IDE TR5 Tape drive configuration

[sathish kannan]

Hi Linux Gurus,
I am new to Linux and wish to configure new IDE Seagate TR5 drive in Linux. I have tried many things but nothing seems to be working. I am running Red-Hat 8.0. Hardware is compaq Desktop. While Linux is booted it is sensing and on the "hardware browser" it has driver /dev/hdd configured. But if I do tar or mt with this device its not working.

Could you tell me
1. IS there any Boot time loadable driver to be loaded ?
2. How to configure a new driver / drive ?
3. Is any special tapes commands like "ftape" need to be used.

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Sathish

[Alexander Chuzhoy]

if this is tape device of IDE type-then if I remember correctly you should use /dev/ht0
and/or /dev/nht0

[Steven E. Protter]

The way Linux is supposed to work is the hardware gets detected and any configuration necessary happens at first boot.

You are not supposed to have to add in any drivers, or recompile the kernel.

That is for hardware tested by the Linux Distribution.

This drive is fairly generic and has existed for a long time, so it should be detected if its installed correctly.

You should try two things:

1) Check the hardware compatiability list at http://www.redhat.com Make sure the device is on the list.

2) Check at the hardware vendor's site for Linux drivers and install instructions.

If you find nothing, you can still create drivers yourself. A good place to start is http://www.tldp.org search function.

SEP

[sathish kannan]

Thanks for your help.