Whither the ide-tape module

[Bob McClure Jr]

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.