DP Tool Club 8/CDASC08.ISO/VRAC/BGFAXB05.ZIP/BGFAX.TXT

Text File | 1993-08-25 | 16KB | 329 lines

BGFAX 1.0 BETA 05  WED 25 AUG 93
--------------------------------

1. Many people requested they wanted BGFAX to be able to send faxes.  This
   is now possible!  Only added about 8K to the EXE file as well!  To send
   a fax use the following parameters:

      BGFAX /SEND filename phonenumber

   The file must already been in QuickLink II .QFX or ZyXEL's ZFAX .FAX
   file format.  If the fax is not sucessfully sent, BGFAX exits with an
   errorlevel of 1.  If it is, no errorlevel is issued.

2. New fields in BGFAX.CNF for frontend/init/send users:

si=ATZ
si=AT+FLID="713 893 9124"
ds=ATM2+FCLASS=2;DT
mb=3
mf=3
;
; si ... initialization strings for send fax mode, up to 5 entries
; ds ... dial string (bgfax will append telephone number)
; mb ... maximum of busy signals before abort
; mf ... maximum number of connect failures

3. Found a bug (yet again) in the EOL logic.  Fixed.

BGFAX 1.0 BETA 04  THU 19 AUG 93
--------------------------------

0. Added registration logic.  The BGFAX Registration DOOR is available on
   my BBS, as DOOR #6.  If you have mailed in your registration, this door
   will allow you to download your registration key file.  If you haven't
   sent in a registration, you can also instantly register with your credit
   card (Discover, Visa, MC, Amex).  The registration keyfile is called
   BGFAX.KEY and should be placed in the directory that you tell BGFAX to
   place incoming faxes.  There are no differences with the registered and
   unregistered versions of BGFAX, except one ... Unregistered versions of
   BGFAX will cease operation on December 31, 1993.  Other than that, both
   versions are fully functional.

1. Added changes for more compatibility with EXAR based fax modems.  ROCKWELL
   and SIERRA based fax modems report errors in the following format
   "+FHNG: 123" while EXAR reported "1 +FHNG: 23".  Why the numbers were split
   up, I don't know, but this may help some of you who have been having
   problems with BGFAX leaving a BGFAX.TMP file hanging around.

2. For those of you running BGFAX in frontend mode, if you were using an
   edit other than QEDIT to modify the BGFAX.CNF file, if the editor left
   imbedded spaces after the line, this would cause BGFAX to choke with a
   division by zero error.  This bug has been fixed.

3. If the BGFAX.DAT file was less than 13 bytes, a disk read error would
   occur.  Now, the size is checked, and if its an invalid length, the file
   will be automatically reset instead of erroring out.

4. Minor changes: Because FD 2.20 creates a DOFAX.BAT and an EXEFAX.BAT and
   the functions are slightly different than that of BGFAX, BGFAX will change
   the filenames so that it won't be as confusing.  When an successful
   incoming fax is received, BGFAX will now make a DOPRINT.BAT which calls a
   EXEPRINT.BAT file.

5. Beta 1 offered the ability for rear end users to specify an optional
   fifth parameter that specified up to a three character "pid" for multinode
   systems.  Example: BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z 99 would, instead of using a
   BGFAX.LOG would use a BGFAX99.LOG.  I forgot about this change, and now
   it's back for Beta 4.

6. A couple of people complained about the sounds BGFAX Beta 3 made when
   receiving the fax.  Well, I took those out, but only because I noticied it
   lowered the CPS rating on the page receives, so I felt it was worth it.
   Now, however, it will play a short series of notes (about a second's worth)
   when a fax image comes in just to alert you if you are in the other room.

BGFAX 1.0 BETA 03  WED 04 AUG 93
--------------------------------

I've finally got Fido echos on my own BBS.  I will be monitoring the
FDECHO, SUPRAFAX, HS_MODEMS for sure.  I plan to get the PPI and HST echos
shortly.  (I've heard from someone that some of the new USR Sport modems
may offer Class 2.  Can anyone confirm this?  Also, some people have called
asking for help with PPI modems.  I thought all PPI modems were supposed to
have Class 2 fax, but this is not the case.  If you have a PPI modem with a
ROM revision of 1.x, it offers only Class 1.  2.x ROMs offer both Class 1
and 2.  For $30, you can order a user-installable upgrade for your 1.x PPI
modem to allow Class 2 fax.  However, this will only allow fax speeds up to
9600.  If you want to get full fax speed of 14400, you will have to send
your modem to PPI and get a datapump change.  I don't know the cost of
that.  However, 9600 fax is what almost all real fax machines support.)

Also, a few people in the FDECHO found a better way of dealing with FD
instead of having to set the modem E0 (echo off) in NVRAM.  In your setup
strings, anytime you have a +F, change it to a +f and FD will not think a
carrier is established.

