[rescue] [Rescue] DLT tape drive diagnostics?

[Mr Ian Primus]

Lately I have been fighting with DLT tape drives. I
have been having intermittent problems with one, one
that won't read tapes, and a couple with various other
problems. A long time ago, someone told me that there
was a way to connect a serial cable to a DLT drive,
and get information about it, such as how many tape
passes, power on hours, and recent error codes. I did
some searching on the 'net and haven't been able to
turn up anything useful. Is this true? There are
several connectors on the board, that aren't labeled,
and there is the loader port. So it seems possible
that there could be RS-232 in there somewhere. I did
some poking around (although I didn't take the board
completely off) and I don't see a MAX232 or a 1488/89
chip, but that doesn't mean that the functionality
isn't in there anywhere, or that they aren't hiding.

Thanks!

-Ian