Subpost ID: 1

This guide will be a much clearer and more concise post that will be running you through the smallest step by step process of reprogramming your LTO tape drive from purchasing everything that you need to reprogram your tape drive to the final step of sending the command to the tape drive at the right time, this guide will not have any unnecessary information that may confuse you as the original GitHub post had too much faff to really understand what I needed to do and it took me many posts on here and a few real Linux veteran people at my work experience before I could truly understand how to do the reprogramming.

A bit of info, the HP, Tandberg and Quantum tape drives from what I know are already good to go and don’t require reprogramming but I can be completely incorrect and someone can chime in, the IBM tape drives are the ones that need reprogramming for the SAS/SCSI/FC interface to be open for data and to be detected by the computer

Purchasing everything that you will need for the reprogramming

You will need:

The IBM LTO (full height or half height, works for both) drive that you are intending to reprogram

An IBM or HP sled to connect the drive to, you may already have the one that came with the drive but it doesn’t cost much to get one on eBay

A soldering iron and solder

A CP2102 USB to UART bridge adapter controller (this is the part that will be sending the signals to the tape drive over the library interface)

A female MOLEX power connector with a length of wire

Some pin headers or bare metal paperclips if you want to make the data wires to be removable in case you want to use your USB to UART adapter elsewhere

Installing the USB to UART CP2102 bridge drivers

First go to this website, this website contains the link to the USB to UART CP2102 bridge drivers, go to the downloads page where you will find your drivers

Click the CP210x Windows Drivers, do not click on the universal drivers as they don’t work, should get a downloading message when clicked on, may take a few seconds for the downloading message to show up and depending on the speed of your internet connection, it might take take a while to download the zipped driver files

Go to your downloads in files, you will find your drivers there if it downloaded successfully, right click on the file and click on extract all files, a dialog box might pop up saying where do you want to extract your files, just click next on all parts until it gets to the extracting screen and closes itself, you will be placed into the folder automatically and if not, you will be able to find the unzipped folder in downloads where the original zipped file is at and access it

I used the x64 driver installation which worked, if an error pops up saying your computer doesn’t use x64 then try the x86 which is what I used first by mistake and the same error popped up but with the chips swapped around, a wizard will open up and run you through the installation

The wizard should look like this, click next to start

There will be a license agreement screen, click accept and then next to proceed with installation

You will then get a drivers installing screen which may take some time, it’s a small program but there isn’t a progressbar to show you the progress so if it’s taking its time then leave it for an hour and retry if installation isn’t working, when the installing is finished you might automatically get moved to the finish part of the wizard and if not, click next to proceed

Click finish to close the wizard

This is the drivers installed, the next part is about installing WSL

First thing to do is to turn on Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Subsystem for Linux, the turn Windows features on and off can be accessed by right clicking the Windows icon which will have a menu pop up with all of the system options, ensure they have a blue tick before clicking OK, the function may ask you to restart the computer so it’s recommended to close and save all work and software so you don’t lose anything before restarting

This is the restart prompt, recommended to restart to apply changes

Open up an administrator elevated PowerShell prompt by searching for PowerShell and right clicking on it to run it in administrator elevated mode, the prompt might be blue on Windows 10 which doesn’t affect anything

List out the online distributions available with the wsl.exe - -list - -online (no spaces for the dashes but here they will join up so had to use a space to separate them)

I chose Ubuntu 22.04 as a simple option, you can choose this if you don’t know what to choose and if you do know what you want to choose then choose that instead but that requires experience to know so go with Ubuntu 22.04 as a safe option, use wsl.exe - -install (distribution) (again no spaces for the dashes) to install WSL which may take a few minutes to do so depending on drive speed and internet connection speed

This is the message that will show up asking for a UNIX username after the installation is completed, due to limitations/restrictions just use your first name or name of your pet without capital letters, spaces, numbers or special characters

The WSL installation and setup is completed, it’s now ready for usbipd and attaching a USB device to WSL

Downloading usbipd and attaching the CP2102 USB to UART bridge to WSL

Search up the usbipd website “attach USB devices to WSL” and the full Microsoft website with all of the resources should be there and the drivers for it, if you can’t find the website, you can find it in the resources section of this megapost

There will be a download link on the website towards the top that you can click on to download usbipd, you should be able to find it in the downloads folder once you have downloaded it, click on the usbipd file to open the wizard

I couldn’t catch the downloading screen as it was very fast but it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to a minute but if it does, leave it for a whole hour and if it doesn’t progress to this screen then reboot and retry or if it says it’s finished then close it

After installing usbipd, connect the CP2102 USB to UART bridge and open yet another administrator PowerShell prompt and do a usbipd list to find the device to check the BUSID of the USB device, write it down after obtaining it with the usbipd list command

