Fax Issues...

[Cuddles]

Customary Information:
Knoppix 3.3 v2.4.22-xfs
Hard drive installed on a 41gig, w/ 500 meg Swap
AMD XP 1700 Proc w/ 512 meg RAM
Modem: Hardware, connected via 9 pin cable to /dev/ttyS0, v90, data/fax
-=- This is what is reported from modem ATI commands, on the mfg of the modem, if pressed, I am sure I can locate the box it came in, but I am sure it was/is a data + fax modem

ATI3 = ACF3_V1.700-V90_P21_FSH
ATI6 = V56DPF-PLL L8571A Rev 47.00/34.00
-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I had to get a fax under the gun, yesterday, and found that only KFax was able to be run as a "inbound" fax program -=- Problem was that I would get the "cover page" stating 7 pages of the fax were total, but only got the cover page -=- examining the "debug" window of activity on KFax, it reported something about "unrecognizable characters", and 1043 lines, but only the single cover page would be listed...

When checking the man pages for KFax, and EFax, and EFix, etc... It appears that these "fax" programs are not very "apparent" if they can receive more than one page...

I threw up my backup computer running Win98, and the exact same fax came in completely, all seven pages, without a problem...

/dev/modem and /dev/ttS0 are linked - both give the same above problem... the modem is a data/fax modem, connected on Seriel Port #1, through a nine pin cable (which came with the modem), and is an external data/fax hardware modem -=- capable of v90 fax communications.

Anyone know of, had same, issues as I am having??? Does anyone do any faxing, both sending and receiving of them, could you recommend any packages to use, or any settings changes to get a resolution of this -=- from what I can tell -=- KFax is only expecting a single sheet on receiving, and drops line before the next page comes through.

[garyng]

what fax modem did you use ? The fax protocol can be quite tricky. Give hylafax a try. I wrote fax program before and the only way to ensure good transmission is usually to get a good fax modem.

[Cuddles]

CNet Technologies
Model# CN5614XR
Part# 18-1B-R51F-1B

I can't find the box, but this information comes directly off the bottom of the modem.
Cuddles

[garyng]

never heard of it(well it has been 3 to 4 years since my last involvement about fax). Anyway, if the application have some parameter to tune, try tell it to use class 1 or 2 or 2.0(try all three if available). Some modem works better in one mode, some works better in another. But if you really need fax stuff long term, you should really invest into hylafax, it is the king of open source fax program.

[rusty]

Here's a couple of ideas,

A good resource for modems is http://www.linmodems.org/

more specifically:

http://start.at/modem where your modem is listed.

For snagging incoming faxes I use efax-gtk , available via apt-get.

Once running, click on standby and see if it recognizes your modem as a faxmodem.

For sending faxes, I've done it using cups and kfax, but the exact procedure escapes me at this late hour. I just don't need it that often.

Can't help on Hylafax.

HTH

[Cuddles]

Thanks Rusty,

Used your link, and found my external modem...

CNet Technologies CN5614XR
56K / 14.4K d/f modem
Conexant SmartSCM Chipset

It does not show if it is supported to the left, but, I have been using it, and I just had to "point" KPPP to it, to get it working - Data Side...

I "have" been using efax-gtk -=- it talks to the modem/fax, it sets it into stand-by, and does recognize and answer, it DOES receive one cover page, then just hangs up, either by sender issues, phone line issues, or efax-gtk issues (on my side) -=-

I am going to try hylafax, and I have found someone local to be able to test send, receive, fax testing with - that way, I can test run s and r faxs with the programs, and be "sure" that it isn't on "my side" the problem is being generated...

Thanks to all, I really appreciate the assistance on this, ... until the next issue ... take care,
Cuddles
PS -=- may your installs never break, may your OS never crash, and may you always apt-get what you want... :D

[Cuddles]

You just KNEW this was coming, didn't you :?:

Have apt-get install'ed hylafax, which ran the config, and I now have Halifax running as a server from SysV - shutting down with the system, and coming "up" in run level 5....

How do I use it???? Tried running Halifax, Halifax-server, Halifax-client, etc... it doesn't even show up in a menu.... Does this have a GUI interface, like efax-gtk ???? How do I receive faxs, configure auto-answer, etc... :?:

Let me guess, this is another one of those CLI packages???? :(

Possibly someone who has used Hylafax -=- after apt-get installing it -0- can help me use it now??? ( I did apt-get the hylafax-doc - but to the life of me, can't find it anywhere to view it, man pages don't appear to be existant for it....

HELP
Cuddles

[Cuddles]

Ok, I am reposting for two reasons:

1) I am not sure if Hylafax is running, and...

