IBM Ultrium 1 (LTO) in Linux/i386

I've got my eye on the following eBay item:

Item number: 270124854394
LTO 1 ULTRIUM, IBM P/N: 39M5665, MODEL: PD035-10401
TAPE DRIVE, 5 1/4, HHT, SCSI LVD, 100/200GB, 39M5635

I'm hoping to use it in Linux (i386) as a backup solution for a 4-port
3ware controller (configured for RAID5). This is for personal use but
I work in an iSeries (AS/400) environment and I'm antipating that the
company will let me have a generous supply of Ultrium 1 tapes.

Will this work? Is there any reason I should consider an HP or
another manufacturer instead of IBM?

On 2007-05-30, Madcap wrote:

Item number: 270124854394
LTO 1 ULTRIUM, IBM P/N: 39M5665, MODEL: PD035-10401
TAPE DRIVE, 5 1/4, HHT, SCSI LVD, 100/200GB, 39M5635

I'm hoping to use it in Linux (i386) as a backup solution for a 4-port
3ware controller (configured for RAID5). This is for personal use but
I work in an iSeries (AS/400) environment and I'm antipating that the
company will let me have a generous supply of Ultrium 1 tapes.

Will this work? Is there any reason I should consider an HP or
another manufacturer instead of IBM?

I'd expect this to work fine in linux, as IBM does sell and support
their tape libraries with LTO-drives connected to linux (x86/x86-64)
hosts. I've used IBM libraries with LTO-drives on linux, I know we
needed a special driver (kernel module) for this, but that was probably
to handle the library, not the drive. Not sure though...


-jf