Re: File-system on tape
> On Tue, May 26, 1998 at 10:15:58PM -0600, Lazar Fleysher wrote:
>> Is it possible to create a file system on a tape drive ( like on
>> mainframes) and use it as a disk? I know it is very slow, but is it
>> possible?
>
> That is really very sick and twisted to even think of such a thing...
> hmm I wonder why I never thought of it :)
QIC tapes (FTAPE) use the floppy disk controller and are formatted like
floppy disks with 'tracks' and 'sectors' and so are block replaceable.
This means that they CAN hold a random access file system just like disks,
only SLOWER. QIC tapes have from 20 to 80 parallel tracks on them,
switching tracks is done by moving the head up and down (just like the old
8 track tapes). DEC made a QIC tape drive called DEC-TAPE II that
interfaced with an rs-232 link. It was random access (just like the
original dec-tape), each tape holding about as much as an old 8" SSSD
floppy.
I remember running the dungeon (aka zork) game on an lsi-11 (pdp-11/03)
machine with dual dec tape II drives. Yuchk was it slow!
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