Table of Content  Branch Up  

Front Panel

The drive's Front Panel must contain the following controls:

* Button "On-Line"
* Switch "Write Protect"
* Rotatory Hex key for the Operator to set the File Identification number (FID)
* 2-digits Hex 7-Segment display to show the effective FID
* Button Rewind
* Button Fast Forward
* Button Stop
* Status Lamps:
  -- On-Line
  -- Read
  -- Write
  -- Stop
  -- Rewind (RWD)
  -- Fast Forward (FF)
  -- Begin of Tape (BOT)
  -- End of Tape (EOT)
  -- Alarm
* Button to Clear Alarm

The Drive can be either "On-Line" or "Off-Line". When "On-Line", the Software can take control of it; when "Off-Line", it can not. The button On-Line switches the drive between these two modes.

The "Write Protect" switch, when active (up position) prevents the tape from being written. This is intended as a protection from misbehaved software.

The File Identification Number (FID) can be manually set by the Operator. The operator uses the rotatory Hex key for that purpose. When the drive goes On-Line that setting becomes effective and it is displayed in the FID 7-Segment Display.

The FID can also be set automatically by Software; it can exists as metadata in a LABEL heading the file which is the case of the VTFS file system. In that case the LC-81 software would obtain the FID from the tape and send it to the drive for displaying in the FID 7-segnment display.

Buttons Rewind, Fast Forward and Stop allow the operator to take control of the transport mechanism in case it was needed, but those operations are initiated by software in most cases.

The Status Lamps signal whether the drive is On-Line or not and what operation is currently taking place: Read, Write, Stop, Rwd, FF. Also, if the tape is at the Beginning or the End and whether an error condition (Alarm) exists.

An error condition occurs, for instance, if software tries to write when Write Protect is On, or if an invalid command is received. Error conditions do nothing else beyond lighting the "Alarm" lamp. Once on, the only way to turn that lamp off again is by pressing the "Alarm Clear" button.