HP 88780 scsi manual

[D Walton_1]

I have an HP 88780 9-track tape unit. It is old, and tech data is out of print. Does anyone have a copy of the old scsi programmer's manual so I can write a scsi device driver? I need to know what all of the legal scsi commands are, including interpretation of bits in message fields. Thank you so much.

[Robert_Jewell]

SOrry, but the only docs I could find is the Users Guide. Part number is 88780-90000. HP has it listed for $37, but I am not even sure if that has the info you are looking for.

-Bob

[David Ruska · Accepted solution]

I'm not aware of an electronic version of this manual (as this product was done before the days of pdf files).

You should be able to write a driver using only the SCSI 2 spec (ANSI X3.131-1986). Here's a good online link: http://www.danbbs.dk/~dino/SCSI/SCSI2-introduction.html

The 88780 implements all the mandatory commands for sequential access devices (listed in section 10.2), and all the optional commands with the exception of Copy and Verify, Track Select, Read Reverse, Locate, Read Position, and Compare.

There is very little 'vendor unique', unless you have data compression. In that case, there are some vendor unique density codes if you want to control compression from the host.

There are a few dozen vendor unique ASC/ASCQ error codes, mostly corner cases. For example, 04h/80h = Top_cover_is_open.

If you want a list of the vendor unique codes, send an email to ltt_team@hp.com.

One other point: it doesn't send RESTORE DATA POINTER messages. They are implied in a reselection.