rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (10/15/88)
One of the NY radio stations is holding an All FAX-request weekend.
Some Burger Kings take orders for lunch via FAX. It is very common
now to be asked your FAX number along with your telephone number.
FAX will be the big XMAS mover this year, no doubt, judging by
the department stores.
This latest thing (the K-FAX weekend) reminded me that I've been holding
off on getting a standalone FAX because I was hoping Telebit would
come out with a FAX modem upgrade. I'd sent them my preference
several months ago, and have been waiting for some indication that
this feature might appear.
In my view of the world, the outgoing FAX call would be selected
from some S register. The incoming FAX call is a little trickier.
The incoming call might be a uucp data call or a FAX data call.
In the case of uucp, the usual login/password sequence causes
uucico to be invoked to do the file transfers. In the FAX case,
you don't have the remote FAX expecting to go through the
login/password stuff. But the modem knows that the call is a
FAX call, so it can automatically log in as user "fax" (login id
would be stored in some S register). The shell for user "fax"
would, of course, be "faxcico". Faxcico would take the incoming
image and dump it out to the local laser printer.
This all seems so simple to me, yet I've not heard one word
one whether Telebit plans such an upgrade. It is nearly XMAS
buying season now, and I *will* be "going FAX", one way or
another. I'd hate to have to settle for yet another phone
line and a separate FAX modem. The "faxcico" software doesn't
have to exist, but the modem capability must exist, in order to
keep me happy. It would be fun to write a "faxcico".
Telebit responses via this newsgroup or mail will be appreciated,
whether or not the answer is yes.
-Rick
--
Rick Richardson | JetRoff "di"-troff to LaserJet Postprocessor|uunet!pcrat!dry2
PC Research,Inc.| Mail: uunet!pcrat!jetroff; For anon uucp do:|for Dhrystone 2
uunet!pcrat!rick| uucp jetroff!~jetuucp/file_list ~nuucp/. |submission forms.
jetroff Wk2200-0300,Sa,Su ACU {2400,PEP19200} 12013898963 "" \r ogin: jetuucprosso@sco.COM (Ross Oliver) (10/19/88)
In article <597@pcrat.UUCP> rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes: >One of the NY radio stations is holding an All FAX-request weekend. >Some Burger Kings take orders for lunch via FAX. It is very common >now to be asked your FAX number along with your telephone number. >FAX will be the big XMAS mover this year, no doubt, judging by >the department stores. > >This latest thing (the K-FAX weekend) reminded me that I've been holding >off on getting a standalone FAX because I was hoping Telebit would >come out with a FAX modem upgrade. I'd sent them my preference >several months ago, and have been waiting for some indication that >this feature might appear. I spoke with a representative of the company (can't remember the name :-( that wrote the software for the Quadram JT-FAX boards. He said they were currently working with an EIA standards committee to develop an extension of the Hayes "AT" command set that would add FAX commands. He estimated that the standards would be completed and a product ready by March of next year. My original reason for digging into this was to find out how hard it would be to write a XENIX device driver to run one of the various FAX boards currently in the DOS market. I decided it would be too much work to do on my own. However, if you're really adventurous, think about this: almost all of these FAX boards (as well as many standalone FAX machines) are based on a two-chip FAX modem from Rockwell. You can get an evaluation board from Rockwell, then stick a UART on it, or put it on your favorite computer bus, and roll your own FAX device. For more info, call your local Rockwell sales office and ask for their "Modem Products Data Book." BTW, I am still looking for a device to write a driver for. If any of you hardware makers have any "interesting" devices that you would like a XENIX device driver written for, drop me a note. Ross Oliver Technical Support The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. uunet!sco!rosso
rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (10/20/88)
In article <986@viscous> rosso@sco.COM (Ross Oliver) writes: >much work to do on my own. However, if you're really adventurous, >think about this: almost all of these FAX boards (as well as many >standalone FAX machines) are based on a two-chip FAX modem from >Rockwell. You can get an evaluation board from Rockwell, then >stick a UART on it, or put it on your favorite computer bus, and >roll your own FAX device. For more info, call your local Rockwell Obviously, this could be done. But what I'd like is to not have to dedicate another phone line to a separate FAX modem, be it PC based, external, or a complete standalone unit. I'd like to have just the one phone line handle all my data needs: 2400, PEP, and FAX, both incoming and outgoing. Since Telebit has a modem that is primarily implemented in software (as I understand it), they are the obvious people to do such a thing. Of course, I suppose I could get a DSP, do the PEP protocol and the FAX protocol all myself. But that's a lot more effort. -- Rick Richardson | JetRoff "di"-troff to LaserJet Postprocessor|uunet!pcrat!dry2 PC Research,Inc.| Mail: uunet!pcrat!jetroff; For anon uucp do:|for Dhrystone 2 uunet!pcrat!rick| uucp jetroff!~jetuucp/file_list ~nuucp/. |submission forms. jetroff Wk2200-0300,Sa,Su ACU {2400,PEP19200} 12013898963 "" \r ogin: jetuucp
sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) (10/21/88)
In article <600@pcrat.UUCP> rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes: >In article <986@viscous> rosso@sco.COM (Ross Oliver) writes: >>much work to do on my own. However, if you're really adventurous, >>think about this: almost all of these FAX boards (as well as many >>standalone FAX machines) are based on a two-chip FAX modem from >>Rockwell. You can get an evaluation board from Rockwell, then >>stick a UART on it, or put it on your favorite computer bus, and >>roll your own FAX device. For more info, call your local Rockwell You *could* do this, but on the other hand given the cost of something like Quadrams JT FAX card you might as well just buy something already built. Rockwell charges a fair bit for their stuff. There is currently four different configurations: a three chip board and a two chip board both of which operate at 9600; a 4800 BPS chip; and a 9600 BPS chip. The single chip 9600 will not be generally available until next year. Expect to pay in the $175 range for any of the above (or more). There is at least one other manufacturer which has a fax modem chip set. Their name escapes me right now. >Obviously, this could be done. But what I'd like is to not have to >dedicate another phone line to a separate FAX modem, be it PC >based, external, or a complete standalone unit. I'd like to have >just the one phone line handle all my data needs: 2400, PEP, and >FAX, both incoming and outgoing. Since Telebit has a modem that >is primarily implemented in software (as I understand it), they >are the obvious people to do such a thing. Of course, I suppose >I could get a DSP, do the PEP protocol and the FAX protocol all >myself. But that's a lot more effort. I think from a business standpoint Telebit should look at joining the current discussions the other fax modem manufacturers are having with respect to a command set. They could presumably field a product shortly after the standard is introduced which will hopefully be spring '89. With any luck they might even put the ASCII -> G3 conversion right into the modem! (Maybe even G3 -> ASCII :-) ). -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532
root@sbcs.sunysb.edu (root) (10/21/88)
In article <1924@van-bc.UUCP>, sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) writes: > In article <600@pcrat.UUCP> rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) writes: > > There is at least one other manufacturer which has a fax modem chip set. > Their name escapes me right now. > Yamaha has one that is reputedly $100 in Q100. > >FAX, both incoming and outgoing. Since Telebit has a modem that > >is primarily implemented in software (as I understand it), they Actually, if you open up your telebit box you will see quite a bit of analog filtering stuff. Perhaps someone from telebit can comment on whether this hardware filtering glop precludes doing fax (V.29) modulation on the 32010. > >are the obvious people to do such a thing. Of course, I suppose > >I could get a DSP, do the PEP protocol and the FAX protocol all > >myself. But that's a lot more effort. Does anyone have a canned G3 compressor written in C? If so given the Rockwell chipset you're pretty far along. > With any luck they might even put the ASCII -> G3 conversion right into the > modem! (Maybe even G3 -> ASCII :-) ). No, you probably would not want this as it would increase the data rate requirement of the serial port by at least a factor of 2. Since G3 max rate is 9600 baud (1200 bytes per second) you're pushing small machine serial ports at 19.2K or 38.4K if you decompressed in the modem. Keep the image compressed until it makes it onto the PC. > > -- > Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532 Rick Spanbauer SUNY/Stony Brook
sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) (10/25/88)
In article <1739@sbcs.sunysb.edu>, root@sbcs.sunysb.edu (root) writes: > In article <1924@van-bc.UUCP>, sl@van-bc.UUCP (pri=-10 Stuart Lynne) writes: } > With any luck they might even put the ASCII -> G3 conversion right into the } > modem! (Maybe even G3 -> ASCII :-) ). } No, you probably would not want this as it would increase the } data rate requirement of the serial port by at least a factor } of 2. Since G3 max rate is 9600 baud (1200 bytes per second) } you're pushing small machine serial ports at 19.2K or 38.4K if } you decompressed in the modem. Keep the image compressed until } it makes it onto the PC. What I meant was to do OCR conversion of the data from G3 to ASCII in the modem. Doesn't anyone remember what :-)'s mean anymore. -- Stuart.Lynne@wimsey.bc.ca {ubc-cs,uunet}!van-bc!sl Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532