1. Bug swatted.  If you were calling BGFAX like so:

       BGFAX /fax c:\bgfax 2! z

   (Notice the 2!, meaning port 2, and keep locked at whatever rate the
   port defaults to rather than adjusting to 19200), BGFAX would go nuts
   and select the wrong port address and IRQ.  This should have only
   affected ZyXEL users running in rear end, ...

   HOWEVER, the person that discovered the bug was using a Zoom Internal
   VFP v.32bis FaxModem.  It seems strange to me that that Zoom required
   the ! option, but it did.

2. Myself and many others have noticed Frontdoor is very slow in
   initializing the modem.  (Sometimes it takes 10+ seconds to feed two simple
   strings to the modem.)  Also, you don't really have enough room to specify
   all the proper fax strings in the little box FD gives you.  (I'm using FD
   2.02, so I don't know whether 2.20 corrects these problems.)  Anyway, I've
   added another operation mode to BGFAX.  Example:

       BGFAX /INIT

   ...will cause BGFAX to initialize the modem.  If a problem occurs during
   initialization, it will exit with an errorlevel of 1, otherwise, it will
   exit with no errorlevel.  (BGFAX will exit right after initialization.)
   If BGFAX is working fine for you with your current setup, this will not
   be needed for you.  (You WILL need a BGFAX.CNF and environment variable
   if you plan to use the /INIT option).

3. Beta 2 did not include the scan line count that Beta 1 had because I had
   lost my notes.  (Anyway, the routines used for scan line count
   determination in Beta 1 didn't work too hot anyway.)  Now, I've developed a
   new routine that seems to count the EOLs correctly.  I had to do this
   because some people had problems with Smith Micro Software's EXPORT program
   giving a "division by zero" message because BGFAX was stuffing QFX files
   with bogus scan line numbers (VIEWFAX.EXE didn't seem to care.)  Anyway,
   this should be fixed.  Let me know.

4. Added a debug mode to BGFAX.  This is mainly for my own personal use,
   but if you wish to activate it for whatever reason, just make an
   environment variable called FAX and set it equal to DEBUG, e.g.,
   "SET FAX=DEBUG" in a batch file.  When debug mode is active, anything
   that comes surronded by brackets in the bottom blue box on the BGFAX
   reception screen will get appened to file called DEBUG.LOG.  You should
   never have to use this unless you personally call me and I ask you to,
   if it sounds like it might help me in diagnosing the problem.

5. The BGFAX.DOC file now includes a list of the fax hangup status codes.

BGFAX 1.0 BETA 02  THU 22 JUL 93
--------------------------------

Finally, the long awaited BGFAX reconstruction ... If you hadn't heard, I
lost all source code to BGFAX back to Alpha 5, so if you find any bugs, let
me know!  My other computer crashed, so I had to go buy a new one.  I was
running a 286/8, now am using an 386DX40.  Cost me $1200, so hopefully I
can recover some of that with BGFAX as shareware.

New things in Beta 2 ...

1. NEW FAX SWITCH OPTION!  Previously, only /FAX and /FCON were the valid
   commands for rear end mode.  Now that I've got a new computer to play
   around with, I've noticed that if your modem reports only +FCON, on a
   really fast machine, BGFAX would NOT work.  (Norton 7 CPU 41.0).  To fix
   this problem, there are now three valid switch options:

      /FAX ... use if your modem reports "FAX" or "CONNECT FAX" when it
               REALLY is a fax connect.  BGFAX will wait for "+FCON".

      /FCON ... use if your modem doesn't support the /FAX option.  Will
                assume a frontend program has already trapped "+FCON" and
                will signal the other fax machine (blindly) to begin sending
                the page.  WARNING: If you tell the remote end to send the
                page and it hasn't send you the "OK" signal, it will force
                both ends to immediately hangup.  If this happens, try the
                new /FAST option rather than /FCON.

      /FAST ... use if your modem doesn't support the /FAX option *and*
                your computer is very, very fast.  Instead of blindly
                telling the other fax machine to begin, it will wait for
                an "OK" signal.  (On slower computers, the OK signal will
                get lost during the time it takes BGFAX to load.)

2. May have fixed a bug dealing with high resolution faxes in the ZFAX
   format.  Let me know if printing still only yields half a page.  Also,
   please note that I added a new fax command string segment in the
   BGFAX.CNF file ...  here's the relevant line:

in=ATM0+FAA=1;+FCR=1;+FDCC=1,5,0,2,0,0,0,0;+FLID="TRANQUILITY BASE"
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   +FDCC sets the DCE capability parameters.  The first "1" means you allow
   high resolution faxes.  Almost all faxmodems default it to 0, which
   means don't allow high resolution documents.  The "5" means your top
   FAX (receive) speed is 14400 bps.  IF YOUR FAXMODEM ONLY SUPPORTS
   9600 BPS FAX CHANGE THAT "5" TO A "3" OR IT WON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!
   The other numbers are just part of the defaults.  They shouldn't really
   be needed, but to be safe, you might want to include them (if you have
   enough room in your init string configuration.)

