This document covers Faximum ELS and PLUS for Intel 386/486 machines as well as for the IBM RS/6000 running AIX 3.2.
Please refer to the Faximum Client/Server Questions & Answers document for information on Faximum for Sun, HP, and other workstations supporting X and Motif.
This document provides a general background to the Faximum Plus product and addresses the most commonly asked questions about the product. The questions have been divided into sections to enable you to find the answers to your questions more rapidly and easily:
Faximum PLUS and Faximum ELS are two software packages that run on UNIX computers.
They allow users to send faxes directly from their terminal without having to print the document first, without having to type up a cover sheet, without having to line up for the fax machine, and without having to nurse the document through the machine. Faximum cuts costs to make you more efficient and your company more profitable.
Faximum will also receive faxes that can be viewed on the console and/or printed on plain paper using almost any laser or dot-matrix printer.
If you thought fax was wonderful, just wait until you try Faximum!Users will start sending faxes of short notes instead of picking up the phone. And since fax calls are almost always shorter than voice calls, phone costs are further lowered.
Release 2.1 now supports a simple line print interface which can intercept the output of accounting and other applications and fax invoices or other documents (optionally overlaying invoice, letterhead, or other business form images) without any customisation or programming.
Finally, Faximum allows you to trace costs by providing detailed call accounting by user and project that can be tied to your CDR (call detail recording) or phone system accounting mechanism.
Almost any office that is concerned about their fax phone bill, the presentation quality of their faxes, or about the time and money wasted printing documents and then coaxing them through the office fax machine.
Office workers will benefit from being able to send faxes without leaving their desks. Purchase Orders, Invoices, Confirmations, and Requests for Proposals can all be sent via fax directly from the operator's terminal. With our new line printer interface, your accounting program can feed invoices and other business documents directly to Faximum as if it were just another printer!
Take a moment to calculate the number of invoices your office sends out in a week. Multiply that by the number of stamps and envelopes that are used, and add in the cost of lost productivity of your employees as they shuffle paper, stuff envelopes, and "move the mail". The earlier your client gets the invoice, the sooner 30 days is up!
In addition, calculate the number of faxes that your office sends out in a week. What portion of those faxes are urgent, and what portion could wait until lower phone rates are available? Even today's most advanced fax machine can only delay, at most, 50 pages of fax material -- all of which has to be fed into the machine manually. With Faximum's Intelligent Delayed Transmission (IDT) the user specifies if the fax is urgent, can wait, or should be sent at the lowest cost. There is no limit to the number of faxes that can be queued for later transmission. Selecting least cost ensures that when the greatest discount period is in effect for that particular destination, the fax will be sent at that time. All this without operator intervention.
Significant cost savings can also be realized by taking advantage of our exclusive Least-Cost Routing (LCR) feature. Least-cost routing is the ability to select the telephone line that is the least expensive for a given destination. For example, a multi-line installation might have a normal long-distance (DDD) line, a foreign exchange line into another city, and several WATS (wide-area telephone service) lines into different regions of the country. With least-cost routing, Faximum will automatically determine the line that is cheapest for each call.
Professional sales people who need to send sales literature by fax will benefit not only from the convenience and immediacy but also from the desktop publishing quality of Faximum-generated faxes. Organizations invest a lot of time and money in creating documents to have the greatest impact on their clients. Imagine the sales edge that your organization will have over the competition, when laser printer quality documents, complete with pictures, graphs, diagrams, and schematics, are delivered to your client's desk, at the same time as you are speaking to your client! Intangibles and concepts instantly become hard-copy facts.
Using Faximum further benefits those organizations that send faxes to many people at once. Broadcast a new price list or other announcement to just ten or even ten thousand fax machines. The number of lines you may use is limited only by your hardware.
Companies that need to send sales literature by fax will benefit from the desktop publishing quality of Faximum-generated faxes. By generating the fax image in the memory of the computer and sending it directly to the other fax machine, Faximum generates faxes that are clearer and sharper than anything that can be sent using a standard fax machine. The result out of the other fax machine is just like desktop publishing.
