>Getting the /dev/ftape module will possibly need a custom udev rule >being written to that it's created when the module is loaded. > >A useful reference is: >http://www.reactivated.net/udevrules.php > >> But it gets worse: >> >> # modprobe zft-compressor >> [<c4af049b>] time_inb + 0x1d/0167 [ftape] >> [<c4af0646>] ftape_calibrate + 0x60/0x28a [ftape] >> [<c011bb87>] printk + 0xe/0x11 >> [<c4aee73b>] ftape_udelay_calibrate + 0x19/0x1b [ftape] >> [<c480d119>] ftape_init + 0x119/0x140 [ftape] >> [<c01371dd>] sys_init_module + 0x1d8/02a8 >> [<c0103477>] syscall_call + 0x7/0xb >> Kernel panic - not syncing: /home/steve/temp/ftape-calibr.c:167: >> spin_is_locked on unitialized spinlock c4aff87c. >> >> ...at which point the system dies. > >Can't help with this I'm afraid. I don't know how to debug kernel >modules, nor do I have any ftape hardware. I didn't expect any one person to know everything about everything, but I thought maybe someone who participated in this list might have this kind of tape drive and I was hoping to find out what they had done to get it working. > >Obviously you won't be able to get anywhere with the udev rules until >the modules load successfully :-( I consider automatic module loading is the least of my problems, though I think it will work, since I did get it to load once and the /dev/ftape link as well as the various /dev/*ft* files were created automatically. For testing purposes I've been using the # MAKEDEV ftape command to create (temporarily) the /dev files just so I can concentrate on the modules and not worry about what udev is or is not doing. Since the ftape source code is included with the current release of the kernel, and we know that the kernel gets lots of testing before release, I think that there must be a way to get it to work. I also am aware that the FC3 kernel uses a lot of "experimental" features that may not have undergone as much rigorous testing as some of the more established options; that is why I wonder if there is some incompatibility with the installed kernel. If anyone knows of a *current* source of information about ftape, I would be very grateful to learn about it. Most of the documentation that a google search returns is 5-10 years old. Thanks for your help.
