HELP: HP Surestore Tape 12000e DDS-2 Tape Autoloader with FedoraLinux

Greetings.

I have had this old surplus tape autoloader for a year or so, since I
purchased it off eBay for about a hundred bucks.

I can't seem to get Linux to recognize the autoloader. When I first got
the thing, it seemed to respond to the system, but then "gave out." The
autoloader itself seems to be working fine; the POST is successful, the
cartridges autoload just fine, etc.

Anyone have any experience with these things and could give me some clues?

Thanks.

 

Hmm. The autoloader probably doesn't work with Linux since it is an
old device and only works with computers that work with Windows 98SE
and up. I have an HP 1533a DDS-2 tape drive which is not an
autoloader, and it works fine with a SCSI card that I have had for
years only on a Windows box as there are no drivers to run it on a
linux box.

 

Well, actually there are Linux software tools available for this machine
which I downloaded and installed. I actually got the system to recognize
the autoloader, flip the cartridges back and forth, etc. I didn't have
time to try to actually write something to the tape so I let it go for
awhile.

Came back several weeks later and just couldn't get anything to work.

I appreciate your pointing out these considerations, but I suspect there
is someone here somewhere who HAS gotten it to work. I'm hoping they'll
chime in.