![[LWN Logo]](/images/lwn.banner.gif)
To: linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu (Linux Tape Mailing List) Subject: [ANNOUNCE] ftape-tools-1.0 package From: Claus-Justus Heine <claus@momo.math.rwth-aachen.de> Date: 25 May 1998 13:39:39 +0200 Me again. I have stripped of the contrib/ subtree of the ftape kernel driver distribution and made it a separate package. The thingy comes with GNU autoconf and automake. I also played with nls support, as I was curious. It suffers from lack of documentation for now. However, the most important programs -- ftmt, ftformat and vtblc -- give some online help with the "--help" switch. Also, I have played around with the XF Tcl/TK GUI builder and produced a little frontend to ftmt, vtblc and ftformat. I like it. Your opinion will vary as I didn't write any documentation yet :-) It is named ftape-tool. It provides buttons for basic tape operations (rewind/retension/status/erase). Be careful with the formatting interface and have a look at the "format options" button. The default, however, is to try to auto-probe the format parameters from the tape drive and not really start formatting. Be also careful with the frontend to vtblc. It is possibly to erase the entire volume table if acting carelessly. "Carelessly" means: removing volume table entries and afterwards hitting the "Write Volume Table" button. The ftformat program included here probably is able to format cartridges with pre-4.x ftape drivers, i.e. using the mmap interface but I didn't test it. Ok, have fun. I have compiled the package with libc-5 as well as glibc-2.* (aka libc-6). You need wish4.2 for the Tcl/Tk frontend. wish4.0 might work also, but not as smooth. Didn't try wish8.<something> Cheers Claus -- Claus-Justus Heine claus@momo.math.rwth-aachen.de http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus PGP Public Key: http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/claus-public-key.asc Ftape - the Linux Floppy Tape Project WWW : http://www-math.math.rwth-aachen.de/~LBFM/claus/ftape Mailing-list: linux-tape@vger.rutgers.edu