mcart(C)

mcart -- Irwin mini-cartridge tape maintenance program

Syntax

mcart command [ device ]

Description

mcart sends commands to, and receives status from, an Irwin tape driver. (See tape(HW) and the Getting Started Guide for a list of other supported tape drives, and tape(C) for details of the use of other tape drives.)

The default device special file is /dev/rctmini. This may be changed by specifying a different file to the device argument.

The file /etc/default/mcconfig contains default driver options for the Irwin driver (see mcconfig(F) for details). In addition, the Irwin driver uses a daemon startup program, /etc/mcdaemon, to provide background ECC encode/decode processing.

All mcart commands entered while the tape is busy with other operations wait until the currently executing command has been completed before proceeding.

mcart understands the following command options:

capacity

Report the total usable data storage capacity of a formatted tape cartridge in 512-byte blocks. Variations in cartridge capacity are due to differing numbers of bad blocks. (See also the kapacity option.)

drive

Display information about the Irwin driver and the tape drive. An example display is:

Special file: /dev/rctmini
Driver version: 1.0.6a
Drive type: 285XL
Drive firmware: A0
Controller type: SYSFDC
Unit select (0-3): 3

Special file is the name of the special file used to access the driver.

Driver version is the version of the driver linked with the kernel.

Drive type is an ``equivalent'' tape drive model number as determined by the MC driver. Since the exact model number of the tape drive depends on the drive's form factor and whether the drive is mounted in its own cabinet, the equivalent model number may not be the exact model of the installed tape drive. The following is a list of equivalent drives:

110:: 110, 310, 410
120[XL]:: 120, 220, 320, 420, 720, 2020
125:: 125, 225, 325, 425, 725
145[XL]:: 145, 245, 345, 445, 745, 2040
165:: 165, 265, 465, 765
285XL:: 285, 485, 785, 2080
287XL:: 287, 487, 787, 2120

The brackets in the 120[XL] and 145[XL] mean the letters ``XL'' may or may not be present. When the letters ``XL'' appear, the drive is capable of servo writing extra long (that is, 307.5 foot DC2120) tapes.

Note: When this field displays ``125/145,'' either a 125 drive or an early model 145 drive with a DC1000 is present: the driver cannot distinguish between the two. A 125 drive will only accept a DC1000 cartridge (a DC2000 or DC2120 will not fit). A 145 drive will accommodate DC1000, DC2000, or DC2120 cartridges.

Drive firmware is the firmware part number and revision level. This line is present only for drives which report this information.

Controller type is a mnemonic for the floppy controller to which the tape drive is attached:

Mnemonic Description

SYSFDC System floppy controller

ALTFDC Alternate floppy controller

4100MC Irwin 4100MC Micro Channel controller

4100MCB Second 4100MC Micro Channel controller

4100 Irwin 4100 PC Bus controller

4100B Second 4100 PC Bus controller

Unit select (0-3) gives the controller's unit select, in the range 0 through 3. The unit select selects the drive.

format

Mnemonic	Description
SYSFDC	System floppy controller
ALTFDC	Alternate floppy controller
4100MC	Irwin 4100MC Micro Channel controller
4100MCB	Second 4100MC Micro Channel controller
4100	Irwin 4100 PC Bus controller
4100B	Second 4100 PC Bus controller

Format the tape cartridge. Floppy controller-based tapes must be formatted before they can be used. This command takes approximately one minute per megabyte of tape capacity.

Preformatted tapes are available which are more reliable than user-formatted tapes. Before reformatting a used tape, you must erase it with a bulk eraser. Proper use of a bulk eraser is not trivial; refer to the documentation for your bulk eraser.

info

Display Irwin cartridge information. For example:

Cartridge state: Formatted
Cartridge format: 145
Write protect slider position: RECORD

Cartridge state is the current state of the cartridge's format.

Cartridge format indicates the format on the cartridge's tape. The format is given in a code which is the same as the drive model on which the cartridge was originally formatted (see drive and tape(HW) for details). When the cartridge is blank, the code has the format which would be applied by the format command.

Write protect slider position indicates whether the cartridge is write protected (PROTECT) or may be written to (RECORD).

kapacity

Report the total usable data storage capacity of a formatted tape cartridge in 1024-byte blocks. Variations in cartridge capacity are due to differing numbers of bad blocks. (See also the capacity option.)

reten

Retension tape cartridge. Should be used periodically to remedy slack tape problems. Tape slack can cause an unusually large number of tape errors.

rewind

Rewind to beginning of tape (BOT).

Exit values

The following exit values may be returned by mcart:

0: Normal exit with no error. mcart invoked with no arguments prints a usage message and also returns this value.
2: Unknown command, invalid argument, device not an Irwin drive, incompatible major or minor device numbers, seek error on device, tape header corruption, or block past end of tape.
258: Error from the operating system which sets the global flag errno: device busy, error on opening device file, or read/write error.
514: Error from inside the device driver: Driver internal control error, or formatting error.

Files

Device special files:

/dev/rctmini: irwin driver raw device special file

For more information on device files, see the tape(HW) manual page.

/etc/default/mcconfig: default configuration file
/etc/mcdaemon: background services executable file
/usr/bin/mcart: mcart executable file

Include files:

/usr/include/sys/ir.h
/usr/include/sys/tape.h

Standards conformance

mcart is not part of any currently supported standard; it is an extension of AT&T System V provided by The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.