[comp.dcom.fax] FAX/MODEM... Its here!

atc@waikato.ac.nz (05/18/91)

In article <NBDBDP8@xds13.ferranti.com>, peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
> In article <2451@wet.UUCP> roger@wet.UUCP (Roger Niclas) writes:
>> peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>> > What I don't understand about all these cheap FAXes is why nobody has put
>> > a $5 serial port in one and sold it as a combination FAX/MODEM/SCANNER/
>> > PRINTER? It's got all the parts, and the software on the computer side
>> > couldn't be that big a deal. It'd be a killer product: you could sell it
> 
>> Maybe because it'd be a third-rate printer, a crummy scanner, and an 
>> incompatible modem?
> 

I just noticed an add in the English Computer Shopper Mag selling just such a
device, Think it was made by Amstrad but I could be wrong.
If anyone wants details I can get them.

-- 
Andrew Chambers
Computer Services
University of Waikato
New Zealand

ATC@WAIKATO.AC.NZ

dww@stl.stc.co.uk (David Wright) (05/28/91)

In the referenced article atc@waikato.ac.nz writes:
#>> peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
#>> > What I don't understand about all these cheap FAXes is why nobody has put
#>> > a $5 serial port in one and sold it as a combination FAX/MODEM/SCANNER/
#>> > PRINTER? It's got all the parts, and the software on the computer side
#>> > couldn't be that big a deal. It'd be a killer product: you could sell it
#
#I just noticed an add in the English Computer Shopper Mag selling just such a
#device, Think it was made by Amstrad but I could be wrong.

I looked at the Amstrad FAX specs recently in a shop, because I too was
interested in connecting it to a computer.    Basically they did what could
be done cheaply, not what we'd really like (typical Amstrad I guess, after
all they do sell mainly on price).

The FAX attaches to the parallel printer port, so you can use it as a
printer.  But you can't read in an incoming FAX to the computer.   I think
you can send a FAX from the computer however, if you can get your text out
to the parallel port in a way to suit the FAX (which accepts ASCII).
You can also keep your short-code address list on the computer
and down-load it into the FAX.

As for the scanner - there *is* a scanner port (a 5-pin socket) but it's
just raw scanner data - thousands of bits at about 1 MBit/second.  The
manual specifies the bit stream format, but also informs you that Amstrad
do not supply anything to process the data into a form that your computer
can use.  It says that they leave that up to third parties, but that they
do not know of any at present.   A good electronics hobbyist project of
course, but not something I'd want to bother with myself.

Regards,          "None shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity"
        David Wright             STL, London Road, Harlow, Essex  CM17 9NA, UK
dww@stl.stc.co.uk  <or> ...uunet!mcsun!ukc!stl!dww  <or>   FAX: +44 279 432734
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