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tools/tape11/tape11.doc
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TAPE11
ANSI format tape writer
User's guide and documentation
TAPE11 is a TOPS-20 only utility to write tapes for
transportation to non-TOPS20 machines. ANSI standard labels
are used to identify the files written to the tape. TAPE11
has the capability to write either ASCII or EBCDIC
characters to the tape. It has limited support for writing
8-bit binary images as well. TAPE11 has full defaults for
most parameters when writing tapes. Defaults not built in
on program startup are physical block length, logical record
length, volume ID and tape drive specification.
Command Action
ASCII
ASCII is the default character set to write tapes
with. Since the KL10 is using only 7 bits of data per
byte, no parity bit is set when the characters are
converted to 8 bits. The character set in use
determines how labels are written. ASCII writes ASCII
labels, EBCDIC writes EBCDIC labels. The character set
may not be changed after volume labels are written.
BLOCKSIZE
BLOCKSIZE sets the number of bytes per physical
record when writing data to the tape. The command
accepts a decimal number in the range of 80 to 32768.
The default is 512. This command must be given before
any files may be written to tape. Setting the
BLOCKSIZE to a value smaller than the current
RECORDSIZE produces a warning message, and resets the
RECORDSIZE to be equal to the BLOCKSIZE.
DENSITY
DENSITY sets the bits per inch (BPI) to use when
writing tapes. Allowed values are 200, 556, 800, 1600,
6250 and DEFAULT. Setting an illegal value (say 6250
BPI on a TU45) will produce errors only when data is
written to the tape. DEFAULT defaults to the last SET
TAPE DENSITY given to the EXEC.
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EBCDIC
EBCDIC sets the character set used in writing the
tape to IBM EBCDIC. All labels and data written will
be translated from ASCII into EBCDIC. Once data has
been written to tape, the character set may not be
changed. See the ASCII command.
EOT
EOT is a tape positioning command. It moves the
tape to after the last file (to the double tape mark).
If the EOT command is used, the VOLUME command must
have been given or the file labels will be incorrect.
(The file set ID will show "Anylbl"). This command
will produce an error if data has already been written
to tape.
EXIT
EXIT ends the execution of TAPE11. The tape is
unaffected. CONTINUE will restart TAPE11.
FILE
FILE specifies a file to write to the tape. The
specification allows wildcards in every field. The
format of the command is FILE Str:<Dev>File.Ext.Gen the
default is *.*.* Files that cannot be accessed are not
processed. Data errors in the source file are treated
like an EOF. The FILE command may be given multiple
times in one running of TAPE11.
FORMAT
FORMAT selects the data format to write the tape
with. Options are BINARY, DEFAULT, FIXED, IMAGE and
VARIABLE. BINARY format is the same as IMAGE, except
that 8 bit bytes are read from disk. Data is read from
disk in RECORDSIZE chunks and written directly to tape
in BLOCKSIZE physical length records without
conversion. If RECORDSIZE does not equal BLOCKSIZE,
then the records written on tape are padded with the
pad character. The default format is IMAGE. FIXED
format is N records per block, each record taking up
exactly RECORDSIZE bytes, packed into a BLOCKSIZE
buffer. Card image records are written in this format.
(80/800 normally). VARIABLE format is the FILES11A
format for compatability with RSX/RSTS/VMS systems. In
VARIABLE format, records of up to RECORDSIZE are read
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and inserted into the BLOCKSIZE record with a 4 byte
header. No CR or LF is inserted after the record.
NULLS are not written. If a record is to big to fit in
the space remaining, it is placed at the start of the
next block, and the partial block is filled with pad
characters.
HEADERS
The HEADERS command changes the number of HDR
records written in the tape label field. The minumum
count is 2, the maximum is 9. The format of the
command is HEADERS n Where "n" is a positive decimal
number. The records (HDR3 to HDR9) are all blanks past
byte position 4.
HELP
HELP lists a short description of all commands.
INFORMATION
INFORMATION lists all current settings and tape
status. If a parameter has not been set, it is so
noted.
LABELS
LABELS sets a flag to inhibit the actual writing
of labels on the tape. If no labels are selected, the
80. character labels are not applied to the tape.
Arguments are YES to write the labels (default), and NO
to inhibit the writing. You must still supply a tape
volume ID. This feature is useful for writing straight
card image tapes.
PADDING
PADDING specifys the character used to pad
incomplete records. When BLOCKSIZE is not an exact
multiple of RECORDSIZE, or a record is read that does
not fill RECORDSIZE in FIXED mode, there are unused
bytes at the end of the record or buffer. The pad
character is inserted to fill the gap. The default (at
startup) is "^" (octal 136). PADDING requires one
octal argument.
PARITY
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PARITY specifies the parity to use when writing
the tape. Options are EVEN or ODD. ODD parity is the
standard, and is the default.
PUSH
PUSH duplicates the action of the EXEC command
PUSH. It starts up another EXEC and waits for it to
finish. Type POP to return to TAPE11.
RECORDSIZE
RECORDSIZE specifies the logical record length for
reading records from disk, and the size of the logical
record when blocking records together in FIXED format.
RECORDSIZE must not exceed BLOCKSIZE. The default is
512. byte records. The range is 80. to 32768.
RECORDSIZE requires a decimal number of bytes as an
argument.
TAPE
TAPE specifies the tape drive to use for writing
files. The tape must be mounted without the labeled
tape facility in action. This means that the tape
should be mounted as UNLABLED, or be put on an
unrestricted drive. Using a labeled tape with TAPE11
will produce an unreadable result. The TAPE command
requires a valid tape specification as an argument.
I.E. MTA0:, not MT0:!!
VOLUME
VOLUME specifies the 6 character volume identifier
that is written as the first record on the tape. It is
also written as part of every HDR1 and EOF1 record
label. The default is "TAPE11", or if the EOT command
was given, "ANYLBL".
Tape errors are retried once (monitor retries are
used). If the record fails to write, a large inter-record
gap (3 inches) is written, and the operation is retried. If
it still fails, the program gives up and goes on to the next
record. Errors are identified by block and record number.
After every file is written, a record and block total
is printed. After all files in a specification are
processed, a message is printed. Nulls are not written in
VARIABLE format. After the last file on tape is written, a
double tape mark is made.
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-- Revised 18-nov-82 --