status log over time

[dericed]

Hi @hideakitai, I'm interested in a function to provide a summary of the status and tc data over time. Currently the print_status command at makes a human-readable table. I'd like to set up a process to call a condensed status command repeatedly during an end-to-end tape traverse (mostly from the end to the start during rewind).

I'm thinking of this use-case:

• fast forward the tape to the end.
• begin a loop that repeatedly queries the machine for status and tc and logs the time of day.
• exit the loop when the tape is at the beginning.

From that data, I'd like to condense it by dropping logged rows with identical status and tc data so only the changes remain, maybe condense it further by dropping rows where the timecode data is consecutive. At the end of these steps I'm hoping for a report that could summarize changes in status over time and document the timecode ranges of the tape.

I prototyped this a little in https://gist.github.com/dericed/e07c88916516f60eada64daf4bfafbd1 by just outputting the binary column of your status output along with the timestamp and tc output. The report shows the tape starting at 00:01:37;06, then rewound and then fast-forward to the end of the tape and rewound with a total timecode range from roughly 23:59:56;10 - 00:03:25;05. This is quick data to get from a quick end-to-end shuttle and helps set the user up to transfer the tape by letting them know there's only about 3:30 of content. I suppose with some math and the eot flags, I could approximate the capacity of the tape as well.

But I think the first step is getting a concise, single expression of the print_status report + tc data, that could then be post-processed and summarized. I wanted to get your thoughts before proceeding just so such effort could be broadly useful if there's other uses of it.