========================================================================= (C) 1995 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== Category 4, Topic 24 Message 1 Fri Dec 02, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 19:23 EST I had some hard drive problems and had to reinstall v. 2.20. Now I'm having a problem I had to ask about before. Where do I put the fonts so the program can find them? The old folder isn't being recognized. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 2 Fri Dec 02, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 21:42 EST Ken, I keep STraight Fax! and all of it's files in a folder called FAX220. I have my fonts in the root of that folder. They are always recognized here. Unused fonts I keep in a folder called FONTS inside the FAX220 folder. Hope this helps, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 3 Fri Dec 02, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:56 EST Ken Van, The STFAX fonts should be in the STFAX folder (the one the program runs from). Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 4 Sat Dec 03, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 07:31 EST Matt, Thanks. I thought the README said to put the font (FINE16 or FINE20) you want to use in a folder of some kind. I'll try it in the root of the FAX folder. Al, Thanks. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 5 Sat Dec 03, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 09:34 EST Ken, Remember that the font you choose has to be renamed to FINE.FNT. If you keep the name FINE16 or FINE20, I don't think STraight Fax! will recognize it. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 6 Sat Dec 03, 1994 C.NICHOLLS [BILL] at 19:04 PST Thanks, Joe, Unfortunately, although I have the latest version of STraightFAX, my Supra 144LC only supports Class 1. I guess this may be something I'll have to live with. Bill ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 7 Sat Dec 03, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 23:35 EST Thanks, Matt. I guess they meant to name it with the number to identify it when not in use (when the other fine is used. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 8 Sun Dec 04, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 02:52 EST Ken - Exactly! Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 9 Sat Dec 03, 1994 S.MCGEE2 [Sam] at 23:59 PST Bill, The SupraFaxModem 144LC supports Class 1 and Class 2. The manual was not updated after the ROMs were. There is a modem command to check Class but I don't remember it. If you want to check for yourself maybe someone can post the code. Sam "Maybe you can call me sometime when you have no class." - Rodney D. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 10 Sun Dec 04, 1994 M.WEILERT2 [Matt] at 07:21 PST RE: msg 166 Bill, Several months ago I had my phone connections jury-rigged up to split-off several times: from the wall to separate recorder, phone (two handsets in same room where I have two lines) and modem. I got all sorts of time-outs, both during connection and waiting for page acknowledge. I went to Radio Shack, got one of their 1-into-3 splitters, moved my desk nearer to the phone jack and got rid of the now extra "connectors" which really cleared things up. Even overseas faxes are fine. Matt @ WeilInfo P.S. Also what Joe said in msg 167 :-) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 11 Sun Dec 04, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 10:43 EST Matt's right. STFAX just looks for FINE.FNT. And STFAX doens't need the font at all if you print using a STraight FAX! printer driver from an app that supports GDOS of any kind. I usually use Calligrapher Gold, and the results are stupendous. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 12 Sun Dec 04, 1994 J.PENNINGTO6 [JIM] at 13:12 PST Some questions I've had for a long time, but never got around to asking: 1. Most fax machines available today (and for some time) have 3 resolutions; standard, fine, and extra fine. Why is the extra fine resolution not available for computer faxing? 2. There is a lot of conversation on this board about trying this and that to get certain combinations of modem/fax machine to communicate, but I am not aware that the problem exists with regular fax machines talking to each other. Regular fax machine usage seems to be pretty much drop the document, select resolution, dial the number and go. I've never heard of a ROM upgrade for an off-the-shelf fax machine. Have I just missed the fun? --Jim-- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 13 Sun Dec 04, 1994 K.CAVAGHAN2 [OakSprings] at 13:24 PST Bill, I believe that the latest version of Sysinfo will be be able to tell you what class/group your modem supports as well. It's available here in the library. Kent Written on Sunday December 04, 1994 07:4134 a.m. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 14 Sun Dec 04, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:01 EST Matt :-) Al, Whether STFAX uses it or not, it looks for a font file, and won't load if it doesn't find one. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 15 Sun Dec 04, 1994 C.NICHOLLS [BILL] at 21:19 PST Sam and Kent, According to SysInfo, my 144LC only supports Class 1. The chipset is 1993. Bill ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 16 Mon Dec 05, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:41 EST Message 182 Sun Dec 04, 1994 J.PENNINGTO6 [JIM] > 1... Why is the extra fine resolution not available for computer > faxing? From my experience the results of faxes sent using STraight are much better final quality than any fine or extra fine resolution sent by a standard fax machine. I can compost and save using Calamus and I often get a response back asking what fax machine I used since the receiver did not know their fax machine could reproduce a copy that clear. > 2. There is a lot of conversation on this board about trying this > and that to get certain combinations of modem/fax machine to > communicate, but I am not aware that the problem exists with > regular fax machines talking to each other. Have I just > missed the fun? Yes, trust me you have just missed the fun. Regular fax machines do have problems talking to each other. The first time I used STraight fax was after trying three times to get a fax through via a new fax machine at a copy center (name brand and all that). STraight fax got a good connection with the same other party on the first try. That is not to say I have never had problems connecting to other fax machines. I have had very good (not 100%) luck with the machine I have at work, a new high end Cannon. It works almost 100% of the time. It also has problems with some other "standard" fax machines. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 17 Mon Dec 05, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 07:40 EST Joe, If you want to compost your copy of Calamus, that's your right, since you own it, but it might be better not to discuss it publically. It might hurt Nathan's feelings. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 18 Mon Dec 05, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:52 EST Jim, Good point. Most fax machines are toss-away items. You just buy a new one when the urge strikes you. Modems are much more likely to be used for a long time, and ROM upgrades are easy. Extra-fine-res isn't standard on the fax machines we have at the office. Ken Van, Thanks. I've never tried running without a font file, so I didn't realize it chokes without one. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 19 Mon Dec 05, 1994 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 17:45 EST Hehehe ... I too use STraight FAX to send my Calamus files. ;-) It allows me to include my logo/letterhead etc.. and any other graphic along with the text and the end result is quite nice to receive on the other end, certainly looking quite professional. Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 20 Mon Dec 05, 1994 Y.DUFRESNE [Papageno] at 22:47 EST STFax and Calamus SL are my own 'publishing partners'. Pun! Ducking! Yanick ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 21 Mon Dec 05, 1994 J.PENNINGTO6 [JIM] at 20:07 PST All, Thanks for the responses. The primary benefits of extra-fine resolution are: 1. to minimize aliasing on horizontal lines when the original document is not square in the scanner, and 2. to smooth out (and make readable) handwritten (script) documents. It can also help with poor quality documents especially when they have been photo- reduced. We ask all our clients to send handwritten documents in the highest resolution they have available. I agree that a document produced on the computer and sent by STfax in standard resolution is far superior to any scanned document, but what about received faxes? Maybe we just were lucky in that we picked a Pitney Bowes 8050 as our first fax machine, as we have had no problem sending or receiving anywhere in the world. This is a high end machine, but most of the machines we send to or receive from are definitely not! --Jim-- P.S. I've never 'composted' Pagestream, but then I haven't tried Calamus! o o < \_____/ ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 22 Mon Dec 05, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:26 EST Joe - Sooo, you can 'compost' using Calamus... How does _that_ work, and what does it do for your garden! Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 23 Tue Dec 06, 1994 T.GIRSCH [T.J.@ S-Mart] at 00:42 CST J.MEEHAN3 - > I can compost and save using Calamus Wow! It does full-color page layout, AND it helps next year's crops grow!!! 8^) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 24 Tue Dec 06, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:40 EST All, My copy of Calamus SL arrived yesterday, and I'd say it would make enough compost for three gardens. :-) Jim, When I have to give a report and need to pass out (no, don't stop reading this sentence at that point!) ... need to hand out a document, I create it on Calligrapher and fax it to the office via STFAX at fine res. Then I use the laser copies to make copies; this smoothes out the tiny dots and gives me a great-looking copy. I've had many folks ask me for a copy of both STFAX and Calligrapher, and (leaving out the issue of piracy) my stock answer is, "Sure. Do you own an ST, TT or Falcon?" :-) The last fellow Atarian I worked with moved to Cleveland a while back, so the point is that these people just don't know what they are missing. (And who'd ever want to move to Cleveland anyway?) Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 25 Tue Dec 06, 1994 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 21:33 EST >... (And who'd ever want to move to Cleveland anyway?) > >Al > >---------- > Don't know Al, I've been asking myself that question for the last 15 years! Why did I leave Pittsburgh? But we do get a little less snow than Rochester Bud ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 26 Tue Dec 06, 1994 G.IKEN [George @HACE] at 20:39 CST Joe, Are you into recycling? >... I can compost and save .... ---------------------------------------------------------- Ken,, >Extra-fine-res isn't standard on the fax machines we have at the office. I guess you know that you can get all those 'fine-rez' thingies with STFAX if you get one of those new Blur-O-Vision monitors. The resolutions include the above mentioned Xrated-Fine, Danged-Fine, and Awful-Fine. Boy, I could use some sleep (stayed up all night on the HACE newsletter....I had to stay all scrunched up or I would have fallen off ). ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 27 Tue Dec 06, 1994 ST.WALLY [ _Wally_ ] at 23:52 EST Howdy, George, boy do I ever know that feeling! Especially the corny humour that follows such insanity. It is especially bad with me because my humour is always corny, and it only gets worse from there. ;-) Wally ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 28 Tue Dec 06, 1994 J.PENNINGTO6 [JIM] at 22:51 PST You guys have been staring at your monitors too long! --Jim-- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 29 Wed Dec 07, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 06:06 EST In addition to personally being into recycling it seems Spelling Sentry is also into recycling. BTW having an Atari is one way to stop a number of people at work who see my results from projects from home and want copies of my program. I still end up telling someone at least once a month that I will not help them copy a program off one of our office machines to bring home to their machines or to help them use or install a program someone gave them without any documentation. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 30 Wed Dec 07, 1994 T.GIRSCH [T.J.@ S-Mart] at 20:46 CST STraight FAX - A couple of the FAXes I've received have had strange lines through them. Has anyone else had this problem? BTW, at least one of my bad faxes came from someone else's document, sent directly to his FAX modem, and then to mine. - T.J. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 31 Wed Dec 07, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:00 EST The comments about copying programs (such as Joe's about people at work wanting a copy of an Atari program until they learn it's an Atari program) is sort of gallows humor. Now, more than ever, piracy could drive developers away from the Atari. Let's keep the faithful ones we have by being honest. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 32 Wed Dec 07, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 22:13 EST Would appreciate some advice. I have need to enter drawings, graphs, etc., drawn by hand or taken from journals, into my Mega4 STe in order to generate GIF files to upload into a GEnie library. My plan is to fax the drawings into the STE, display them on screen, snap a PI3 file of the screen, then convert to GIF using GEMVIEW. I plan to purchase a Supra 144LC and use STraight Fax to receive the drawings transmitted from my Brother fax using the 'super fine' resolution mode. It has a 32 shade gray scale, if that makes any difference. Has anyone done this before? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on these "plans". How much resolution might get lost in the process? etc. The purpose is to help with some physics teaching I will be doing over GEnie. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 33 Wed Dec 07, 1994 J.PENNINGTO6 [JIM] at 23:10 PST Sandy, I have done that, using Touch-up to clean up the document. It works quite well, except for two things; super-fine resolution is not available in STfax, and you can get the 'jaggies' on horizontal lines if the document is not perfectly square in the sending fax. We just had a discussion of super-fine (or extra-fine) resolution here, and most seem to think it is not necessary, but I think it can be quite useful in receiving a fax to minimize the above problem, and to improve the readability of poor quality source documents. --Jim-- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 34 Wed Dec 07, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:38 PST Sandy: STFAX can take faxes and save them as .IMG files. You could then convert the IMG files to GIF. I think this would be best for picture quality. STFAX can also exoprt faxes to TIFF, BMP, PCX, and EP. You can find this under menu file and export. I'm sure there are other ways. <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 35 Thu Dec 08, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:03 EST Sandy, It works I have done it a number of times. However I would not bother with a screen shot since STraight will save faxes as IMG files. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 36 Thu Dec 08, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 07:40 EST Sandy, Once you have faxed the graphic etc. into STraight Fax!, you don't need to do a screen capture. STraight Fax! will Export a fax to any of several file types, including TIFF, EPS, and IMG. I know the TIFF and IMG will be converted easily by GEMVIEW to GIF. Not sure about the EPS though. As to how much detail you are likely to lose... I can't really say. I've only converted (exported) mono graphics/files so far. I will tell you that if you don't get the type of results you would like, send me some Email. If I can work it out, I'll bring it over to where I do my scanning, scan it into Photoshop, and save it as a TIFF for you. You wouldn't lose any detail that way. If the time is available, I could then bring it into the other room and save it as a GIF for you out of Corel Draw. Let me know, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 37 Thu Dec 08, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:36 EST Bud, and a LOT less snow than Syracuse, snow capital of the U.S. And here in Baldwinsville, just outside of Syracuse, we get even more than that. Argh! Sandy, There's no superfine mode in STFAX. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 38 Thu Dec 08, 1994 JIM.K [Jim~ST Sysop] at 10:42 EST Messages #1-170 have been archived and are in the library-File #34630. STFAX_11.ARC. 8/29/94 to 12/2/94 Jim Kudron 8Dec94 ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 39 Thu Dec 08, 1994 ST.WALLY [ _Wally_ ] at 12:15 EST Howdy, Sandy, STraight FAX will allow you to export any FAX you receive to a multitude of file formats. I think it will be perfectly suited for what you are asking it to do without imposing the limitations of doing this by 'snapshotting' the screen. I was just looking, and the 'Export FAX' function exports to the following file formats: Monochrome Image (IMG) Monochrome Image w/GEM PCX BMP (Windows) BMP (OS/2) TIFF uncompressed TIFF CCITT Group 3 TIFF Packbits Encapsulated PostScript Best regards, Wally ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 40 Thu Dec 08, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 20:16 EST Thanks all for your help. I didn't realize one could go directly to an IMG, PCX, etc file. This is the way I'll probably go. One other option came to my attention. A used Navarrone (mono) full page scanner is available for $250. I'm totally unaware of the comparative merits of this vs the Supra/STraight Fax option. If anyone here has experience in this area, your comments would be welcome. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 41 Thu Dec 08, 1994 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 21:44 EST Besides those file formats Wally mentioned above, you can also print to a STraight FAX! file from Calamus and send it. Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 42 Thu Dec 08, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:28 PST Sandy: > One other option came to my attention. A used Navarrone (mono)full > page scanner is available for $250. I'm totally unaware of the > comparative merits of this vs the Supra/STraight Fax option. If > anyone here has experience in this area, your comments would be > welcome. > > --Sandy >---------- > I have the NAVARONE page scanner. I like it. It has worked well. The main problem I have with it is it won't save more than once to a large BGM partition. I'm not sure I have explained this well but the problem is with the software not liking large hard drives partitions. Other than that it is a 300dpi scanner (STFAX fine is around 200dpi). I know the NARARONE works with the MEGASTE and my other ST's. I have not tried it on my FALCON. I also own a MIGRAPH hand scanner. This is a 400dpi four inch wide unit. I like it better. The pictures it makes are cleaner (not as much touching up needed). However, the picture size in one pass is only four inches wide. With MIGRAPH's TOUCH-UP 2.52 software you can merge two four inch picture together. I have read that using the hand scanner with the scaning tray with TOUCH-UP is a very nice combination. The last information I got from MIGRAPH these items would cost around $200 for all. MIGRAPH also makes a page scanner for around $500. This is the PS-400 with page feeder. If you can use the four inch picture or don't mind making two passes to get a full page, I recommend the MIGRAPH package for $200. My NAVARONE is old and is still working fine. Mine is the sheet feeder model and I have not had any mechanical problems with it. I would not want to steer you away from it. Especially if you only want to make one pass. Also, the hand scanners with software go on sale quit often down in the for sale topic. David <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 43 Fri Dec 09, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 07:27 EST David, I like my Migraph page scanner (the Wand), and wish I could use it for sending with STraight FAX. I wish I were on Mauai today. We have freezing rain and sleet here in metro Detroit. Fortunately, I have no Friday classes, so don't have to go in today, but my poor wife did. It makes the folks I'm taking to the islands on Spring Break in March (at their expense) look forward more to the trip. :-) The itinerary doesn't include Maui. :-( Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 44 Fri Dec 09, 1994 P.NEREO [Philip] at 15:50 PST Sandy - I have one of those Navarone scanners, and find it quite useful. It's strictly a B&W scanner - lines not grayscales. It would probably do a much better job than using a fax machine as a scanner - it goes up to 300 dpi - and it (the version 1.5 ST Scan program) saves in Degas, .IMG, Postscript, EPS, TIFF, and Compressed TIFF. I scan documents at 200 dpi to send with STFax, and a scan.ACC is available from NewStar to scan while in the STFax program. It also works great with Migraph's OCR program. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 45 Sat Dec 10, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 00:50 EST Well, as is often the case, the range of choice is now at the point of dilemma. Navarone ($250 + software?) sounds right for the drawings I know I will have to digitize. Migraph ($200 +?), or the Toad alternative (?), sounds right for both the drawings and the occasional photo, depending on my ability to combine partial images of a given document. Supra 14.4 with STraight Fax ($230 + or -) sounds adequate for both, perhaps giving slightly lower resolution, but offering the additional capability of a fax. Hmmmm. It's not a "no brainer". Another consideration is compatibilty with a future PC, which is definitely ahead. My impression is they all are, with some additional cost for software. You fellas have been very helpful in presenting the overall picture. Now I have to look into further details, and then decide. Thanks. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 46 Sat Dec 10, 1994 ST.WALLY [ _Wally_ ] at 01:12 EST Howdy, Not only can I not get over how powerful STraight FAX is, but how functional it is. If you own an Atari and a FAX modem, you _owe_ it to yourself to get this program! Absolutely amazing. More to follow... Best regards, Wally ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 47 Sat Dec 10, 1994 Y.DUFRESNE [Papageno] at 01:25 EST Re converting 'scanned' images to GIF: doesn't GEMView import J?? files directly? Even easier... Al, ask Ken Springer if Syracuse is the US capital of snow... Alaska is part of US too, you know ;-) Ever been to Quebec in January? Yanick ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 48 Sat Dec 10, 1994 ST.WALLY [ _Wally_ ] at 01:36 EST Howdy, Something else to consider...Getting a full-page scanner, or a hand-scanner with a scan tray to go with STraight FAX is not a bad idea. In most cases I've priced, it is still less expensive (by quite a bit) than a decent FAX machine. Ok, now, throw in something like Migraph's OCR software with the scanner, now those large graphics files received on your FAX modem can be converted to a format readily useable on your word processor. So, when someone sends you a 15-page FAX, it is no longer just 15 large 'picture files'...This is a serious _plus_ all the way around. Best regards, Wally ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 49 Sat Dec 10, 1994 P.NEREO [Philip] at 10:08 PST Ken Van - You must be talking about not being able to use the Wand from within STFax; cause if you can save your scan as an .IMG, you can send that as a fax. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 50 Sat Dec 10, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 18:23 EST Yanick, We get more snow than Anchorage, less than Fairbanks. The honor (?) we have is this: Snowiest major city. GEM-View supports JPGs as does Imagecopy 3. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 51 Sat Dec 10, 1994 G.IKEN [George @HACE] at 17:36 CST Yanick, > Al, ask Ken Springer if Syracuse is the US capital of snow... > Alaska is part of US too, you know ;-) Yeah, but in Alaska they run snow plows on the roads after it snows!!! ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 52 Sat Dec 10, 1994 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 19:19 EST Al, I'd take Cleveland over Syracuse in a New York minute:) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 53 Sat Dec 10, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:38 EST Al - I think Yanick was refering to the .JO? drivers that come with STraight Fax for use with GemView. (If I'm wrong... so be it!) Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 54 Sun Dec 11, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 00:31 EST To: K.VANDELLEN, When installing the 2.20 update files, just copy the STFAX.PRG and HELP.DAT files on the update disk to the existing STraight FAX! folder (usually \STFAX). Copy the STFAXMGR.CPX from the \CPX folder on the update disk to the CPX folder on the hard drive (usually C:\CPX or C:\XCONTROL). There are also updated STraight FAX! printer drivers for applications such as Calamus, Pagestream, Speedo GDOS, etc. in the \PRINTERS folder on the 2.20 update disk. The FAX fonts FINE.FNT and NORMAL.FNT should already be in the existing STraight FAX! folder. If they are not, just recopy them from your 2.00 or 2.10 master disk. To: S.MCGEE2, > The SupraFaxModem 144LC supports Class 1 and Class 2. The manual was not > updated after the ROMs were. There is a modem command to check Class but > I don't remember it. If you want to check for yourself maybe someone can > post the code. The original Supra 144LC was a Class 1 only FAX Modem. The Supra V.32bis FAX Modem is a Class 1 and Class 2 FAX Modem. The command to check this is AT+FCLASS=? or just download and use our SysInfo 2.10 program and it will tell you this and alot more about your FAX Modem and computer. To: A.FASOLDT, > Matt's right. STFAX just looks for FINE.FNT. And STFAX doens't need the font > at all if you print using a STraight FAX! printer driver from an app that > supports GDOS of any kind. I usually use Calligrapher Gold, and the results > are stupendous. STraight FAX! requires that both FAX fonts FINE.FNT and NORMAL.FNT be present in the STraight FAX! folder in order to run. While the FAX fonts are not used by an application printing via one of the STraight FAX! printer drivers, the FAX fonts are used to generate page headers and the cover page. To: J.PENNINGTO6, > 1. Most fax machines available today (and for some time) have 3 resolutions; > standard, fine, and extra fine. Why is the extra fine resolution not available > for computer faxing? Actually most FAX machines only have Normal and Fine Resolution. Most FAX machines are still limited to just 9600 baud as well. Super Fine Resolution is not defined as part of the CCITT Group 3 FAX standard. There are probably several implementations of Super Fine Resolution, which means that two machines that have a Super Fine capability may not be able to transfer a FAX in a Super Fine Resolution. Since Super Fine is not part of Group 3, it is also not defined as part of the Class 1 or Class 2 FAX specification, however in theory it might be possible to support a Super Fine resolution under Class 1, if the method in which it is implemented is known. Typically Super Fine Resolution is 203 x 392 DPI, which is twice the vertical resolution as Fine Resolution. Historically a paper FAX machine scans the page as it sends the data. The FAX Machine is optimized to scan a line of the page, compress the bitmap data as per Group 3 and send it out. At the start of the FAX call, the sender tells the receiver what the resolution of tha FAX is (i.e. Normal or Fine). The receiver can always handle either case of Normal or Fine, so it adjusts as necessary. The sender's scanner scans the page in the specified resolution as it is being transferred. In today's newer plain paper FAX machines, the process is similar, but pages can be scanned prior to the call and buffered until they are sent. While the Group 3 FAX standard does not define a Super Fine Resolution, it does allow for non-standard extensions. These extensions are usually proprietary. A few years ago I asked a telecom engineer who worked for a FAX Modem company and who was also on the TR29.2 EIA (FAX) standards working group where I could find information on non-standard capabilities such as a Super Fine resolution. His answer was that the FAX Machine vendors, mostly from the far east, add these non-standard capabilities as a marketing tool to make their products appear superior. They know that the increased quality of a Super Fine Resolution will only be possible when two of their brand FAX Machines communicate, since the implementation was proprietary. These companies expect that businesses will tell the other businesses they do business with to use the same brand of FAX, because of its superior quality. That idea is likely to not work very well in the US ;-). There are some types of products where we are not very brand loyal (cars and computers being among the exceptions). (BTW, Apple did something like this a few year's back with their PostScript Laser printers. The Mac PostScript driver put a command in the PostScript output that would enable standard feature of PostScript that would improve the printed output, but only if the OEM code in the Laser printer was theirs. This would make their Laser printers appear superior to another manufacturer's even though both contained the same Adobe PostScript interpreter). There is a logistical problem with a non-standard Super Fine resolution within the scope of a computer/FAX Modem combination. While FAX machines generate the Group 3 FAX data on the fly, a computer based FAX can not. The problems here range from the computing power needed to compress Group 3 FAX data on the fly, to the way an a FAX printer driver operates with in an application's print command. Since the computer must generate the FAX data (files) prior to the call, how does could it know if the receiver can receive a non-standard Super Fine Resolution? One solution is that the sender can generate both Super Fine and Fine Resolution FAX files, and then send the Super Fine files if the receiver can support it. This is at the expense of time and disk space. Another solution is to generate Super Fine FAX files and if the receiver can only support up to Fine Rez, perform on the fly reduction of the Super Fine FAX to a Fine Rez FAX by throwing away every other horizontal line of the Super Fine FAX data. This is probably what a FAX machine does that can buffer up pages. The problem here is that a 50% gradient fill pattern from a computer generated FAX is reduced to a series of vertical lines. Since real FAX machine scanners are never that accurate, the loss of detail would never be noticed. While it would be nice to have a Super Fine Resolution (300 x 300 DPI would be a better choice than 203 x 392 DPI), the increased resolution may not improve the quality of a computer generated FAX significantly, as the quality of a Fine Resolution computer generated FAX is usually very good due to the computer raster generators in today's DTP applications (i.e. try creating a FAX from Calamus, Pagestream, Atari Works, etc. with scalable fonts). On the down side, Super Fine Resolution would take twice as long to send as Fine Resolution (not counting the protocol handshaking time), twice as much memory to view, twice the CPU time to provess it, and twice the disk space to store it. Also, since most printers are not 392 DPI in the vertical direction, alot of the extra resolution will be lost when a page is printed. > 2. There is a lot of conversation on this board about trying this and that to > get certain combinations of modem/fax machine to communicate, but I am not > aware that the problem exists with regular fax machines talking to each other. > Regular fax machine usage seems to be pretty much drop the document, select > resolution, dial the number and go. I've never heard of a ROM upgrade for an > off-the-shelf fax machine. Have I just missed the fun? It is quite common for regular FAX machines to have problems in communicating or to have problems with a particular phone line. There are many reasons for ROM upgrades in FAX Modems: 1) Added features such as Silent Answer and Caller ID. 2) Bug fixes or changes to improve reliability. 