To: Aidan Corey and RiscBSD Development Team

  Thanks for that info Aidan. I'm going to get hold of a drive soon because I
  haven't backed up my RiscPC at all since I bought it! Over a year ago!?? So
  I better get a backup done shortly. I had a feeling that RiscBSD should
  work with a SCSI tape device, but it was RiscOS I had the problem with.

  I had an answer from Mark Gillman or Cumana yesterday who said that they
  are about to anounce the release of a new backup application that will work
  with Exabyte and DAT under RiscOS :-) He didn't give me an indication of
  the cost though.

  When I asked about the tape drive software I also asked about the current
  status with technical help to the RiscBSD core team for writing drivers
  for the Cumana card, this was his reply:


I asked:

> >
> >  Can you tell me whether the relevant information will be made
> >  available to the RiscBSD development team.
> >

Mark Gillman replied:

> The relevant documention has, I understand, already been made available to the
> core RiscBSD team. It was however supplied under a strict NDA so if any of the
> original team who signed the agreement are not available then progress will
> be very slow.
>
> Unfortunately I am not currently in a position to make the documentation
> freely available. I do understand the problems (I think!) but we have so
> much on our plate at the moment that adding our support to this project
> is a little impractical. My apologies for any inconvenience this causes.
>



  Is anyone aware whether the original members of the Cumana driver
  development who signed the Non Disclosure Agreement are still working on
  the project? If not is it not a simple task to get the current developer(s)
  to sign another agreement with Cumana. I understand that NDA's are a pain,
  but I work with major computer harware/software suppliers who are much less
  willing to divulge information. I can understand Cumana's situation, they
  aren't saying they can't help, but will under their terms; it's not
  intended to make life difficult for developers of new OS's, but to keep the
  competition from stealing their ideas/code.

  Anyone like to comment?

  Rgds,

  Forbes.