beauchem@terre.DMI.USherb.CA (Denis Beauchemin) (03/12/91)
First of all, I would like to thank all the people who answered my call, and especially Glenn Gribble, Ross Rodney and Marc mazuhelli who suggested interesting products. Since many people asked me for this information, I am submitting this to you: Note: our mailer died on Monday so I may have missed some interesting messages. If I get them later, I will post a post-summary B-) First, the 2 answers I got: >From Ross Rodney Cartlidge rossc@extro.ucc.su.oz.au: >We use a product called OSFAX from Osiris Australia, >its a PS -> faxmodem bit of software. >The PS interpreting is great so you can send any >PostScript you want at it. >I've hooked it into PC/NFS printing and MAC LW printing >as well as normal lpr prining. >I've also intergrated it into mail so eg >mail "Ross Cartlidge"@6606557.fax.su.oz.au >can send a fax - provided you are a registered user >From Glenn Gribble glenn@synaptics.com: >We just got a FAXmodem from Perfect Byte. This is a new product, and is >still evolving (apparently, there will be new software release this week). >The FAXmodem must be connected to exactly one machine which is hostid/codeword >protected. Other machines can send faxes by using email to fax@host. >Perfect Byte uses a license server to allow other machines to run the FAX >viewing software. Cost: $1595 (one license + hardware) Now I submit the results of my own investigation (through the Catalists (in their various flavours) and some news reading): Looking through the SBus Catalyst, I found a company named Xecom that sells an internal modem, an internal FAX, or a combination of the 2 previous options. I tried to contact them by FAX but I couldn't establish a connection (maybe their product isn't completely bug free B-)). I didn't take the time to contact them by phone. They can be reached at (408) 945-6640 (voice). If you bear with me till the end, you'll find a FAX number for them that differs from the one listed in the SBus Catalyst; it is probably the correct one). I also wandered through the HUGE Catalyst (summer 90 edition) and found a reference to Perfect Byte (the same company Glenn suggested). I sent them a FAX and got a swift reply. The quality of their output is fantastic! I don't know if it takes longer to send, though (I don't know much about FAX units)... Here is a summary of their litterature: The FAMmodem is an external FAX unit connected to your Sun through a serial port. They recommand an ALM-2 or a third-party serial port over the built-in ports because they say you will get better performance that way. It is covered by a 90 day replacement warranty (USA; don't know about Canada and other countries); the software updates are free for the first year. It has no scanning mechanism; they recommend sending the page from a standard FAX machine to the FAXmodem to be able to use page elements in your outgoing FAXes. Their software (PerfectFAX) includes utilities to convert PostScript, ASCII text, and Sun rasterfiles to Group 3 facsimiles, control the FAXmodem, manage fax queues, generate compressed data files, and administer databases of facsimile recipients. There are also interfaces which allow users to send FAXes directly from FrameMaker, Island Write and Draw. Incoming faxes are sent to a FAX administrator who routes them to their recipients, or they are automatically printed on your PostScript printer. The disk file formats include Sun raster, MIF (Maker Interchange Format), PostScript, TIFF, and compressed Group 3 or 4. They can be viewed with standard SunView or OpenWindows tools. It is possible for an entire network of workstations to send and receive paperless facsimiles. All users can then transmit FAXes via electronic mail and integrated applications interfaces, while Sun users may also run SunView and OpenWindows. Using the email to FAX option, users send ordinary UNIX mail messages, including text and graphics. In each mail message, the sender includes keywords to specify the fax number or distribution list, custom FAX cover sheet, logo, signature, page length and orientation, transmission time, raster image files, and other parameters. ASCII text, one or more PostScript files, and one or more Sun raster images may be included. With UNIX mail connectivity, it is also possible to send facsimiles from Macintosh or PC networks to the FAXmodem 9600. Note: if you are using PC-NFS, you will also need PC-NFS LifeLine or some other product to send and receive email from your PCs. It is also possible to enable security features: restricting modem access by groups of users, individual users and by facsimile destinations and dial strings. FAX messages to specific destinations may also be restricted by means of secondary passwords. It runs on a Sun-4 running SunOS 4.0.3 or higher with at least 10 MB of free disk space, and 8 MB of RAM (16 MB highly recommended). They also give a short list of applications generating PostScript (and thus compatible with their propduct): FrameMaker, Island Write, Draw & Paint, Interleaf, AutoCAD, Alis, BBN/Slate, Artisan, PerfectScan, WordPerfect, TranScript, Lotus 1-2-3, Wingz and Avalon. It looks like the price has already gone up! They sell it to me at 1995$US (I'm in Canada so I feel compelled to add $US) in quantity of one, but it drops to 1595$US in quantity of five. They also require it to be pre-paid! Someone else (Marc Mazuhelli mazu@DMI.USherb.CA) pointed me in the direction of SunFlash. I didn't have time to get it so I give you the reference. The TOC of last December included the following item: 428 25.10 Integrating E-mail and FAX Archives of the 1990 SunFlash messages can be found on the following machines: solar.nova.edu (Nova University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA) /pub/sunflash/1989 /pub/sunflash/1990 paris.cs.miami.edu (University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA) /pub/sunflash/1989 /pub/sunflash/1990 Anonymous ftp is supported. The archive files are compressed tar files (one per month). The Vol. 26, #23 issue also included the following information: IX. Modems/Facsimile/Compression --------------------- Vendor Name Product Description Price/Availability ----------- ------------------ ------------------ Antares Microsystems Fax Modem May 91 Alex Chan (Contact vendor) 415-965-4326 Fax:(415)964-2027 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aurora Technologies SBus Fax/Modem card June 91 Susan Longo 9600 baud fax, 2400 baud modem (Contact vendor) 617-577-1288 Fax:617-621-0265 email:auratek!daudelin@uunet.UU.NET ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Helios Dynacom Fax/Modem $1495-$2695 April 91 (408)432-0292 H/W and S/W solution for Fax:(408)943-1309 voice, data and fax Gordon Meyer e-mail helios-mktg@cup.portal.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- JTS Computer Systems Data Compression/Decompression $1950 (US) Tony Walters using CCITT group 3 & Group 4. March 91 (416)665-8910 Scaling also available. Fax:(416)665-8258 email:tony@jtsv16.jts.com (Canada) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TELECOMET SPARCFax Fax Server System Available now Mr.Witt/Mr. Kusunoki SBus scanner card (bi-directional Contact +81-3-3563-6640 centronics interface) used vendor for price Fax+81-3-3563-6666 with FAX-server Software: outside Japan (Japan) Image Scanning and port scheduling function. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xecom NewPort SB Fax/Data (9.6 Kbaud $1499 now 408-945-6640 Fax, 2.4 Kbaud data modem) Fax:(408)942-1346 David Chase NewPort SB 2400MNP5 2400 baud $599 now data modem NewPort SB 9600 Fax Group 3 $1199 now send/recieve Fax modem NewPort SB Fax/Data/Centronics $1899 June 91 Card ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is about all I could collect on the subject during this short period of time. If someone finds other products of interest or currently uses the ones listed above, it would be interesting to hear from them. Denis -- === Denis Beauchemin, === beauchem@DMI.USherb.CA === === Dir. R&D ============================== === Sisca Informatique === I speak for myself... === === (819) 564-4003. ==============================