Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!extro!rossc From: rossc@extro.ucc.su.oz.au (Ross Cartlidge) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.fax Subject: Re: Network FAX servers Message-ID: Date: 26 Feb 91 23:19:03 GMT References: <91051.013355U12570@uicvm.uic.edu> Sender: news@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia Lines: 60 Nntp-Posting-Host: extro.ucc.su.oz.au U12570@uicvm.uic.edu (Ed Garay Computer Center) writes: >I am very interested in network fax servers and I have a few questions. >1) Are there any fax network/server configurations that facilitate > charging back for the facsimile transmissions? Is anybody charging > real or fake money for the fax documents sent out? We use a product called OSFAX from Osiris Australia. It is software for a UNIX system and a fax modem which allows the sending of PostScript documents. Both the PostScript and the fax sending software is very good. It logs the phone number and the time taken. We charge at three rates - local, Australia-wide or Overseas. We just use an average for the three rates. >2) Someday, I would like to provide networked fax facilities that would > allow PC users, Mac users, Unix users and any other authorized (tcp/ip) > network user to send out fax documents from a selected number of popular > applications -- as if they were submitting print jobs. I can picture > documents created by MS-Windows applications (eg. PageMaker, Word), > WordPerfect, MacWrite, MacDraw, Quark Xpress, FrameMaker, troff, > TeX and miscellaneous email software being faxed out. If I choose > PostScript as the document transport vehicle, I would only need > a little program (a la print selection) running on the different > boxes connected to an Ethernet wide area network that would basically > get the phone numbers and PS files to send to the fax server, which > in turn would convert PostScript to G3 FAX (time consuming) before > faxing out. Does this make any sense? Is this too much pie in the ski? > Are there better ways of approaching the problem? I have set this up on our system like this:- We have a sysV printer called fax which accepts options to set the phone number, To, From, Comments, etc like this "lp -dfax -o'PH=6606557 TO="Ross Cartlidge" ...' This makes the sending of faxes from UNIX the same as printing - works for Troff, Tex, Frame etc We have a BSD printer which takes the first line of the job as the options to the sysV printer We have a CAP lwsrv and a PC/NFS printer called fax which read a file in the user's home directory to get options for the lp line. So all a PC or mac user has to do is have his home directory on the UNIX machine mounted and use his favourite editor to set the options. He then uses the normal print mechanism (setting the device as a LaserWriter) to send the fax. Thus users on UNIX, Mac or PC can all fax using the one fax modem and without any special software at the client side. rossc -- ________________________________________________________________________ Ross Rodney Cartlidge | rossc@extro.ucc.su.oz.au University Computing Service, H08 | Phone: +61 2 6923497 University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia | FAX: +61 2 6606557