People who have to broadcast a new price list or other announcement whether to ten or a thousand fax machines will benefit from the broadcast capabilities of Faximum.
Managers will benefit from the lower telephone costs that result from the automatic scheduling and least-cost routing.
Software developers will benefit from the easy integration of Faximum with their software, permitting invoices, statements, or other computer-generated forms to be faxed automatically.
There is just no comparison. Faximum is as far ahead of the traditional office fax machine as desktop publishing is ahead of the manual typewriter.
In addition to winning every comparative review of UNIX fax software to date, our company has been selected by two different major UNIX workstation vendors (details available upon request). No other UNIX fax software company has won one (not to mention two) such competitions.
"SCO Canada uses Faximum to automate its distribution of sales and marketing
literature to our customers. Our staff can now handle more calls with
better efficiency and throughput."
-Jim Sullivan, Manager, Systems Engineering, SCO Canada
"The software itself is a joy to use, and has definitely improved productivity in the
office. We no longer see our staff trekking down the hall to the fax machine,
standing over it feeding documents into the hopper, or whiling away the hours
waiting
for a redial. Being able to fax a WordPerfect document from within WP by using
a simple macro is a real boon as well."
Peter Rogers, Wilson King (a law firm)
"We have been using...Faximum...and have sent faxes all over the
world....the system has performed several times in excess of 24 hours
(continuous faxing) without any problems. The results were very impressive
to us as well as [to] the people who received them."
- Robbie Gilbert, Stingray Powerboats (a manufacturer)
"Between November and July 1993 with one CPU and ten lines we sent
over 1.2 million faxes! We have now sent over 6 million faxes! Our
subscription fax business would not be possible without Faximum.
In fact, we're planning further expansion throughout North America."
- Rick Rolston, CONFAX (a construction bid information service)
"Thank you for your marvellous product. It has saved this company much time. The Faximum product is exceptional. It is created with both the programmer and end user in mind."
"As a programmer, it is refreshing to find a product that is both. We were able to put it into a working environment in less than 24 hours."
"Our users immediately started using it. Our primary application had Faximum
integrated into most areas and creating automated faxes in less than two days
from installation."
Cheryl Gross, Red River Parts & Equipment Co.
"I wanted to let you know I think Faximum is a super product which is easy and
fun to use. In fact, it's the best office efficiency product I've run across in years."
Jay Sanders, Zorfas & Sanders, CPAs
Most users will be faxing away after only a few minutes' instruction from the system administrator.
Users of WordPerfect and MicroSoft Word are able to prepare documents and have them sent by Faximum merely by running a WordPerfect/Word macro.
Both Faximum ELS and Faximum PLUS come with built-in PCL-4 (LaserJet II) emulation (with the equivalent of the HP WordPerfect font cartridge for a total of 27 bitmap fonts).
In addition, options are available that support PostScript language emulation (with 35 scalable fonts) and that support PCL-5 (LaserJet III) emulation (with 20 scalable and 9 bitmap fonts).
If you are using WordPerfect, then all you have to do is invoke the fax macro supplied with Faximum PLUS and your document will be formatted and transferred from WordPerfect or Word to Faximum automatically. The Faximum user interface will then appear for you to address the fax. Once the fax is addressed, it will be sent in the background and you will be returned to WordPerfect/Word.
With other word processing packages the first step is to format and print your document to a file in one of the supported formats: ASCII, PCL-4, PCL-5, or PostScript.
The next step is to run Faximum and select the saved file as the file to be faxed. That is all there is to it.
With the new line printer interface with Release 2.1 it is now possible also to use the mail-merge feature of your word processing program to generate fax broadcasts. Faximum will take the output of your mail-merge, extract the fax numbers from the print file, separate the print file into the separate pieces intended for each recipient, optionally overlay your letterhead or other business form, and manage the broadcast.