3) Changes to the data protocols. A FAX Modem is a multi-purpose device, it has to also communicate with a computer, via extenstions to the AT command set. These extenions have gone through a number of changes, i.e. Class 1, Class 2 and Class 2.0. There are two types of modem vendors: 1) Companies that use another manufacturer's chip sets, such as Supra and Zoom that use Rockwell chipsets. 2) Companies like USR that design their own chip set. In the first type of vendor, changes can be made from both the original chipset vendor and the modem vendor. The chipset vendors also update the chipsets each year, due to the changes in the standards and technology, this forces the modem vendors to make changes to keep up. > I agree that a document produced on the computer and sent by STfax in > standard resolution is far superior to any scanned document, but what about > received faxes? While a document may not be 100% perfectly straight when its scanned in a typical FAX machine, I dont think the alignment of the printer is much of a problem. Even if the paper in the print roller was not 100% aligned, this would not affect the printed image, just the alignment of the image on the page. This is also not a problem with Laser quality FAX Machines. Most computer generated FAXes make a normal FAX machine look nearly as good as a laser printer, hence the name "STraight FAX!". To: T.GIRSCH, > A couple of the FAXes I've received have had strange lines through them. Has > anyone else had this problem? BTW, at least one of my bad faxes came from > someone else's document, sent directly to his FAX modem, and then to mine. When sending a FAX, lines in the received FAX are usually caused by a flow control problem. Make sure that The Serial Fix 2.0 program is in the AUTO folder. Another problem can be line noise due to the phone line wire being near other electrical devices. To: K.VANDELLEN, > The comments about copying programs (such as Joe's about people at work > wanting a copy of an Atari program until they learn it's an Atari program) is > sort of gallows humor. Now, more than ever, piracy could drive developers away > from the Atari. Let's keep the faithful ones we have by being honest. Its amazing to see messages on the Internet from users of STraight FAX! who are not in our customer database. I guess we can hope that they have just not had the time to send in the Registration Card ;-). Atleast they are giving the product some publicity. To: S.WOLF4, While it is possible to FAX documents to yourself for the purpose of using the received FAX as a scanned image, you would probably be better off using a normal scanner attached to the computer. Received FAXes will always be monochrome in either 203 x 98 DPI (Normal Rez) or 203 x 192 DPI (Fine Rez). Super Fine Resolution is non-standard (see above) and will not be available in a received FAX. This may be sufficient quality in most cases, but a hand or full page scanner can usually go as high as 300 DPI or 400 DPI. STraight FAX! has a clean up feature that will remove stray pixels from a FAX that is received. You can export the FAX file to a number of formats including IMG, PCX, BMP, TIFF and EPS. STraight FAX! also comes with an import module for GEM View 3, so you can view a FAX in GEM View 3 and then save it in any format GEM View 3 supports. > One other option came to my attention. A used Navarrone (mono) full > page scanner is available for $250. I'm totally unaware of the BTW, There is an optional scanner driver available for STraight FAX! that allows scanning directly from a Canon/Navarrone sheet feed or flat bed scanner. STraight FAX! also will use Dr. Bobware's Scan Lite Desk Acc to directly scan with Migraph and other hand scanners. If you have a scanning tray, STraight FAX! will also merge the left and right side scans automatically (i.e. no manual alignment). To: C.NICHOLLS, > Twice to-day I've had the remote FAX time-out before establishing a > connection. Can anyone tell me if this a problem with the other machine, or is > something wrong at my end? I'm using Modem 2 on a MegaSTE4, Geneva and > NeoDesk4. Can you send me the Sys Info 2.10 report with your FAX Modem, computer setup and STraight FAX! preferences? You can try increasing the timeout value (Wait Till Connect) in the Modem Preferences and increase the Input and Output I/O Buffer sizes up to 32767 bytes and make sure the proper Serial Port patches are installed. Depending on your FAX Modem, try both Class 1 and Class 2 modes. To: STraight FAX! and STalker 3 users: If you use STalker 3 with a high speed modem on an SCC based serial port (Modem 2 or Serial 2 on a Mega STe or TT030 or the modem port on a Falcon030) and set the baud rate at 38400 or higher, there will be a problem when you exit STalker and try to use STraight FAX!. The reason for this is that STalker 3 must program the SCC chip directly to use a baud rate higher than 19200, as the XBIOS only supports baud rates up to 19200. When STalker exits, the SCC port is left in a state that the XBIOS does not expect. When STraight FAX! tries to set the baud rate via the XBIOS, the SCC port is not set properly. There is a simple solution to this problem. If the baud rate is set back to 19200 baud (or lower) before you exit STalker, it will set the SCC port back into a state that the XBIOS expects. This can be done automatically with STalker by creating a special compiled BackTalk script named STK_EXIT.BTK, which will be executed when STalker exits. Create a BackTalk script source file named STK_EXIT.BTS with the following commands: function main () set_baud (19200); endfunction Compile this script to create the STK_EXIT.BTK compiled script and place it in the STalker directory. If you already have an exit script installed, then just add the set_baud (19200); line to your exit script and recompile it. A similar problem may occur with other telecom programs that set the baud rate of SCC ports beyond 19200 baud. Similar solutions can be created as long as the terminal program has a script language. At this time we have not verified if this problem exists with Flash 2.xx, however it does have a scripting language (.DO files). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STraight FAX! 2.20 upgrades (from version 2.00 and 2.10) are available via Postal Mail as follows: Send the following to one of the locations below: - Registered Owner's Name - Registered Owner's Address - The 10 digit Registration Number used to install STraight FAX! 2.00 or 2.10 (Note: this is not the same as the Serial Number in the About... box) AND - $5.00 (US, in US funds only in a Check or Money Order) OR - Your Credit Card Number, type (Visa, Master Card, Amex, Discover) and expiration date To: - by Postal Mail STraight FAX! 2.20 Upgrade P.O. Box 122 Columbia, Maryland 21045-0122 USA OR - by GEnie EMail to C.S.SMETON (please CC: the upgrade request to TOAD) OR - by Internet EMail to c.s.smeton@genie.geis.com (please also send a copy of the upgrade request message to toad@genie.geis.com) OR - by Voice at 410-544-6943 (Toad Computers) OR - by FAX To 410-544-1329 Note: If the upgrade request is sent in by postal mail, then please do not include your original STraight FAX! 2.00 or 2.10 Master Disk. The 2.20 upgrade will be mailed on a new upgrade disk and will require the 2.00 or 2.10 disk for a complete installation. For upgrade orders outside of North America please add $2.00 (US) for shipping and handling. For owners of version 2.00, a 16 page addendum to the STraight FAX! manual is available for an additional fee of $2.00 (US). All credit card orders will be processed by Toad Computers. Please allow two weeks for delivery. No version 2.20 upgrade orders will be processed unless a valid STraight FAX! 2.00 or 2.10 Registration Card has been previously received. Owners of version 1.xx of STraight FAX! that have not yet upgraded to version 2.xx, may upgrade to version 2.20 for $30.00 (US), plus $3.00 (shipping and handling). Owners of version 1.xx must include the STraight FAX! 1.xx Master Disk. The upgrade from version 1.xx will include a new STraight FAX! 2 manual and master disk. Upgrade orders must include the version 1.xx 10 digit Registration Number. No upgrade orders from version 1.xx to 2.20 will be processed unless a valid STraight FAX! 1.xx Registration Card has been previously received. For upgrade orders outside of North America please add an additional $2.00 (US) for shipping and handling. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 55 Sat Dec 10, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:58 PST Ken Van, I don't want to disappoint ya but here in Paia it was cloudy and rainy today. It's now about 10:00PM and it's kinda cold (77deg's). I know it tuff but for us it's cool. Kihei(key hay), the south side of the island, was warm and clear. About 85deg's. Now when I left work on Friday (from top of a 10,000ft mountain) at 4:00PM, it was 38deg's up there. We have various weather here. :) Probably no different than your state. >I like my Migraph page scanner (the Wand), and wish I could use it for >sending with STraight FAX. Have you ask Mr Smelton about this? <>< Sandy, Since you used the words "overall picture" while talking about the scanners, I wanted to mention that there are full page scanners available also. More money but nice. And the MIGRAPH package comes with the Optical Character Recognition software. It's their Junior version. I don't know what the differences are between the JR version and the regular is... On the STFAX side using the fine resolution, I have used it for airport screen displays. Everybody said it looked great! And STFAX has a driver for the NAVARONE so you can scan directly into it. Hmmmm.... I know, no real help here just more things to think about. <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 56 Sun Dec 11, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 01:01 PST Another _very_ informative post Mr Smeton. Thank you for sharing your manaou (intelligence). This is good information. <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 57 Sun Dec 11, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 09:02 EST Message 52 Sat Dec 10, 1994 > I'd take Cleveland over Syracuse in a New York minute A rather poor recommendation for Syracuse. BTW what is a New York minute? >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 58 Sun Dec 11, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 11:09 EST Thanks, Charles. I didn't realize both fonts were needed. I've got to try making faxes from plain ASCII files one of these days. (But it's so easy to do it from Cal....). Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 59 Sun Dec 11, 1994 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 13:36 CST Joe M, A "New York Minute" means nothing in EST. But as you move west, it is a minute that has happened in increasing history. Akin to the saying "take the train that left yesterday", except that the first is possible by human manufactured time zones and the second is impossible. Damon ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 60 Sun Dec 11, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 15:55 EST Philip, Yup, that's what I was talking about. I've used the Wand in Touchup to scan a document, and then used STFAX to send it. It would be nice to do the scanning within STFAX. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 61 Sun Dec 11, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 17:27 EST Charles, Thanks for the info. We appreciate the excellent support. Maybe you should respond to those Internet messages with a reminder to send in their registration. Hee, hee. Unless you're afraid of embarrassing thieves. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 62 Sun Dec 11, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 19:10 EST Joe M - A 'New York Minute' - A slightly derogatory (?) comment on the pace in New York City. Generally, it implies a time less than 60 seconds. Matt Odd, Talking about the Sysinfo prg.... it doesn't recognize the available baud rates (Fax) for my Practical Peripherals PMT144MT II Fax/modem. The modem works perfectly with the STraight Fax!, but I do fine this a curiosity. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 63 Sun Dec 11, 1994 F.LAWRENCE2 [FRANK] at 19:05 CST Yes, yes, I too would like to see the "Wand" available from STFAX. Frank L ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 64 Sun Dec 11, 1994 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 21:14 EST > > A rather poor recommendation for Syracuse. > > BTW what is a New York minute? > >>> Joe M << >---------- I have a brother who lives in Syracuse and they love it. I lived in Cleveland and loved it, so it's all in the eye of the beholder. My definition of a New York minute is 'you waited too long'. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 65 Sun Dec 11, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 23:29 EST To: M.RIVMAN1, I will pass on the problems detecting the baud rates on the PPI PMT144MT II to Dave Troy at Toad. Can you tell me the responses to the following (Class 2) commands on your modem? AT+FDCS=? AT+FDIS=? AT+FDCC=? I suspect that the syntax in which the baud rates are reported may be slightly different than what SysInfo 2.10 expects. STraight FAX! itself does not issue these commands, since in Class 2 the modem will use the highest available baud rate if a baud rate higher than what is available is requested. In Class 1, a different set of commands is used to determine the supported baud rates, however if the FAX Modem supports both Class 1 and Class 2, Sys Info 2.10 uses the Class 2 method to determine the baud rates. In Class 1, the commands are: AT+FTM=? AT+FRM=? AT+FTH=? AT+FRH=? The commands with a 'T' are list the Transmit (Send) speeds and the commands with an 'R' list the Receive speeds. This is because some Class 1 FAX Modems, such as the single chip Rockwell based Zoom AFX, support different speeds for send (2400-9600) vs. receive (2400-4800). On some Class 1 FAX Modems, it may be necessary to first set the modem into Class 1 mode with the AT+FCLASS=1 command prior to sending the above commands, or else it may return ERROR. Charles ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 66 Sun Dec 11, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:45 EST Ah, a New York minute is something that happens a looon way away. I'm closer to Toronto than I am to Noo Yawk City. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 67 Mon Dec 12, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:24 EST Charles - Thanks for checking this out, and passing it on! Results of your questions: In Class 2 mode (AT+FCLASS=2) AT+FDCS=? -> ERROR AT+FDIS=? -> (0,1),(0-5),0,(0-2),(0),(0),(0),(0-7) AT+FDCC=? -> (0,1),(0-5),0,(0-2),(0),(0),(0),(0-7) In Class 1 mode (AT+FCLASS=1) AT+FTM=? -> 24,48,72,73,96,97,98,121,122,145,146 AT+FRM=? -> SAME AS ABOVE AT+FTH=? -> 3 AT+FRH=? -> 3 Hope this helps. As I said, the modem works perfectly with The STraight Fax, and the SYSINFO.PRG does give the message that the modem _is_ compatible. Just won't report available baud rates. If your curious, here is the Modem report SYSINFO210 gives: MODEM TEST RESULTS: ------------------- Modem Class : 0 (Data), 1 FAX, 2 FAX Caller ID : Not Present FAX Speed : Unknown Silent Answer : Not Present Chipset : (c) Practical Peripherals, Inc., Firmware Info : PM14400FXMT [40R4] Version 1.03 Buffer Size : Unknown Flow Control : Available === Modem Profile BEGIN === ACTIVE PROFILE: DTE:19200 DCE: PARITY:NONE B16 B1 E1 L2 M1 N1 P Q0 V1 W0 X4 Y0 &A0 &B1 &C1 &D2 &G0 &K3 &L0 &Q5 &R0 &S0 &T4 &U0 &X0 &Y0 S00:000 S01:000 S02:043 S03:013 S04:010 S05:008 S06:002 S07:050 S08:002 S09:006 S10:014 S11:095 S12:050 S18:000 S25:005 S26:001 S30:000 S36:007 S37:000 S38:020 S43:000 S46:002 S48:007 S49:064 S50:220 S63:009 S82:128 S86:000 S95:000 S97:030 S108:001 S109:062 S110:002 S136:003 STORED PROFILE 0: B16 B1 E1 L2 M1 N1 P Q0 V1 W0 X4 Y0 &A0 &B1 &C1 &D2 &G0 &K3 &L0 &Q5 &R0 &S0 &T4 S00:000 S02:043 S06:002 S07:050 S08:002 S09:006 S10:014 S11:095 S12:050 S18:000 S25:005 S26:001 S30:000 S36:007 S37:000 S38:020 S46:002 S48:007 S63:009 S82:128 S95:000 S97:030 S108:001 S109:062 S110:002 S136:003 STORED PROFILE 1: B16 B1 E1 L2 M1 N1 P Q0 V1 W0 X4 Y0 &A0 &B1 &C1 &D2 &G0 &K3 &L0 &Q5 &R0 &S0 &T4 S00:000 S02:043 S06:002 S07:050 S08:002 S09:006 S10:014 S11:095 S12:050 S18:000 S25:005 S26:001 S30:000 S36:007 S37:000 S38:020 S46:002 S48:007 S63:009 S82:128 S95:000 S97:030 S108:001 S109:062 S110:002 S136:003 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: &Z0= &Z1= &Z2= &Z3= === Modem Profile END === Modem is STraight FAX! Compatible! -=-=-=-=-=- Gee, I've never pasted a file with Aladdin before, hope it stay's formatted correctly! Thanks again, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 68 Mon Dec 12, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:51 EST Matt, You need to add a space before each line to keep a format. I would guess we all can read your message well enough however. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 69 Mon Dec 12, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 06:50 EST Anybody get the SYSINFO program to run on a computer without a modem? I tried it, and it seems not to work. It has the option of skipping the modem check. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 70 Mon Dec 12, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 19:19 EST Ken, There are many sysinfo utilities besides the one from Toad, and they have no problem running on a modemless system. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 71 Mon Dec 12, 1994 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 21:09 EST Peter, How far do you want to take it? Away from Lake County that is. Charles, I get the same results as Matt Rivman. Is the ERROR for AT+FDCS=? causing SYSINFO to think the modem is not FAX capable? I've been considering the STfax program, but when SYSINFO said my old ZOOM 9600 was FAX capable, (manual said nothing about FAX capabilities) and then SYSINFO can't find the FAX stuff in my Practical Peripherals PM144MT II that the manual says is FAX capable, well, I just scratch my head and move on to other solvable problems. ;^) Bud ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 72 Mon Dec 12, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 23:23 EST To: B.CONNOLLY1, SysInfo 2.10 was co-written by myself and Dave Troy at Toad Computers. Dave wrote the user interface and modem tester part (with input on how STFAX! does things). I wrote the stuff that gets all the OS info and STFAX! preferences file disassembly. The code that tests a modem is not the same code as in STFAX! itself, but most of it is based on the same concepts. Sys Info tries to do things that STFAX! does not need to know, i.e. specific firmware revision. In 99% of the cases the two programs are in sync, but in a few... I have passed the PPI problems onto Dave, and I expect that once he gets through finals and the holidays, a new version of SysInfo will become available that does even more neat tricks. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 73 Tue Dec 13, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 00:12 EST Al, Yup, I used one, but I like the Toad one. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 74 Tue Dec 13, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:15 EST Bud - Doesn't SYSINFO give you that little message at the bottom saying 'modem is STraight Fax compatible'? -- It does when run with _my_ PM144MT II. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 75 Tue Dec 13, 1994 M.SQUIRE [Mike] at 05:27 EST Al, >The last fellow Atarian I worked with moved to Cleveland a while back, >so the point is that these people just don't know what they are >missing. (And who'd ever want to move to Cleveland anyway?) I take exception to your remarks about Cleveland. I lived there for 23 years. It's a great town and I'd like to be able to move back there someday. ... Mike Squire ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 76 Tue Dec 13, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:35 EST Mike, I have a very fine friend in Cleveland, which also has a good newspaper that is part of the group that owns my paper here, and I was NOT serious about Cleveland being a place one would not want to move to. Gotta use those smiley's more! :-) :-) Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 77 Tue Dec 13, 1994 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 20:44 EST Bud, :) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 78 Tue Dec 13, 1994 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 22:11 CST Al, Ken, I'm kind of partial to the Sysinfo from H.W.A.M de Beer, myself. It tells you just about everything you could want to know. (except if your modem is Straight Fax compatible) The Toad one is the prettiest, though. Damon ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 79 Wed Dec 14, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 05:32 EST Cleveland, the mistake on the lake with the river that burns. In all fairness, once I found some of the better features of Cleveland, like the theater area, and the underground shop/eatery mall and where the good looking women hid out, I like it a lot better. