The Sony (also relabeled as Compaq and Dell) TSL-11000 DDS4 tape
autoloaders could be considered to consist of a mechanism that transfers
tapes to and from an 8-tape magazine and an embedded LVD SCSI SDT-11000
(or SDT-10000) tape drive.
But if one removes that embedded tape drive and connects it to a
computer it still is recognized as a TSL-11000 rather than as an
SDT-11000. IOW, it appears that the firmware is different from that in
an SDT-11000.
Now the question: if I have one of these autoloaders with a bad embedded
tape drive (misidentifies the kind of tape inserted), could I take a
regular SDT-11000 drive and upload TSL-11000 firmware to it? Do the
downloadable firmware upgrades replace the contents of the onboard flash
RAM totally or only some part of it? Will the firmware upgrade utility
even allow me to replace SDT-11000 firmware by TSL-11000 firmware?
> The Sony (also relabeled as Compaq and Dell) TSL-11000 DDS4 tape
> autoloaders could be considered to consist of a mechanism that transfers
> tapes to and from an 8-tape magazine and an embedded LVD SCSI SDT-11000
> (or SDT-10000) tape drive.
>
> But if one removes that embedded tape drive and connects it to a
> computer it still is recognized as a TSL-11000 rather than as an
> SDT-11000. IOW, it appears that the firmware is different from that in
> an SDT-11000.
>
> Now the question: if I have one of these autoloaders with a bad embedded
> tape drive (misidentifies the kind of tape inserted), could I take a
> regular SDT-11000 drive and upload TSL-11000 firmware to it? Do the
> downloadable firmware upgrades replace the contents of the onboard flash
> RAM totally or only some part of it? Will the firmware upgrade utility
> even allow me to replace SDT-11000 firmware by TSL-11000 firmware?
Ooops! It's probably an EEPROM rather than flash RAM, but the questions
still apply.
> The Sony (also relabeled as Compaq and Dell) TSL-11000 DDS4 tape
> autoloaders could be considered to consist of a mechanism that transfers
> tapes to and from an 8-tape magazine and an embedded LVD SCSI SDT-11000
> (or SDT-10000) tape drive.
>
> But if one removes that embedded tape drive and connects it to a
> computer it still is recognized as a TSL-11000 rather than as an
> SDT-11000. IOW, it appears that the firmware is different from that in
> an SDT-11000.
>
> Now the question: if I have one of these autoloaders with a bad embedded
> tape drive (misidentifies the kind of tape inserted), could I take a
> regular SDT-11000 drive and upload TSL-11000 firmware to it? Do the
> downloadable firmware upgrades replace the contents of the onboard flash
> RAM [correction: EEPROM] totally or only some part of it? Will the firmware upgrade utility
> even allow me to replace SDT-11000 firmware by TSL-11000 firmware?
>
> I would appreciate any advice.
To answer my own question publicly for the benefit of other inquiring minds:
I bought an SDT-10000 on eBay cheaply enough that I was willing to risk
rendering it totally inoperative by my experiments, and I am pleased to
be able to report that I had no problem using the Sony Tape Tool for
Linux to flash it with the Dell TSL-11000 firmware ver. L2u3 (the
latest, labeled as an urgent update). When installed in the TSL-11000
autoloader in place of the dead SDT-10000, everything seemed to work fine.
So that takes care of the firmware aspect. HOWEVER, physically the two
versions of the SDT-10000 are a little different: the regular SDT-10000
does not have the little cooling fan on the back and has neither the
mounting holes for it nor the header on the circuit board where it would
connect. I can use the case/frame and fan from the old one and could
either swap circuit boards or take the header from the old circuit board
and solder it in place on the replacement, which does have the solder
pads in the right place. The latter might be preferable, in case the
circuit boards are not electrically interchangeable -- they have
different revision numbers.
DDS4 Autoloader firmware question 
Linear Mode