With the new line printer interface in Release 2.1 Faximum can now take the printed output from your accounting or other application, extract the fax numbers from the print file, separate the print file into the separate pieces intended for each recipient, optionally overlay your invoice or other business form, and manage the broadcast.
This permits you to have your invoices or other business information faxed automatically without any customisation or programming required.
Faximum allows you to store the images of your various letterheads and specify the letterhead image that is to be used when the fax is sent. This can be done automatically without requiring any change to your existing documents.
Faximum includes support for all common display adapters (Hercules monochrome graphics, CGA, EGA, and VGA). On these displays, it is possible to display a fax image and to zoom in and out to examine it closely. Faximum also supports the viewing of fax images on Wyse WY-160 terminals.
In the next release of Faximum we will include support for X Windows so that faxes can be viewed on X terminals.
Faximum will print faxes on any printer that is compatible with Epson FX, HP Laser Jet, or PostScript printers. Refer to your printer manual for your printer's compatibility, or call your dealer.
Yes, unlike many other computer-based fax systems, Faximum permits multiple cover- sheet designs to co-exist and be selected by the user from a list. Faximum's coversheet design language supports multiple fonts, arbitrary placement of routing information, white on black text, lines, circles, and boxes. In addition, Faximum permits a short message (usually up to 20 lines) to be placed on the cover sheet. This means that short faxes can be sent as a single page. Other systems require two pages (one for the cover sheet and the second for the message itself).
Faximum PLUS can support up to 16 or more external fax modems, depending on the power of your computer system. Faximum PLUS can also support up to eight Complete FAX/9600 boards in a single machine or as many external fax modems as can be connected. A fast 486 machine can handle ten lines without any difficulty. Faster machines can handle even more. There is no built-in limit within Faximum as to the maximum number of lines that can be supported. (Faximum ELS supports only one fax line.)
Some customers are using Faximum PLUS to send 5,000-10,000 faxes every night, with more planned. Note, however, that Faximum PLUS is priced according to the number of fax lines supported.
Customers planning systems with more than ten lines are urged to contact their reseller to obtain special pre-sales information from Faximum in order to configure the system properly.
With Faximum ELS, received faxes are stored in compressed image files (one file for each received fax) which are placed in a fixed directory. A sample shell script is provided that allows the system administrator to arrange for the automatic distribution and printing of incoming faxes.
With Faximum PLUS, the ID string (TSI) from the sending fax machine is used to look up a table of possible actions. The action list can request that the received fax file be copied to any directory (on the local machine or over the network); printed on one or more printers automatically; forwarded by fax to another fax machine or computer; or passed to any arbitrary program or shell script for further processing. In addition, e-mail can be sent to a list of users alerting them to the incoming fax.
Faximum stores all received faxes in TIFF-F format. This format is compatible with most graphics and word processing packages and fax images may be included with WordPerfect, Word, and other WP documents.
Faximum will accept and transmit images stored in most variations of the TIFF file format for black and white bi-level images. Images which have been created at resolutions other than 100 x 200 or 200 x 200, however, may not appear to scale. Most compression methods are supported except LZW and Group IV.
Faximum PLUS includes an Application Program Interface (API) that allows programs written in the shell or other languages to generate and send faxes automatically.
The Faximum API is also available to software developers as a separately licensed product. Developers wishing to integrate fax capabilities into their software ought to contact Faximum Software for more details.
The detailed list of the differences between the two products appears on the back of our
color brochure. Both products provide the same basic functions of sending and
receiving faxes from UNIX. A summary of the differences follows:
Intelligent dialling is the ability of the fax software to add (or remove) dialling prefixes as necessary. When intelligent dialling is enabled, all phone numbers are entered fully qualified (that means with the country code and area code) even if local to the calling system.
