Re: transfer from Explorer to Symbolics

[Stephen Nicoud <snicoud@ATC.BOEING.COM>]

I think I know why we're getting confused.  I will accept the fact that
the cart tape drive has a preset density.  Unfortunately, we've been
under the assumption that the choice of 6250 as the "Tape Mode" on the
Explorer meant "density".  Somewhere along the line we took that for
fact, when that was not the case (at least that's what I believe).

I fed the READ CARRY TAPE command several different values for :DENSITY
(in the :TAPE SPEC argument), and it had no affect whatsoever on the
success of restoring the files.  I can only assume that the :DENSITY
argument is ignored as Doug points out.  This is also why I dispute the
meaning of 6250 as "density".  According to the Explorer documentation,
6250 is also known as QIC-11 (9 track).  Since Doug points out that "All
tape drives on Symbolics are preset to use QIC-11 format", this appears
to be the reason I was successful in transferring files.

If you are planning to backup ascii files using an Explorer and
restoring them using a Symbolics, then I suggest that you:

	(1) Use the 6250 Tape Mode on the Explorer
	(2) Use the READ CARRY TAPE command on the Symbolics
	    (specifying CART as the device)

I wish I could say I understand what's involved in Cart Tape Drive
technology, but that is not the case.  I do know that files can be 
successfully transfered from an Explorer to a Symbolics.

Steve Nicoud	ARPA:	<snicoud@atc.boeing.com>