Date: Wed, 13 Dec 95 10:28:35 PST
From: greywolf@defender.VAS.viewlogic.com (SAVE MY WALRUS)
Message-Id: <9512131828.AA22797@defender.vas.viewlogic.com>
In-Reply-To: The Message That benji@haven.boston.ma.us sent on Dec 12
Reply-To: greywolf@captech.com
In-Real-Life: greywolf
To: behind brown eyes <benji@haven.boston.ma.us>, port-sparc@NetBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Booting from tape (was: standalone programs...)u
Content-Length: 759
Sender: owner-port-sparc@NetBSD.ORG
Precedence: list

Is the tape distribution QIC-only, or is there a (gasp) 9-track format
for it?

I ask because on a QIC one cannot determine the blocking factor, and as
someone else has pointed out, "it is a major stumbling block".  I had
thought that the blocksize was _supposed_ to be 2k, but I might be
wrong...

I tried installing a bootblock on my tape (4mm), dumped in a blocksize
of 1k bytes, but running

        ok boot st(0,0,0)

resulted in the damn drive trying to read all the way to the end of media.
The drive just sat there and flashed, and the machine didn't do *anything*.

Since it was a late-afternoon/evening attempt and I had to leave just then,
I decided to (movs r1, "reboot from disk"; fbap %r1).

Sigh.


				--*greywolf;
--
System V was a mistake.