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 80 Wed Dec 14, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:43 EST Damon, Thanks. We shoudl open up a sysinfo topic sometime. There are quite a few really good ones. I like the TOS versions of the ones I have, since they can run in a little window under Geneva and are always ready to use. Dan Wilga will be able to announce an even bigger benefit to these TOS apps before long. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 81 Wed Dec 14, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 16:12 EST Has anyone ever tried connecting a desk-top fax machine directly to their fax/modem? I decided to go with the Supra/STraight Fax option for now -- J&R has the Supra 144LC @ $119.95 -- and have thought of trying a direct connection through a regular telephone cable. The idea would be to set the Fax/modem at 'auto answer' and then press 'send' on my desk top fax. I don't know if it will work, but I doubt it would do any harm. I can't offhand imagine anything the telephone system adds to make the system work other than distance and potential noise factors. If it works, it will save me from bothering my neighbor every day to fax me my own documents. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 82 Wed Dec 14, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 19:03 EST To: S.WOLF4, You can not connect two telco devices (i.e. phones, fax machines, modems, answering machines, etc.) together and get them to communicate without a telephone system in between. The telephone system that is normally in between would require 2 phone lines + the added expense. We have a telephone demonstrator box that acts as a self contained telephone system with 4 lines. It does everything a normal phone line can do, except Caller ID. We use this device to test FAXing from one FAX Modem to another and from a FAX Machine and FAX Modem. It comes in very handy at computer shows and user group demos as well. I have seen, but never purchased, devices that allow you to connect a FAX Modem to a FAX Machine, that allows you to use the FAX Machine as a scanner and printer. I dont know if they require special software or how effective they might be. Charles Smeton NewSTar Technology Management ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 83 Wed Dec 14, 1994 B.CONNOLLY1 [Bud] at 21:31 EST Matt, >Doesn't SYSINFO give you that little message at the bottom saying >'modem is >STraight Fax compatible'? -- It does when run with _my_ >PM144MT II. Yes it does, right before it crashes (2 bombs) and burns. It also says above that it cannot determine the FAX class. Not what I call a definitive answer. Mike Squire, >I take exception to your remarks about Cleveland. I lived there >for 23 years. It's a great town and I'd like to be able to move >back there someday. Must have been a long time ago, I live here now and would not recommend it. If I could just get a transfer to Duquesne Light in Pittsburgh, I'd be gone in a flash. Al, I hope you're not refering to that rag, the Plain Dealer, are you? We don't allow it on the site. ;^) Sandy, I 'think' the phone company supplies a little voltage on the line to drive things. The FAX and modem won't do that. You might also have a little trouble getting the FAX machine to recognize that the line is open without a dial tone. Bud ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 84 Wed Dec 14, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [Missionware] at 20:55 CST Charles... > We have a telephone demonstrator box that acts as a self contained > telephone system with 4 lines. Is this a home-brew box or something that you purchased? I've often thought of trying to build something like that, but just haven't ever gotten around to it. John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 85 Wed Dec 14, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:14 EST Damon, I think that Sysinfo is the one that's my second choice. I know no. 2 is a good one. It might be no. 1 for everything but the modem thing, except I don't think it saves a file that I can print out. Joe, I lived in a dorm right next to Severance Hall for a summer, and snuck over to hear the orchestra rehearse. I liked the rapid transit system, too. Although I was studying geology, I never got to the museum to see their fantastic fossil fish collection. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 86 Thu Dec 15, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:51 EST Bud, Whups! I think the PD is a nice paper, but then I don't read it all the time! Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 87 Fri Dec 16, 1994 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 07:33 CST Charles, If you remember a while back; I was having problems receiving Faxes. After a connection my modem would hang up the phone. You requested that I send you my sysinfo.txt file, E-Mail; I did just that. I had since purchased LoadAlad and am now using Modem port 2 on my TT, well last night Toad computers had attempted to send me a FAX; the modem answered the phone, seemed to make a connection and then hung-up the phone. Some time later, Bob at Vision Computers transfered me some files, however it didn't work on the first try. I dialed the phone, listened to it ring, the modems made the connection; them my modem hung-up the phone. I tried again and disabiled the drop DTR,and "Modem sets DCD"; and everything worked fine. We were both useing STalker. So will this also work for me with STfax...that is by turning off DTR and CD. One or the other or both...Which one/s ? SAK :| ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 88 Fri Dec 16, 1994 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 18:48 EST >Cleveland, like the theater area, and the underground shop/eatery mall and >where the good looking women hid out, I like it a lot better. > >>> Joe M << >---------- Joe, Head for the Flats! ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 89 Sat Dec 17, 1994 T.GIRSCH [T.J.@ S-Mart] at 00:32 CST SAK - I had a very similar problem to the one you reported. I called Maxtor's FaxBack service, it would ring, STraight FAX would answer and then immediately disconnect. I discovered (quite by accident) that by DISabling Caller ID (under Preferences->Receive FAX), the problem would go away. You might want to try that. BTW, I suppose I probably should have told Charles about that... - T.J. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 90 Sat Dec 17, 1994 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 08:41 EST Petter, I get lost everytime I go to the Flats (I just end up going over the same bridge time after time, I can't figure it out since I always seem to be going the same way and I never seem to cross back across another bridge.) >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 91 Sat Dec 17, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 10:31 EST To: T.GIRSCH, Some Rockwell based FAX Modems (Zoom, PC Logic, etc.) have a problem with the Caller ID in their firmware ROM. When Caller ID is activated, the modem hangs up on incoming calls. I would recommend checking with the modem vendor about a new ROM upgrade. Supra FAX Modems with Caller ID do not seem to have this problem, even though Supra also uses Rockwell chipsets and a customized Rockwell firmware. As such, it is possible to correct this problem in the firmware. For now, disable Caller ID if your FAX Modem hangs up on incoming calls. Straight FAX! will automatically detect if a FAX Modem supports Caller ID and disable the Caller ID check box if it does not support it. Since these FAX Modems appear to support Caller ID (i.e. the response to AT#CID=? is 0,1,2 OK, you must disable the check box yourself. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 92 Sat Dec 17, 1994 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 19:17 EST JOE, The flats can be a very confusing place. I once found it, had more than a few drinks, and had a terrible time getting out! Seriously, I went to a bunch of Indians games this summer and have the correct path into the flats. Go over the bridge and make an immediate left and head down. The only problem is I can only navigate down there from Jacobs Field, but there are a lot worse places to start from. Go Tribe! (If they ever play again, that is.) Maybe I should utilize this topic correctly and use straight fax to fax you directions.:) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 93 Sat Dec 17, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 20:32 EST To all: The Topic Police please ask everyone to move the Cleveland discussion to the appropriate area. I am sure it is a nice place to both visit and live, even if their new baseball stadium is a copy cat of the original Camden Yards ;-) Thank You... ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 94 Sat Dec 17, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 20:53 EST NewSTar Tech - - 1) Thanks for your advice on trying a direct connection between my desktop fax and the fax/modem -- it won't go. Can you be persuaded to supply the "black box" you use for this purpose, or perhaps a diagram so we users can assemble such a device? 2) Since my soon to arrive Supra 144LC/STraight Fax seems to fit your last posting as one which avoids the Caller ID problem, I suppose I need not be concerned at all -- I do not subscribe to that service. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 95 Sun Dec 18, 1994 C.BINCKLEY [-- Chuck --] at 01:13 PST Charles, In case you didn't get my email message, I'm having an occasional problem with transmitting faxes: Sometimes, the fax is received with all the lines scrunched up, as if the receiving machine was trying to print my fine rez faxes in normal rez. I don't know what kind of machines this happens on, or exactly how often it happens, because I only find out about it when the recipient actually calls me back to let me know the fax is illegible. The faxes are generally 3 or 4 page resumes being sent to various companies, and usually, if someone tells me the fax was bad, they don't seem to know what kind of fax machine (or settings) they received it on (duh!)