henry@uunet.uu.net (03/14/89)
In article <8902172212.AA01069@starwolf.gemed.com> you write: >Specifically, he's looking for something to convert Sun raster files to >FAX format (whatever that is) and the be able to feed that to a program >which would send it over his modem to another site. (with a fax machine) He's aware, I hope, that he can't talk to a FAX machine with a normal computer modem? FAX machines use non-standard modems. Well, they *are* standardized, they're just different -- similar in some ways, but not the same. He'll need a FAX modem. Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
jrich@devnet4.hac.com (john richardson) (03/17/89)
Richard B. Ralston asks in v7n173 about software to convert Sun raster files to FAX format. In v7n172, Glenn Roberts submits a blurb from the local Sun office which, if I read it right, announces such a product from Sun Consulting. Unfortunately, I do not have that issue on disk anymore, so the message "send sun-spots v7n172" sent to the archive server is the best I can suggest.
dan@rna.ROCKEFELLER.EDU (Dan Ts'o) (03/30/89)
We have been investigating this and related questions and haven't arrived at a definitive answer yet. However, since half of the equation in our case was to provide standard, stand-alone FAX machine operation (w/ scanner), we went ahead and purchased the Canon 705 (roughly $3000). It seemed to be one of the few with all the nice features, plenty of memory AND a serial interface that claims to support full computer access. Most other FAX machines that talk about serial interfaces end up only supporting a printer-style interface. Big whoop. A company in Chicago, LA Business systems, actually has written programs to access the 705 and its bigger brother (9000?) via an IBM PC. We are looking into porting this program but are just as likely to write some simple support from scratch. A cursory glance at the manual suggests that it is not impossibly difficult and even suggests that you needn't send the 705 G3 bitmaps, although I know that is not a huge problem even if you did. The LA Business Systems program is quite full-featured, allowing just about all the various paths you might want: FAX image to CPU, CPU bitmap to FAX, ASCII to FAX, ASCII to printer, CPU bitmap to printer, FAX to disk, etc, etc. So, we'll see how far we get, but you might want to look at the 705. Of course XENIX users have all sorts of options on the IBM PC/AT bus and maybe one should just setup a "cheap" Xenix box as a network FAX server... Cheers, Dan Ts'o 212-570-7671 Dept. Neurobiology dan@rna.rockefeller.edu Rockefeller Univ. ...cmcl2!rna!dan 1230 York Ave. rna!dan@nyu.edu NY, NY 10021 tso@rockefeller.arpa tso@rockvax.bitnet