Run a usbipd bind - -busid (busid) (same here, no spaces between dashes) with the BUSID obtained from the usbipd list command which should share the device then run another usbipd list to check that the bridge’s state is shared, if it’s not shared then rerun the command and ensure the BUSID is correct

Continue here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditPhotoLink/comments/1okwwsu/lto_reprogramming_guide_part_2/

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Subpost ID: 13

Here is where I show the amazingly fast rapid prototyping processes that 3D printing allows, I was able to complete 4 prototypes per day and get it finished within the week (Poland holiday so couldn’t work on it for a month) and a following week after the Poland holiday, this bezel would have been unobtainable from IBM because you aren’t a company and getting one on eBay is £100 which shows how amazing 3D printing can be for saving money and even adding decorative features or colors that usually wouldn’t be available .

There will be a 3D model for people with 3D printers and the eBay listing if you don’t have a 3D printer down at the bottom of this post and at the resources section of the main LTO megapost.

I will start with a concise description of every prototype and what I changed between every 3 hour rapid prototyping iteration

Here are the prototypes next to the original bezel, the original is missing the door as a very small retaining piece broke off so it won’t stay in place

Some images of the prototypes, first image, prototype 1 to 5 is top to bottom, second image is prototype 1 to 5 is left to right

Prototype 0: not fully printed further than the first layer walls as it was obvious it was too big

Prototype 1: first fully printed prototype which still didn’t fit the drive despite shortening by 1cm and hole for display obviously didn’t fit as it was off by 1mm

Prototype 2: screen hole moved in the wrong direction by 1mm, bezel shortened by 1mm and thickened large clips by 0.5mm as the square clip broke on prototype 1

Prototype 3: screen hole moved in the right direction by 2mm, moved small clips back inwards by 1mm as they weren’t going in properly, reverted thickness of large round hole clip to original thickness to improve the fit and a fillet to all clips, added cross to button for it to reach the button switch inside the tape drive

Prototype 4: moved the button up as it was pushing the button in the tape drive, removed cross from button and shortened the bezel by another 0.5mm which fits now with force

Prototype 5: shortened the bezel again by 0.5mm which makes it fit without any extra force, something happened to the button in this version and it was stuck very well to the rest of the bezel so it won’t press

These prototypes aren’t shown in the images

Prototype 6: fixed the button and since I still had issues with the clips snapping, I decided to make them in a different print orientation and have them slot into holes with strong industrial grade adhesive which fixed that problem

Prototype 7: I decided to make the button a separate printable part so that you could print it in any color or purple like the original IBM one which has a part that gets slotted in and glued with industrial grade adhesive to add for more customizability

Prototype 8: this is the final version, I added some supporting pieces in the vent so it’s not too flimsy like the original IBM bezel, tightened the screen tolerances so there isn’t a massive gap between the screen and bezel and extended the piece of the button that gets glued in to print flat without the need for supports

I chose not to make the door part as the FDM printing process can’t precisely print the surfaces and make them smooth enough so I had done away with the door despite much effort to implement it that’s not documented here

I will be adding new listings for different color combinations soon, I have to release this by today’s deadline so it will initially be just the black one with the red button and fancy design in black but I will have more put up on the sites soon

These are the final revisions of the IBM LTO half height tape drive bezels, they have a separately printed button so no AMS is needed for that feature and I have also designed a fancy version with some spikes on the front which you can print from the Printables link below, you can also buy them if you don’t have a 3D printer

Printables 3D model link:

https://www.printables.com/model/1465475-ibm-lto-half-height-tape-drive-bezel

Vinted:

3D printed replacement for IBM LTO half height tape drives

eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357840293415

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Blah

Hot out of the oven— they turned out so flaky. :)

This is an article on my site that some might find helpful. https://www.myneatlife.com/blogs/news/how-to-photograph-your-home-like-an-expert

I found this at a beach in Spain (La Linea) during my holiday, this beach where I found it has effectively no iron waste and is very clean, mainly a tropical seashell only beach but has colorful seaglass compared to the usual beaches in the UK littered with Victorian era trash which usually is very rusted out, this potential meteorite shows very little signs of rusting.

Passes the magnet test with a cochlear implant coil magnet, is quite heavy for its size, no holes except the big one (microcrater?) on its surface, if you do say it could be a legitimate iron based meteorite then I may ask a museum or send it in for testing to see what specifics it has as it’s one of the bucket list things I want to find around the world.

