The BOT marker needs to be within a certain distance of the start
of the tape, but the distance is measured in feet. Basically,
you need to have enough leader to wrap around the takeup reel,
load the vacuum columns (if required), then move the tape forward
until it is found. It is best to have some extra at the beginning
in case the leader is damaged and has to be cut off...
Which edge and side of the tape is VERY important. That is what
makes the BOT different from the EOT (different edges, same
side IIRC), and the length is about 1 inch (3 cm) I don't think
the length is real critical.
I would suggest making it about the same as another tape. If you
need more details, I have a junk tape I could unwind to measure
for you...
clint
On Wed, 9 May 2001, [ISO-8859-1] Hans Hübner wrote:
Hello again,
I have two questions regarding 9-track drives:
Is the position and type of the BOT mark standardized? I have a few tapes
without BOT marker which are refused by my CDC transport, so I guess I'll
have to add my own BOT marker.
Can one Pertec controller handle multiple tape transports? How are the
transports supposed to be connected? Or do I need multiple Pertec controllers
if I want to have more than one transport on one machine.
Thanks in advance,
Hans
--
finger hans(a)huebner.org for details