2) I have no clue on usage of it...

Attempts to "find" man pages, or any form of HELP on hylafax, or Helifax, come up bubkiss, nada...

RUSTY -=- help :!: -=-

I have someone I can "test" send and get faxes from, but, I used to use Windows Fax, and I have lots of "personal" cover sheets - don't seem to see a way to use cover sheets on Knoppix, either KFax, EFax, etc... I can't seem to find how you EVEN RUN hylafax. From the Windows side, the fax server ran within Outlook Express, just like email, and would bring up a GUI to include names, phone numbers, and cover page inclusion, don't see the same in Knoppix...

I would like to "convert" my previous cover pages to "whatever is used in Knoppix", but can't find the answers. I would like to make sure my fax service is working before I have to "depend" on it again. I would like to "know what I am doing", before I "need" to do it here...

Can SOMEONE please assist on getting me up and running with the above issues? I prefer to use cover pages with my faxs, it is the "perfessional" and "expected" way of doing things in the "business" world, I prefer to know my fax is working before I need it, that way I know if it is my issue or the company sending to me, or I am getting from is having the problems.

Thank you for any assistance in this issue, and hope to hear something,
Cuddles

[rusty]

Hmmm ,

Thinking your predicament over a couple of questions.

Did your (now linux) computer work with that modem using Windows? I know in your original post you said you could receive faxes under windows, but that was with an old Win 98. Box., right? I'm thinking a cabling problem. Can you make a partition on your linux box, install W98 for a test perhaps?

When you put efax-gtk in standby, what exactly does it say, ie class of faxmodem etc.

I haven't played with Hylafax yet but I've heard it works Check dmseg or ps to see if either hylafax or mgetty- fax is running.

Finally, you might want to compare the modem initialization strings linux v. windows, if you can find the windows one. Using efax-gtx look under file >setting>params.


dmesg | grep *fax*


ps -A | more

All this should keep you busy while I look as some other fax front ends (a project I've been putting off long enough)

HTH

[Markus]

From the howto at: http://www.hylafax.org/howto/faxing.html


HylaFAX itself, of course! Read sendfax(1). Typical usage would be something like:
'sendfax -f "myname@mydomain.com" -R -r "faxsubject" -c "coverpage comments" -x "Recipient's company" -d "Recipient@1234567" tofax.ps'
where myname@mydomain.com is a valid e-mail address for the sender, 1234567 is the number where to fax, and tofax.ps is the image file to be faxed. Standard HylaFAX-compatible file formats are ASCII, TIFF, PostScript, and PDF (in versions newer than 4.1beta2). Be aware that sendfax is capable of handling multiple -d options and that only the options that precede it apply to that instance of the -d. In most cases the -d option is the last option that should be used.
You might want some kind of frontend for it though: http://www.hylafax.org/links.html#clients

[Cuddles]

Rusty - here is the output log from efax:


***********************
Beginning fax log at 2036 CDT 24 Apr 2004

efax: 36:14 opened /dev/modem
efax: 36:15 using ACF3_V1.700-V90_P21_FSH CONEXANT V90 in class 2
efax: 36:16 waiting for activity

EFax "knows" I have a fax modem, and again, I do get the cover page, which was text and graphics included on that page...

Cuddles

[rusty]

OK, some random thoughts

While efax-gtk is supposed to work with class 2 modems automatically, you might try to force it to by going to file>settings>modem then clicking on the class 2 button, or class 2.0 and see what happens.

Also, it might be worthwhile to see if reinstalling or updating efax, or efax-gtk sets things right. I know this sounds like M$doze type of solution, but worth a try.

There's alot of chatter about Conexant modems and linux, you might want to Google it up a bit.

It appears that your modem is a controller (ACF3) , rather than software based modem, which is good in that they usually work better with linux. Again a little googling with whatever ouput you can get from the thing, adding linux in the search phrase, might yeild some help.

Since most of the linux fax software is based on mgetty-fax or hylafax trying different fax frontends will likely run into the same problems. I'll report if I find anything promising.

If there is any way you can test the modem on another machine running linux, or on your pc using windows, it might provide some clues..

Post back.



[

[rusty]

But wait, there's more!

Checking out http://www.cnetusa.com/product/specs/mdm_cn5614xr_b.htm I find that your modem is supposed to be class 1 so try forcing that instead of class 2

You might also want to contact CNET's customer support and see if a firmware upgrade is available if you purchased the modem some time ago..

One other thing, if you use the modem for data (KPPP) try powering down and restarting before receiving faxes, or resetting the modem to defaults.