To install a tape drive on an IRIX system, follow the hardware installation instructions that are furnished with your tape drive. Make sure you carefully follow any instructions regarding drive terminators.
If you are adding a tape drive to a system that does not have one, the software configuration is taken care of automatically when the system boots. When the system boots, if hinv indicates that a tape drive is installed but that there is no link to it through the /dev/tape file, the MAKEDEV program is automatically invoked to add the proper device nodes.
If you are installing a tape drive after your initial system installation, perform the following steps:
cd /dev
./MAKEDEV tape
The MAKEDEV program creates the appropriate device nodes.
If you have removed a tape drive and are installing one of a different type, follow these steps:
cd /dev
rm *tape
./MAKEDEV tape tapelinks
The MAKEDEV program creates the appropriate device nodes and links the correct node for the drive to /dev/tape.
The MAKEDEV program supports these options for tape drives:
Table 4-1 and Table 4-2 list the maximum tape capacities in megabytes (MB) for the tape formats IRIX supports. Note that these are maximum, not average, capacities.
Note: Almost all DAT drives use DDS format. Eight-millimeter tapes are also available in P6 lengths of 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes for the United States, and lengths of 15, 30, and 60 minutes for Europe; the P6 cartridge is for NTSC, and the P5 is for PAL. The drive must be jumpered to match the cartridge type. Refer to "DAT Audio and Video Storage" for information on determining the amount of audio and video that can be stored on DAT media.
Table 4-2 shows maximum capacities for 9-track tapes. Note that 9-track tape capacities vary more than other types because of block-size and tape-length issues.
Note: The 3,600-foot tapes use thin tape (1.3 mm). BLKSZ indicates block size in bytes.
For more information on making tape drive links, see the ln(1) and mknod(1M) reference pages.
If you suspect that the tape device has not been properly created or that the links between the low-level device name (for example, /dev/mt/tps0d3) and the symbolic name (for example, /dev/tape) are not correct, then you may want to log in as root and run the MAKEDEV script with the following command sequence:
cd /devrm *tape*./MAKEDEV [linksordevice-type]
Device types can be
Normally, the ./MAKEDEV tapelinks command is all you need to create links for the following default device names: nrtape, nrtapens, tape, tapens.