The 2.08 version of ftape included in the 5.2 base sysatem is hopelessly obsolete. It won't support any modern tape drives. Hans has a stable 4.x release now.
Thank you for the suggestion. It has been noted. This matter is best taken up on one of the kernel development mailing lists. Information on why it is not presently included in the kernel that we shipped can be viewed at http://www.linuxhq.com/HOWTO/Ftape-HOWTO-4.html#ss4.2.