The current version of EPIO will recognize when it reads or
writes a tape instead of disk, provided the device name is
of the standard form MTAn:
For example: Suppose you want to mount a tape with blocks of length 23040 bytes on unit 0, for the logical unit no. 1:
MOUNT /FOR/BLOC=23040/REC=23040 MTAn: LABEL FOR001
where LABEL is just a place holder.
For unlabelled tapes, on the CENTRAL 8600 at CERN the command should read
SETUP/BLOC=23040/REC=23040/NOLABEL XUTnnn XUTnnn FOR001
for a non labelled tape, where the second XUTnnn is again a place
holder. Should the tape be labelled the qualifier
/LABEL=ASCII or /LABEL=EBCDIC is required.
If the tape is to be written the qualifier /WRITE must be
inserted before the /[NO]LABEL qualifier.
Byte swapping to/from tape may be done automatically when using EPIO,
if this is allowed by the drivers' firmware/hardware.
Tapes with EBCDIC labels should be positioned correctly using e.g.:
SET MAGTAPE/SKIP=FILES:1 FOR001
Alternately label groups must be treated by the user by recovering from EPIO error 5. The file name may be changed at run-time via a call to the routine EPDEFU.