   Also, in the FAXIN.LOG file, high resolution documents will be denoted
   by a signal asterick, *, between the fax DCE speed and saved filename.
   Normal resolution documents will just have a space.

3. Desqview detection.  BGFAX will now return ticks to DV and will also use
   the video buffer reported by DV rather than blindly using $B800.

4. Oddball port support.  Say you have a port configured at a base address
   of HEX 325 and IRQ 5.  You would have the following line in your
   BGFAX.CNF file:

   po=325x5

   ...or via rear end command line like:

   BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 325x5 Z

5. Some people called me voice and informed me that some oddball modems
   (can't remember which ones) would report something like:

      RING
      FAX
      CONNECT 14400/ARQ

   ... on a data call and ...

      RING
      FAX
      +FCON

   ... on a real fax call.  After BGFAX frontend mode saw "FAX", it would
   assume only a +FCON would allow.  (I never thought a data CONNECT
   message could occur, but now BGFAX will ignore the "FAX" token and only
   start fax protocol upon reception of "+FCON".  Did I spell reception
   right this time?  I spelled it 'receiption' in all previous release notes
   and program files and a couple of people noticed it.  I haven't checked
   in a dictionary yet.

BGFAX 1.0 BETA 01  SAT 19 JUN 93
--------------------------------

I have been getting reports from all over about ways people have been
getting BGFAX to work with certain FidoNet front end mailers.  See the
included text file BGFAX.HLP to find setup hints for BGFAX and your mailer.
Thanks to all the people that have included reports.

BGFAX seems to be getting more stable as time moves on, so I have decided
to move the test into the beta phase.  Just like the alpha test, this is a
public beta test, and all can run and test the software.

Additions/Changes to BGFAX since the last Alpha version:

1. The previous alpha versions would sometimes hang requiring a user to
   press <Esc> to manaully exit BGFAX if something odd happened during a
   connection (or if your front end mailer or modem accidently passes
   control of a non-fax call to BGFAX).  Now, BGFAX attempts to handle
   these events better.  A timeout will occur if no data is received from
   the modem within 60 seconds.  Also, if a "RING" or "NO CARRIER" happens
   before those 60 seconds, it will force an exit of BGFAX as well.

2. On errorlevel 4 exits previously, the fax file name was not being passed
   in any manner.  Now, when a fax is received, the program will exit with an
   errorlevel of 4 (as before) but it will also construct a DOFAX.BAT file
   which calls EXEFAX.BAT file with a single parameter (the fax file name).

   Here is an example DOFAX.BAT file constructed by BGFAX:

       C:\BGFAX\EXEFAX FAX0007.QFX

   In your EXEFAX.BAT file, you can try something like

       @ECHO OFF
       PRINTFAX %BGFAX%\%1 9PIN.QLP

3. Some people wanted BGFAX (in front end mode) to create DOBBS.BAT files
   just like FD and other frontend programs.  The EC
   = entry before held the
   "string" that was to be inserted as the 4th parameter on the DOBBS.BAT
   file if an error correcting session was established.  The following is
   what happens if you get a CONNECT 14400/ARQ and EC=/RELIABLE

       C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS 14400 1 876 /RELIABLE

   However, now, if you set EC=<ECHO> the program will echo the exact rest
   of the connect string as the 4th parameter (like FD), like so:

       C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS 14440 1 876 /ARQ

4. Some people liked the old method of passing parameters to BGFAX in rear
   end mode, and some people don't like having to use the BGFAX environment
   variable for rear end mode, so I combinded this wishes into one:

   BGFAX rearend mode can be started in the usual way (ie., BGFAX /FAX or
   BGFAX /FCON) as long as the BGFAX= environment variable is set as the
   BGFAX.CNF file is still rear.

   If you do something like this though ...  (OPTIONAL)

   BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z

   BGFAX rear end mode will start WITHOUT USING THE BGFAX= ENVIRONMENT
   VARIBLE OR BGFAX.CNF CONFIGURATION FILE.

   First parameter is /FAX or /FCON

   Second parameter is the directory to store faxes in

   Third parameter is 1-4, the com port number, place a bang after the com
   port number if you use a ZyXEL (like so: 2!).

   Forth parameter is fax type, (Z or Q only)

   AN OPTIONAL FIFTH PARAMETER ALSO EXISTS ... you can specify a one to
   three digit node number if you want multiple nodes to receive faxes in
   the same directory.  Example:

   BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z 12

   Would cause BGFAX to make a BGFAX12.LOG file rather than the normal
   BGFAX.LOG file, and will also allow incoming faxes at the same time from
   multiple nodes.  (THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN REAR END MODE).

5. Elapsed time was being garbled during parts of the day (as well as the
   midnight crossover).  Fixed.

6. A slight cosmetic change has been made so that people with monochrome
   monitors can see what's happening in the state window.

7. After looking at the source code, it looks like Alpha 11 shouldn't have
   worked with ZyXEL modems as the "!" port modifer wasn't being treated
   successfully.  I'll have to get my ZyXEL friend to test out this beta for
   me tomorrow.