SCSI Tape to TAP utility

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2015-08-09 19:54, ANDY HOLT wrote:
>> Good OS-es allowed an operator to mount tapes for his next few jobs,
>> without paying attention to paper labels and have the OS automatically
>> locate and assign tapes to the proper job.
>
>
> Even the old Operators Exec (and thus George 1 and 2) could do that
> on the ICL 1900 - I think it was referred-to as "AVR" (Automatic Volume Recognition)
> I took it so much for granted that I did not even think of mentioning
> it in the operational requirement for the replacement system.
> Quite a shock to discover its absence in GCOS on the Level 66.
>
> (The reason for its absence on big multi-tasking machines was probably to do with
> the scheduling on such being done by the OS, not the operators. Typically there
> was an extra console by the tape decks which told the operators which tapes to load
> for the next couple of jobs and didn't even schedule the job until the appropriate
> device was ready.)

You should look at the operator interface in TOPS-20... It's a marvel of 
beauty in this area.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol