We didn't have any installations issues with the drives. We use them under RedHat ES 2.1, 3 and 4 so it is supported for quite a time know. It is attached to a adaptec onboard scsi controller, which alsa wokrs flawless. Since we use ICP Vortex controllers as well, I can tell you that those are supported as well.
But I really don't know anything about other Tape drives, since we only use HP or previously Quantum, which are the same.
Maybe you can have a look at the HCL? But as far as I know HP works well with open source developers and wants their products supported in linux ( They also have a really good printer support )
Anyway, we use arkeia backup and they have a compatibility list on their website, maybe it helps:
http://www.arkeia.com/resources/refs...lity/tape/&t=a