... I had included a SysInfo file with the email message; if you would like me to send it again, please let me know. Basically, I'm using STraight FAX 2.20 with a Practical Peripherals PM144MTII faxmodem (through the modem 2 port) and a MegaSTE with 4 megs RAM under Geneva and NeoDesk 4. Recently I noticed another resolution-related problem: A couple of normal-rez faxes I received through STraight FAX are always displayed and printed as fine rez (in STraight FAX, that is). Gemview, however, will display and print them as normal rez (via the STFAX drivers). Any ideas? Oh, and one other thing - the STFAX driver for SpeedoGDOS seems to have a problem with full-justification paragraphs from AtariWorks documents. Occasionally a few lines stretch out past the right margin of the paragraph after "printing" them with the fax driver and viewing the resulting J0? files in either STFAX or Gemview. The same paragraphs look okay within Works and print via the DJ5 driver without problems. And the same paragraphs replicated in That's Write 3 and "printed" via it's STFAX driver or Deskjet driver are okay. By the way, the docs in question are all "printed" as fine rez. Thanks for your excellent support! -- Chuck -- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 96 Sun Dec 18, 1994 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 11:42 EST Further geographic discussions will move into category 18. Brian ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 97 Sun Dec 18, 1994 C.NICHOLLS [BILL] at 20:09 PST SAK, This sounds a little like the problem I had sending faxes when I was using Modem 2. Twice on different machines the remote Fax gave an unusual answer signal and timed out before a connection could be established. I haven't had occasion to send one since I moved back to Modem 1 because of problems using LoadAladdin, which were definitely not due to LoadAladdin itself. Previously, I had no particular problems sending Faxes when using Modem 1. Bill ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 98 Mon Dec 19, 1994 M.WEILERT2 [Matt] at 07:39 PST Charles, I've subscribed to Caller ID and my Supra FaxModem v32bis is CID capable, yet I'm getting no info reported. I've got my phone line split thusly: |---in-line recorder for conference calls, voice-prompted L2~~| stock ordering, etc. / |/SupraFaxModem-modem port2 [STFax] / |\teleprotector(per STFax manual)-ans. machine / | wall-RS-L1~~~|---Supra2400 modem-modem port 1 \ | \ | \ | L1+L2~~|----conventional 2-line phone RS = Radio Shack 2-line splitter, separates stock 4-core line into separate line 1 & line 2, allowing two modems (which only recognize the inner two wires) plus the combined 4 pass-through for phone use. Does something specific jump out at you, or is there a simpler way to hookup without losing any of the tasks? Perhaps it's clearly explained in to manual & I missed it , in which case page #'s would suffice. BTW I read pages 93,100,101 & A-10,12. I have CID selected in the Receive Fax menu. Thanks for the help in getting Caller ID to function properly :-) Merry Christmas, Matt @ WeilInfo ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 99 Tue Dec 20, 1994 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 07:33 CST I haven't had Caller ID switched on for some time now, so I know that that's not the my problem. Bill, My problem is in receiving faxes; my modem will answere the phone then hang up as soon as it seems to detect something comming from the sending fax. This does not happen all the time. I do really think that the problem has something to do with the drop DTR, But I'm not sure since I don't always have the problem. The problem is consistant with the who is sending the FAX though. As of now I can't seem to receive a fax from Toad Computers and a couple of other clients of mine. Charles, I'm am very, very sorry that I Ignorently desided to test StFAX on my Mega 4, when I Started to experience ramdom problems with it on my TT. It is installed on my TT, and when I noticed the problem because of increased use of ST Fax and changing the settings with no apparent solution, I started to wonder weather the problem was with My TT itself, That is the only reason why I TESTED St Fax on my Mega 4. I have no reason to use the software on my Mega 4. Unless of course I can't get it to run properly on the TT and I can on the Mega. Then I would install it on my MEGA and remove it from my TT. However, as of now; the test I made by running StFax on my Mega, proved that my TT is not the problem. I'm sure that any Person that experiences problems with their computer systems, with out even thinking; would probably attempt to test things out on their other systems in order to resolve the problems they are experiencing. I seemed to have Ignorently preformed a few tests, not even thinking that I was in vialation of the License Agreement. I hope that My stupidity hasen't jeopardized any of the excellent support that you would normally reply to. If you were to personally know me, you might quickly notice that as a Graphic Artist; I hold the highest degree of integrity toward COPYRIGHTS. I know what it is like being ripped off and many of the people that know me, will admit that I will not copy any one elses work. HTR( honesty, trust and respect);is the only way to do business. I realize that these are just words, and there is nothing in them to prove to you that they are true. I just hope that you can Trust my word and forgive my stupidy. I write this with the feeling that you have been avoiding to reconize me since the last post you made to me, reguarding the the fact that I should deside which system I'm going to install ST Fax on. SAK :? ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 100 Tue Dec 20, 1994 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 10:10 EST Charles ... SAK, Steve Kaleita, is good people. I believe everything that he just said, if that helps. I've been doing business with him and communicating with him for many years. Sincerely Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 101 Wed Dec 21, 1994 S.WOLF4 [Sandy] at 02:01 EST I found the apparent solution to my problem of direct transmission from regular fax to fax/modem. It is a gizmo named 'ComScan', made by Command Communications. $80 at Egghead Software. It connects fax, fax/modem, and telephone, monitors incoming calls, switches to appropriate device, etc. It also enables direct communication either way between the 2 faxes. Just what I need, I think. When STraight Fax arrives at my door, maybe tomorrow, I'll report the results. Can't wait. --Sandy ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 102 Wed Dec 21, 1994 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 17:45 EST How much does a Straight Fax go for these days. I have an old Fast Fax but the software doesn't work anymore and besides it only does 1200 baud. I would LOVE to have a Fax but they still haven't come down in price to what I need. What's the price on a Straight Fax kit? ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 103 Wed Dec 21, 1994 ST.WALLY [ _Wally_ ] at 22:07 EST Howdy, Darlah, When I was at Toad, I saw STraight FAX for $79.00. Their Zoom VFX v.32bis (14.4 FAX/data) modems were in the $150.00 range. I'm pretty sure they are offering a package deal at bargain prices. I like the Zoom VFX (I bought one). It comes with a 7-year warranty, and is Class 1 and Class 2 FAX compatible. It also has v.42/MNP4 and v.32bis, as well as v.42bis/MNP5 for the FAX side. One other thing, the manual is one of the best modem manuals I've ever read. Very easy to understand, very easy to find things, well laid out, and well cross-referenced. Best regards, Wally ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 104 Wed Dec 21, 1994 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 22:11 EST 7 year warranty??? Wow.... Thank for the info, Wally! ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 105 Wed Dec 21, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 22:35 EST To: B.CONNOLLY1, > I get the same results as Matt Rivman. Is the ERROR for AT+FDCS=? causing > SYSINFO to think the modem is not FAX capable? I've been considering the STfax The next version of SysInfo will try AT+FDIS=?, AT+FDCS=? and AT+FDCC=? until a non ERROR response is received. Most Class 2 FAX Modems support all of these commands, but the PPI FAX Modems do not. To: J.TRAUTSCHOL [Missionware], The Phone Demonstrator Box we have is from a company named Proctor & Associates in Redmond, Washington (also the home of Bill Gates;-). The model we have is the 49200 which is a 4 line system. We have had this box for over 4 years now, so I suspect newer models are available with even more features (i.e. Caller ID). The box is not inexpensive either. The 49200 cost over $500, but it has paid for itself over the years at computer shows, at user group demos and for in house testing. To: S.KALEITA, > Some time later, Bob at Vision Computers transfered me some files, however it > didn't work on the first try. I dialed the phone, listened to it ring, the > modems made the connection; them my modem hung-up the phone. The modem hanging up when connecting is symptomatic of having the a phone handset plugged into the "Line" jack and the phone line connected into the "Phone" jack on the back of the modem. Most modems today have a relay that will disconnect a phone handset connected to the "Phone" jack, to prevent interference from someone accidentally picking up the phone handset and causing the modem to drop the carrier. However, if things are working properly in data mode, then this is probably not the case. If the problem were only on receiving and not sending, then I might suspect that you had a non-Supra Rockwell based FAX Modem with Caller ID enabled. Older Caller ID firmware would hangup immediately after answering if Caller ID were enabled on these FAX Modems (Zoom, PC Logic). Again, this is probably not the case, as you have the problem on both send and receive. > I tried again and disabiled the drop DTR,and "Modem sets DCD"; and everything > worked fine. We were both useing STalker. The Drop DTR option will simply cause the DTR signal to be dropped for a short time period to force the FAX Modem to hangup. This will work provided that the RS-232 cable has the DTR signal, the serial port in use has the DTR signal and the modem is not configured to ignore the dropping of DTR. STraight FAX! will only drop the DTR at the end of the FAX connection or a user abort, if this option is enabled. The Check CD option will cause STraight FAX! to check if the modem might be in use prior to initializing the modem, by checking for a Carrier Detect. Again, proper operation depends on the RS-232 cable and serial port supporting CD and the modem being configured to only assert CD when a Carrier is present (AT&Cn). If you are using STraight FAX! and another terminal program (STalker, Flash 2, Aladdin, etc.) at the same time (i.e. both in memory and running at the same time, by loading one or both as a desk accessory, or with a multitasking AES, such as Geneva, MultiTOS or MagiC), then you will need to disable or unload one or the other when using one of them. STraight FAX! will effectively be disabled by disabling Auto Receive. The Check CD function, will also prevent STraight FAX! from trying to schedule an event when the modem is in use by the terminal program. STalker 3 has an internal disable command that can be selected without unloading it. I am not sure about Flash 2, Aladdin or other terminal programs. Also, make sure that the terminal program restores the serial