moin, moin, anyone know where to find docs about what l, m and a mean? They're modes 1, 2 and 3 respectively, but that doesn't exactly tell me anything :(. I'm wanting to use the compression on my tape drive, but haven't ever played with it. I've got all 3 devices in /dev, but when I try to use them I get back an error about them not being configured. danke, der.hans -- # der.hans@LuftHans.com home.pages.de/~lufthans/ www.Opnix.com # If you're not learning, you're not living. - der.hans