erb2x@euclid.acc.Virginia.EDU (Erik R. Bleyl) (02/22/91)
It has been my experience as a programmer trying to use FAX applications from within custom appliations that most PC fax boards aren't worth SPIT. Many claim to offer programmer capabilities and even development possibilities but fall short by either restricting access on the command line or by requiring massive data conversion operations. I have been using the Complete Communicator from the Complete PC and have found myself burdened by a 100K TSR and my only access to the fax from within applications requires exiting the application to send any faxes. There are few C communication libraries that support FAX communications as well. All I wanted to do was use my fax board to send graphic fax transmissions from within custom applications. I even bought the sales pitch that this FAX will do everything for you. Well one lesson has been learned don't believe it till you see it. As far as FAX PC integration goes if you have seen it work make me a believer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Erik Bleyl University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science
gardner@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike Gardner) (02/22/91)
erb2x@euclid.acc.Virginia.EDU (Erik R. Bleyl) writes: >It has been my experience as a programmer trying to use FAX applications >from within custom appliations that most PC fax boards aren't worth SPIT. >Many claim to offer programmer capabilities and even development possibilities >but fall short by either restricting access on the command line or by >requiring massive data conversion operations. >I have been using the Complete Communicator from the Complete PC and have found >myself burdened by a 100K TSR and my only access to the fax from within >applications requires exiting the application to send any faxes. There are >few C communication libraries that support FAX communications as well. I cobbled together a email to fax gateway using intel's Connection Coprocessor. It has command line utilities which you can access from a C program fairly easily. The Command line utilities(including source) can be acquired from their BBS. Using their source for your utilities, you could directly access features, but I found it a lot easier to dump to a file and send it out. Besides ascii, They only accept DCX/PCX graphics format, but it is a well documented, fairly simple format. HIJAAK, another commercial product will convert to/from most any other format. It's not a cheap card, but you get what you pay for. It has a TSR, but I don't remember just how large. I run Sun's PC/NFS networking, the FAX software, a couple of other TSR's and still have room for a C program which processes the email and uses "SYSTEM()" calls to invoke other command line utilities(like SMTP,POP, HIJAAK-CONVERT). mgg ****************************************************************** .+|+, CCC SS OO +-*-+ C S O O NETWORKING: ubiquitous, demanded, `+|+' + C S O O demanding, misunderstood. +-##-+ CCC SS OO +-# #-+ University of Illinois, Computing Services Office +-##-+ 1304 W Springfield, Urbana, Il 61801 + .+|+, Michael G. Gardner, Assistant Director, 1122 DCL +-*-+ (217)244-0914 gardner@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu `+|+' FAX (217)244-7089 ******************************************************************
wallyk@bicycle.WV.TEK.COM (Wally Kramer) (02/27/91)
In article <1991Feb22.021532.1256@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> gardner@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike Gardner) writes: ... > I [used] intel's Connection Coprocessor. ... > It's not a cheap card, but you get what you pay for. It has a TSR, but I > don't remember just how large. ... My previous contract was with the Intel division engineering PC Fax boards. The CCP is no longer manufactured for retail use and will receive little enhancement in the future. It's replacement is the SatisFAXtion-- a much more capable product. List price is $499. The street price has been as low as $370. It includes a port for a scanner, a 2400 baud MNP class 5 modem with reasonable line contention between the fax & modem. It has an onboard 80186 (16MHz) processor to offload communication processing. SatisFAXtion memory requirements are: The device driver is ~2K CASMGR is 67K (6K if EMS is used) this component is unloadable FAXPOP is 8K (swaps ~180K) unloadable So, to be able to send or receive faxes, about 78K of memory is needed (only 16K if EMS can be used). FAXPOP requires free memory of about 180K to work, but uses only 8K. This is because it swaps itself to disk, EMS or XMS ----- Wally Kramer contracted from Step Technology, Portland, Oregon 503 244 1239 wallyk@orca.WV.TEK.COM +1 503 685 2658
tj@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Terry Jones) (02/28/91)
In article <10211@orca.wv.tek.com> wallyk@bicycle.WV.TEK.COM (Wally Kramer) writes: >SatisFAXtion memory requirements are: > The device driver is ~2K > CASMGR is 67K (6K if EMS is used) this component is unloadable > FAXPOP is 8K (swaps ~180K) unloadable >So, to be able to send or receive faxes, about 78K of memory is needed >(only 16K if EMS can be used). FAXPOP requires free memory of about 180K >to work, but uses only 8K. This is because it swaps itself to disk, EMS >or XMS Also not mentioned is that (according to my last inquiry) they include a certificate ofr a free copy of Faxit for WIndows which will let you FAX from any WIndows Application.
lairdkb@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Kyler Laird) (02/28/91)
In article <1991Feb27.172807.16349@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> tj@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Terry Jones) writes: >Also not mentioned is that (according to my last inquiry) they include >a certificate ofr a free copy of Faxit for WIndows which will let you >FAX from any WIndows Application. and PCTOOLS... Now if they would just give me some assistance with OS/2 I could get to work! --kyler