Intelligent dialling would recognize that if a San Francisco number `555 1212' were to be dialled, from, San Francisco, all that needs to be dialled is `555 1212' (or possibly `9 555 1212', `9' being dialled to get an ouside line). Similarly, if the same number were entered into a Faximum system installed in San Jose, then Faximum would dial `1 555 1212'. And if the number were entered into a Faximum system installed in New York, Faximum would dial `1 415 555 1212'.
Similar automatic transformations occur with overseas numbers.The automatic addition (or removal) of dialling prefixes and area codes is referred to as intelligent dialling.
The obvious benefit is that dialling directories can be shared between different locations without requiring editing to add or remove prefixes and area codes. A less obvious benefit is that the use of fully qualified numbers permits Faximum to recognize the exact location of each destination so that it can perform least-cost routing and intelligent delayed transmission (see below).
Faximum PLUS is the only fax software package we are aware of that supports intelligent dialling.
Least-cost routing is the ability to select the telephone line that is the least expensive for a given destination. For example, a multi-line installation might have a normal long-distance (DDD) line, a foreign exchange line into another city, and several WATS (wide-area telephone service) lines into different regions of the country. With least-cost routing, Faximum can automatically determine the line that is cheapest for each call.
In addition, Faximum supports priority promotion. This means that if the least-cost route remains busy for a specified period, a high-priority fax will be sent by a slightly more expensive route rather than delayed waiting for the least-cost route to become idle.
Faximum PLUS is the only fax software package we know of that supports least-cost routing and priority promotion.
Intelligent delayed transmission is the ability to determine when to send a fax based on the discount period specified and the destination. Many fax machines and most fax software permit the user to delay a fax by specifying the time when the fax ought to be sent. This is usually done to take advantage of the lower phone rates available in the evening and overnight.
With Faximum, the user does not need to know when the phone rates drop. The user merely indicates the cost he is willing to pay (i.e. ``Highest, No Delay'', ``Low Cost'', or ``Lowest Cost'') and Faximum automatically determines the appropriate time to send the fax.
For example, from Vancouver the cheapest phone rate to Edmonton starts at 11 p.m.; to New York starts at midnight; to London, England starts at 6 p.m. Faximum remembers all of this so that users can benefit from telephone discount periods without having to remember the details.
Intelligent project accounting is the ability to interface with telephone systems that require accounting information to be dialled before or after the long distance number.
When Faximum is configured to provide the additional accounting information, it will automatically dial the account associated with the user and project assigned to the fax. The account number can be dialled at any point during the dialling sequence and the system can dial different account numbers depending on the project the fax is to be charged to, the long distance service used, and the area called.
Faximum currently supports The Complete FAX/9600 and FAX/9624 as well as the fax modem part of The Complete Communicator board, all from The Complete PC. These products are all ISA-bus boards. For new installations, however, Faximum recommends the use of external Class 2 modems.
With Release 2.1, Faximum Software extends support to a wide range of modems that, while claiming to adhere to the proposed Class 2 standard, fail to implement one or more requirements of that standard properly. Please see the following table which lists a number of Class 2 modems and indicates the support provided by Faximum. If your modem does not appear in this table, please see "How can I check if my modem is Class 2?".
It is important for users to understand that with Class 2 modems, the firmware within the modem is responsible for handling the low-level communications protocol between the fax modem and the fax machine. If there is a defect with the modem's firmware then the user's modem may experience compatibility problems communicating with certain fax machines. This is obviously beyond the control of the Faximum software. While Faximum Software Inc. will work closely with the user and the modem manufacturer to resolve any such compatibility problems, we trust users understand that solutions to certain fax compatibility problems may depend entirely on the modem manufacturer and not on Faximum Software Inc.
For this reason, users with mission-critical applications are urged to consider Class 2 modems made by either Multi-Tech, Telebit, or ZyXEL if they wish to be reasonably assured of reliable operation and prompt support from the modem manufacturer.
The following table lists some Class 2 modems and their current level of support by Faximum. Please note that the information in this table is rapidly changing and users ought to contact Faximum Software for the most up-to-date information.
