.
> >Or do I accelerate my plan to start backing up to DVDs?
>
> ide-tape is ancient and not particularly reliable. DVDs are one option.
> So are things such as DAT or DLT (if you like tape).
I used to be. Unfortunately, it seemed that I could buy expensive
drives that used cheap tapes, or cheap drives that used expensive
tapes. Since the price has come way down on DVD (re)writers and
media, I think I know where I'm headed.
> At the current
> cost of disk drives, an IEEE 1394 (firewire) or USB 2.0 enclosure and a
> 80GB drive make for a pretty cheap and reliable backup. If you do it
> right, you can even boot off it for emergency recovery.
>
> >It would be a British understatement to say that I'm miffed.
>
> Again, VERY few people used ide-tape. It's been termed "legacy" so it's
> not a standard module any longer. Installing the kernel source does
> require a couple of extra steps and the reason for it is in the release
> notes (you did read them, didn't you?).
Yes, I usually do. Must have missed any notes about the impending
demise of ide-tape.
> Building the module isn't hard.
>
> Sorry, but you're one of the "edge cases" as far as device support is
> concerned.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
> - -
> - ...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror -
> - and you'd be on your own, pal! -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
--
Bob McClure, Jr. Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure at earthlink.net http://www.bobcatos.com
The best home improvement manual is the Bible.
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