** On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:19:51 -0400 (EDT), "Brian A. Seklecki" <lavalamp AT 
spiritual-machines DOT org> said:

Brian> Is anyone using a barcode reader enabled tape changer on FreeBSD?

Yup. We are.

We have a Sony labled AIT changer, a AIT Library 15^2 E. Its a
re-branded Spectra Logic 215:

ch1 at ahc1 bus 0 target 13 lun 0
ch1: <SPECTRA 215 S019> Removable Changer SCSI-2 device
ch1: 3.300MB/s transfers
ch1: 15 slots, 1 drive, 1 picker, 0 portals

Brian> I can't seem to find any good posts in the archive with example
Brian> output from "chio status -v" or "mtx status" on [Free]BSD w/ a
Brian> working barcode reader.

# chio -f /dev/ch1 status -v
picker 0:  voltag: <:0>
slot 0: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL013:0>
slot 1: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL014:0>
slot 2: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL015:0>
slot 3: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL016:0>
slot 4: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL017:0>
slot 5: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL018:0>
slot 6: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL019:0>
slot 7: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL020:0>
slot 8: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL021:0>
slot 9: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL022:0>
slot 10: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <DAL006:0>
slot 11: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <OFF007:0>
slot 12: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <OFF008:0>
slot 13: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <OFF009:0>
slot 14: <ACCESS,FULL> voltag: <CLN002:0>
drive 0: <ACCESS> voltag: <:0>

# mtx -f /dev/pass4 status
  Storage Changer /dev/pass4:1 Drives, 15 Slots ( 0 Import/Export )
Data Transfer Element 0:Empty
      Storage Element 1:Full :VolumeTag=DAL013
      Storage Element 2:Full :VolumeTag=DAL014
      Storage Element 3:Full :VolumeTag=DAL015
      Storage Element 4:Full :VolumeTag=DAL016
      Storage Element 5:Full :VolumeTag=DAL017
      Storage Element 6:Full :VolumeTag=DAL018
      Storage Element 7:Full :VolumeTag=DAL019
      Storage Element 8:Full :VolumeTag=DAL020
      Storage Element 9:Full :VolumeTag=DAL021
      Storage Element 10:Full :VolumeTag=DAL022
      Storage Element 11:Full :VolumeTag=DAL006
      Storage Element 12:Full :VolumeTag=OFF007
      Storage Element 13:Full :VolumeTag=OFF008
      Storage Element 14:Full :VolumeTag=OFF009
      Storage Element 15:Full :VolumeTag=CLN002

Brian> Some web sites offer printing of custom labels.

We ordered ours from ISSI for our AIT tapes. It was only one order,
and a while ago, and I don't remember any good or bad things about the
experience.

Brian> There's also a separte remark FreeBSD chio man page regarding a
Brian> 'voltag' command:

Brian> I'm curious how this relates to the physical bar code placed on
Brian> the tape? Is this some sort of proprietary feature only
Brian> supported by a select few tape drives?  Such as a small
Brian> meta-label written to the first block the tape similiar to the
Brian> Amanda lablel? 

The volume tag is what is printed on the bar code. It has nothing at
all to do with any contents on the tape media itself. It is only the
bar code.

Brian> Supposedly, chio(1) can execute a command:

Brian>      # chio move voltag VOLUME01 drive 0

Yup.  Although I use Amanda's amtape command instead.