The following fax modems are recommended for use with Faximum:
Note also that Faximum does support the Everex Everfax 24/96D (Part Number EXO 960-51), and the Everex Everfax 24/96E (Part Number EXO 967-02) for existing installations but does not recommend their use for new sites since the manufacturer has discontinued support for these modems.
The following fax modems are known to work with Faximum but may exhibit compatibility problems with certain fax machines:
Please note:U.S. Robotics fax modems support either the Class 1 or Class 2.0 interface. Faximum PLUS currently requires support for the Class 2 standard and therefore cannot work with USR modems.
The following fax modems have been been used by Faximum users with mixed results. Some have experienced problems while others are satisfied with their operation with Faximum. This variation may be caused by different ROM revisions or other differences between different versions of the same modem.
At the time this document was prepared, Hayes Microcomputer Products had not yet announced a Class 2 or 2.0 modem.
If you have a modem that does not appear on the above list you can determine if it is Class 2 and whether it is Rockwell-based by connecting a terminal to the modem (or using cu) and issuing the following commands at 19,200 baud:
If the response to the FMFR command is ROCKWELL and the response to the FMDL command is any of RC9624AC, RC32ACL, or V.32AC then the modem will probably work with Faximum.
If you have any doubts or questions about your fax modem, please contact Faximum Technical Support, providing the response to these five commands. The following section describes some of the problems experienced with the level 2 modems.
With Faximum Release 2.1 it is now possible for a single modem and phone line to handle fax, data, and uucp traffic. This feature is currently only supported with SCO UNIX and SCO OpenDesktop.
In order to take advantage of this facility, however, you will need a modem that can handle both data and fax traffic automatically. The only modems that Faximum has tested to date that can do this are those made by Multi-Tech.
The first thing to determine is whether you need an external modem or whether you have a free slot in your machine. If you have no free slot, then you will have to purchase an external modem (contact Faximum Software for up-to-date information on the availability and support for external modems).
If you have a slot free and do not have an intelligent serial communications board, then you will have to use an internal (ISA-bus) board such as The Complete FAX/9600.
If you have both slots free and communications ports available, then you may use either an external (Class 2) fax modem or an internal fax board.
One advantage of the Complete FAX/9600 board is that it has built-in support for The Complete Page Scanner.
One advantage of the external Class 2 modem is that it will not be made obsolete should you replace your 386 machine with a RISC machine that does not support an ISA bus. Another advantage of the Class 2 standard is that it will be a non-proprietary (i.e. open) standard. This means that many suppliers will be able to provide hardware and software supporting the standard.
You need an intelligent communications board that can handle 19,200 baud both outgoing and incoming. Your dealer can advise you of multi-port serial boards that can handle this load.
The standard COM1 and COM2 communications ports on most PCs cannot handle this data rate.
Currently the only scanner supported is the The Complete Page Scanner from The Complete PC. This is an inexpensive sheet-fed scanner that connects to the computer using either a dedicated interface board or the scanner port on The Complete FAX/9600 or The Complete Communicator boards. Support for the HP ScanJet is planned for a future release.
Customers are also running Faximum on System V Release 4 (SVR4) systems without difficulty.
Faximum PLUS is also available for the IBM RS/6000 running AIX 3.2.
For information on Faximum for Sun and HP workstations, please refer to Faximum Client/Server Questions & Answers.
Support for other versions of UNIX and other platforms is being developed. Contact your dealer or Faximum Software for the latest information.
All prices are quoted in U.S. dollars F.O.B. West Vancouver and are subject to change without notice. Faximum is a trademark of Faximum Software Inc. Other product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
The use of the PostScript trademark is for identification purposes only and is not intended to imply that the software which interprets the PostScript language is developed by or licensed from Adobe Systems Inc.
The use of the PCL trademark is for identification purposes only and is not intended to imply that the software which interprets the HP Printer Control Language is developed by or licensed from the Hewlett-Packard Company.