Hercules V4.00.0 - User Reference Guide

6.8.7 Basic ACF (Automatic Cartridge Feeder) Support

6.8.7.1 Function

The ACF (Automatic Cartridge Feeder) is a feature on cartridge type tape drives (3480, 3490, etc.) that
automatically loads a new tape when a tape is removed (ejected) from the drive. There is no real control
over this functionality by the host as the device just keeps on feeding tapes one after the other.

Although the ACF features is unique to cartridge type tape systems the emulation accepts to use the
same technique for emulated ½ inch tapes reel drives as well. ACF is supported through a file that con-
tains a list of files (emulated tapes or cartridges) that will be loaded one after the other.

To manually reset the ACF to the top of the stack the DEVINIT panel command can be used to "reload"
the ACF feature.

6.8.7.2 Syntax

Descriptive

ddr @filename [arguments]

Diagram

ÊÊ¬¬¬ ¬¬¬ ¬¬¬ @filename ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬Ê

Ê¬¬¬§¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬§¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ÊÍ

« arguments

6.8.7.3 Parameter

devaddr

This is the device address.

devtype

This is the device type. Valid device types are 3410, 3420, 3422, 3430, 3480, 3490,
8809 and 9347.

@filename

The filename (without the prefixing ‘@’) contains a list of files that will be loaded
one after the other. The filenames contained in the file list cannot describe another
ACF file nor an SCSI tape handle (/dev/stx). However the files may be standard
AWS, HET, Fake Tape or OMA files.

arguments

These are the same arguments that apply to the AWS, HET, Fake Tape or OMA
files, as described above.

6.8.7.4 Syntax ACF description file

#
comment line

*
arguments

filename [arguments]

6.8.7.5 Parameter

The hash symbol starts a comment line.

Any options following the asterisk are applied to each file of the list, followed by the
options specified on the device configuration entry, followed by the options speci-
fied on each individual entry of the file list. Care must be taken that all ‘*’ lines are
processed at once.

filename

The filename (and path) of the AWS, HET, Fake Tape or OMA tape file.

arguments

These are the same arguments that apply to the AWS, HET, Fake Tape or OMA
files, as described above. The arguments are processed in the order in which they
appear. Any conflicting argument overrides the previous one.

6.8.7.6 Examples

Example 1:

Define a 3490 Automatic Cartridge Feeder (ACF) on device address 0589. ZLIB compression is turned
on. The file "newstack" describes a list of tape emulation files to be loaded in succession.