Stan:

Thanks for the expanded comments.  I checked the source for my ONLINE
utility and the STATUS parameter is the first item in WORKING-STORAGE
so I *assume* it is four-byte aligned.  At least we've never had any
problems with it (so far!).

I knew about HPDEVCONTROL hanging if the tape is "in use".  I think it
will also hang if the tape is already online (at least I think it did
back on 4.0).  We've gotten around this by manually unloading and
reloading the tape (what's the use of having HPDEVCONTROL if you still
have to do this?), but I suppose ABORT/ABORTIO would work.

Anyway, thanks for the great education.  Sort of HPDEVCONTROL 101!

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231