On Mon, 6 Nov 1995 15:44:33 -0500 Jeffrey Mathers said:
>After several months of struggling with the OS/2 server and my Exabyte
>8-mm 8205XL tape drive I have determined the cause of the problem.
>
>Even though the drive appears on the "supported" device list ADSM/2 does
>not work with it. I cannot imagine why it took so long for someone at
>ADSM to clue me in to this. Aparently they do not actually test to make
>sure the drives are really complatible.
This doesn't sit with my experience that some things that worked
with ADSM clients, but didn't make a supported list solely because
IBM had not been able to test them.

>
>Anyone considering using this drive, or possibly any 8-mm tape drive
>with the OS/2 server, must call up tech-support and get the unreleased
>0.9 level of fixes. I can't believe I had to waste 3 months to be
>informed of this major problem with the 8-mm drives. I have consistently
>been told it "must be a set-up problem" and to buy some RedBooks.
Why do you suspect any 8mm drive?  The difficulty in differentiating
setup problems from true bugs is a nightmare for many products, not
just ADSM.  I would agree with the Redbook suggestion.

>
>My suggestion to ADSM would be to stop developing new platform support
>until you have the current software bug free. The product should be able
>to work with the hardware in the supported device list. The term "work"
>I would define as: complete functionality out of the box.
Bug-free is an absolute that probably will never be achived.  I'm
personally more interested in new platforms, like the V2 VM server.
Complete functionality is also an absolute, and I'm not sure what it
means.

>
>IBM seems to have a genuine problem with this concept across the entire
>range of their networking and connectivity products.
>
>I think all of the IBM products I use (Lan Server, OS/2, and ADSM/2) are
>superior to the competition, but if someone asked me to reccommend one
>of the I would not. I also would not choose them again for any of my own
>projects.
So you would reccomend and chose a product that is admittedly
inferior?  I don't doubt your difficulties, and the frustration
it caused, but the hyperbole makes it difficult to get through
the relevant part of the comments.

>
>Jeffrey C. Mathers
>Computer Data Systems Manager
>The Protein/DNA Technology Center
>The Rockefeller University