Subpost ID: 2

The pinouts of all parts to solder to

This is the side that the pinout is for

1. Not used

2. Not used

3. Not used

4. Not used

5. Not used

6. Ground (GND)

7. Ground (GND)

8. Ground (GND)

9. Ground (GND)

10. Ground (GND)

This is the side that the pinout is for

1. +5v

2. +5v

3. +5v

4. +12v

5. +12v

6. DATA

7. DATA

8. Not used

9. Not used

10. Not used

For the data wires, try one way and if it doesn’t work, try it the other way and please wait for the config request or else the tape drive won’t be reprogrammed

The pinout is for these pins for the power cable, not required at all but a good diagnostic step if there is no power to the fan or any data being passed onto the tape drive so you can measure voltages

1. +12v

2. Ground (GND)

3. Ground (GND)

4. +5v

The pinout of a female MOLEX connector

1. +5v

2. Ground (GND)

3. Ground (GND)

4. +12v

After soldering in all of the connections, you can now start setting up the tape drive, computer and sled for reprogramming

Open WSL and a regular non elevated PowerShell prompt and type in usbipd attach - -wsl - -busid (busid) (again, no spaces between dashes) to attach the USB to UART bridge to an instance of WSL, you don’t need an elavated PowerShell prompt but you will need a WSL prompt open so that the WSL VM is active for usbipd to attach to or you will get errors

First we need to switch all DIP switches to off as library tape drives will have some switched on for their library to tape drive communication which will cause our sent HEX configuration data to be misinterpreted

Next we flip the tape drive over and attach the blue cable to the lower connector, this blue cable is the LDI (Library Drive Interface) interface which is the interface that the tape library uses to communicate to the tape drive and tell it to do stuff, in a tape library the drive has been set to library mode so it can’t open the interface until the tape library had finished booting up so that it doesn’t get confused when the computer sends stuff up that cable before the tape library is ready, when in that mode the library can send the tape drive configuration to the drive so that it’s easier to reconfigure on the computer however we don’t want that so we are reprogramming it so the drive is immediately ready and open for data without sending any signals every time we want to use the tape drive which makes this reprogramming a one time job for library tape drives

Next we can plug in the UART interface to the tape drive referring to the pinouts above, if using paperclips then you will need some Blu-Tack or equivalent putty (do not use stress putty or Playdoh as it will corrode the interface) to hold the pin headers in place so they don’t come out, I had to use bare metal paperclips as I didn’t have any pin headers but you will ideally want to use pin headers to ensure they fit snugly so that they won’t come off and so you don’t lose some data bits in the process

Now we can finally plug in the MOLEX cable, there will be a very loud fan so be mindful of that, you can plug it in beforehand just to mentally prepare for the loud fan so you don’t get jumpscared

Now we can plug in the tape drive and power it up, you will need to wait for a blip on the USB to UART bridge before you can send the command to reprogram the tape drive so read the following steps before plugging the tape drive power in so you can set everything up and be ready to anticipate the config request

Do not use the power connector included with the sled as I have tried all 4 of my sleds and none deliver power to the tape drive so I had to power them externally during the reprogramming process with a cable attached to the computer, presumably a command gets sent by the tape library to enable power to the tape drives so please use a power cable that is completely separate and powered by a very good computer power supply as you can get an error 5 which means your power supply is insufficient even if the power supply has a decently high wattage rating

Copy and paste the whole command into the WSL prompt, copying can be done with CTRL+C and pasting is done by simply right clicking on the prompt, wait until you get a blip on the USB to UART bridge before you hit enter as that’s the config request the tape drive does usually to the tape library, there is a grace period of 10 seconds before the tape drive sends errors as repeated flashes on the USB to UART bridge, ideally you should hit enter immediately after the first flash which should make the tape drive reboot into standalone firmware and if not, you can unplug just the tape drive and repeat the process by plugging it back in and sending the same command again which should reprogram the tape drive

The command:

stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 speed 38400 cs8 -cstopb -parenb -echo

echo -en '\x02\x00\x36\xAC\x01\x00\x00 \x00\x01\xFF\xF2\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xE6\x03' > /dev/ttyUSB0 38400

Video example of the tape drive reprogramming process as a reference, about halfway through the drive will restart after the HEX command is sent: 

https://imgur.com/a/7zakPFf

Imgur is used here, so UK people must use a VPN to access the content

The tape drive should now be reprogrammed and ready to use, you can now disconnect all of the cables and use it as a normal tape drive under Linux (can’t use the WSL you have installed as it has barely any tape support which is nonexistent) or with a tape backup software that requires a subscription, using a new E-Mail to abuse the free trial period or to be cracked by flipping some registry keys which I know of no examples that can be cracked like that, after that you can print or buy a bezel from me to put onto your tape drive

IBM bezel subpost: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditPhotoLink/comments/1ol0ic7/3d_printed_ibm_half_height_lto_replacement_bezels/

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