port back to its proper state if you are using an SCC based port set at a baud rate higher than 19200 baud (i.e. Modem 2 or Serial 2 on a TT030 or MegaSTe, or the Modem port on a Falcon030). I am not sure if you have version 2.20 or version 2.10 installed. I would suggest upgrading to 2.20 as it is the latest version. You can also try using both Class 1 and Class 2 modes, to see if this makes any difference. > I seemed to have Ignorently preformed a few tests, not even thinking that I > was in vialation of the License Agreement. No one said you violated any agreement. Just use the program on one computer at a time. With most Atari systems, the program is usually installed on a hard drive, which can to different computers at different times. To: C.NICHOLLS, > This sounds a little like the problem I had sending faxes when I was using > Modem 2. Twice on different machines the remote Fax gave an unusual answer > signal and timed out before a connection could be established. I haven't had > occasion to send one since I moved back to Modem 1 because of problems using > LoadAladdin, which were definitely not due to LoadAladdin itself. Previously, > I had no particular problems sending Faxes when using Modem 1. Modem 1 uses the MFP chip, Serial Fix 2.0 will correct the routines that process the MFP serial I/O. Modem 2 and Serial 2 use the SCC chip. If you have TOS 2.06 or 3.06, then Serial Fix 2.0 does not affect these ports. On the otherhand, if you have TOS 2.05 or 3.05, Serial Fix 2.0 does as Atari's SERPTCH2 does, in correcting serious bugs that prevent these ports from working at all. If you have TOS 2.05 or 3.05, upgrading to 2.06 or 3.06 is highly recommended. To: K.VANDELLEN and F.LAWRENCE2, > Yup, that's what I was talking about. I've used the Wand in Touchup to scan a > document, and then used STFAX to send it. It would be nice to do the scanning > within STFAX. > Yes, yes, I too would like to see the "Wand" available from STFAX. We do not have a Wand Scanner available to us for development of a driver for it. We were hoping at one time that Dr. Bobware would upgrade their popular ScanLite utility (which is supported for scanning within STraight FAX! for hand scanners) to support the Migraph Wand Scanner. As our area of specialty is FAX Modems, we have quite a few different FAX Modems for testing and development. Despite this, from time to time we have borrowed FAX Modems from users and friends in order to better support a few of the less popular or very expensive brands of FAX Modems. We do have a Migraph Hand Scanner and a Canon/Navaronne full page scanner, but since the Wand Scanner is not inexpensive, we could not justify its purchase as we already have two scanning devices. If someone were to lend us a Wand Scanner, we might be able to develop such a driver. If anyone is interested, please contact us... Of course, if we were to sell a few million copies of STraight FAX! by the end of the year, we would buy a Wand Scanner ;-) To: DARLAH, > How much does a Straight Fax go for these days. I have an old Fast Fax but the > software doesn't work anymore and besides it only does 1200 baud. I would LOVE > to have a Fax but they still haven't come down in price to what I need. What's > the price on a Straight Fax kit? STraight FAX! lists for $109.95 (US), but can be found for around $80.00 (US) street price from many fine Atari dealers in North America. Toad Computers is one dealer that I can insure you that will have STraight FAX! in stock. There is no true "STraight FAX! Kit", as STraight FAX! is a software only product. STraight FAX! works with Class 1 and Class 2 FAX Modems, for which there are many models and vendors. Prices of FAX Modems are normally driven by the "data" side baud rates and capabilities. There are 2400 baud data/ 9600 baud FAX Modems available in the $70.00 (US) street price range, while the latest and greatest 28800 baud data/14400 baud FAX Modems sell in the $250.00 (US) street price range. Many dealers, such as Toad, have bundle deals where they will sell you STraight FAX! and a FAX Modem together. BTW, Nathan is a STraight FAX! owner, so you can get an up close and personal demo quite easily ;-) To: M.WEILERT2, It is possible that the line splitter is filtering out the Caller ID signal. You must also let the phone ring twice, as the CID signal is transmitted in between the first and second rings. Try the following: With your current connection setup, run a terminal program such as STalker or Flash 2. Type the command: AT#CID=1. You should get an OK response. This will enable the modem to report the CID info. Type the command ATS0=0. Again, you should get an OK response. This will prevent the modem from automatically answering. Now, have someone call you. When the phone rings, you should see something like the following in the terminal program's capture buffer: RING DATE = 1521 TIME = 1221 NMBR = 5555551234 NAME = A Name RING RING If you dont see the CID info between the first and second RINGs, then the splitter is filtering the CID info out, i.e. it is preventing the modem from properly detecting the CID info. BTW, the NAME field is not available in all areas that have CID. In some areas with CID, the name of the caller will be reported for an additional monthly fee. You will also need a newer CID box to see the Name as well. STraight FAX! will detect the Name and enter it into the Comment: field in the Receive Log entry. You should also verify that your CID box detects the Caller ID if it is chained in-line with the FAX Modem. Beyond that, you will need to verify exactly what the line splitter is doing to the phone signal. To: C.BINCKLEY, > In case you didn't get my email message, I'm having an occasional problem with > transmitting faxes: This is likely a flow control problem. If the receiver has corrupted lines in the FAX data, it may simply ignore them, causing the FAX to appear scrunched. Take a look at the tech notes on the 2.20 master disk. There is info on installing the proper patches such as Serial Fix 2.0 to correct flow control problems. Try both RTS/CTS and XON/XOFF flow control, and increase the input and output I/O buffer sizes to 32767 bytes. Other than that, you may have a noisy phone line. Insure that no electrical devices are near the phone line wires. > Recently I noticed another resolution-related problem: A couple of normal- rez > faxes I received through STraight FAX are always displayed and printed as fine > rez (in STraight FAX, that is). Gemview, however, will display and print them > as normal rez (via the STFAX drivers). Any ideas? You can verify the resolution of a FAX file when viewing it using the Edit Clip Settings command in the popup menu that appears when the right button is clicked when over the window. You can also use a binary file editor/viewer such as Memfile 3 to display the start of the FAX file. The first 4 bytes will be "JFAX". The next 2 bytes are the height in lines of the FAX. The next 2 bytes are either 0000 for Normal Rez or 0001 for Fine Rez. Note: some users with Color monitors in ST Medium Rez get a bit confused since the pixel aspect ratio in ST Medium is the same as a Normal Rez FAX. So a Normal Rez FAX appears in the proper aspect ratio, while a Fine Rez FAX appears stretched. The opposite is true in all other graphic modes with square pixels, i.e. ST High Rez, TT Medium Rez, TT High Rez, Falcon 640x480, etc. In this case, the Fine Rez FAXes will appear in the proper aspect ratio, as both the screen and FAX have square pixels, but Normal Rez FAXes will appear squashed. Also, when STraight FAX! exports or prints a Normal Rez FAX file, every horizontal line is duplicated to correct for the pixel aspect ratio. The same is true when a Normal Rez FAX is inported into GEM View 3 with the supplied drivers. > Oh, and one other thing - the STFAX driver for SpeedoGDOS seems to have a > problem with full-justification paragraphs from AtariWorks documents. > Occasionally a few lines stretch out past the right margin of the paragraph > after "printing" them with the fax driver and viewing the resulting J0? files There is not much we can do about this problem, as the page rasterization in GDOS printer drivers is performed by a code library developed by Atari. All we do is link in our unique part of the driver that sends the page bitmap generated to a FAX file instead of the printer. To All: There is a new alternative to Speedo GDOS called NVDI 3 from 2B Software in Germany. NVDI 3 is both a GDOS replacement that supports Speedo and True Type fonts and a screen accelerator as it replaces the Atari VDI. NVDI 3 while a GDOS replacement, does not use the same printer drivers as Speedo GDOS uses. It has its own driver methodology. We are in the process of contacting 2B Software in Germany to obtain the necessary information to develop an NVDI 3 STraight FAX! driver. Util that happens, there is a workaround for NVDI 3 users. NVDI 3 comes with an IMG file driver that produces standard IMG files. Configure this driver to 200 DPI (or something near that) to allow it to create IMG files that can be transferred as fine rez FAXes. To All: The following appeared in the most recent Atari Explorer Online Magazine (AEO_0314, Volume 3, Issue 14, 18 December 1994): > [] FPATCH2 is an official patch from Atari that fixes two problems in > the Falcon BIOS (TOS 4.00-4.04). The first is the problem that causes > the Sound to not initialize properly and the second is the fix for the > Bconmap() which doesn't work. Run this from your AUTO folder. If you > have FPATCH1 use this instead. It fixes the problems much more > usefully (see the docs). One (possible) bug in this has been told me > by a friend who owns a Falcon and a FAX modem. When used, this patch > prevents the FAX modem from being recognized by the Falcon when using > STRaight FAX. Delphi. The statement at the end of this paragraph is incorrect. STraight FAX! has been developed on a Falcon030 with Atari's FPATCH2 installed. This statement is likely due to someone not understanding what FPATCH2 is designed to do. When FPATCH2 is installed, the Falcon's modem port is moved from device number 6 to device number 7. All that is necessary is to select device 7 as the modem port in STraight FAX!. FPATCH2 is not required if running MultiTOS, as the function of FPATCH2 is built into MultiTOS. Another PD utility called BCONMAP2 is available that will work in conjunction with FPATCH2 to make device 6 and device 7 point to the Falcon's modem port. BCONMAP2 allows non Falcon-aware programs to operate correctly when FPATCH2 or MultiTOS is installed. These (older) programs normally do not allow selection of which modem port device to use. Charles Smeton NewSTar Technology Management ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 106 Wed Dec 21, 1994 C.NICHOLLS [BILL] at 22:50 PST Charles, I have TOS 2.06 -- I upgraded a few months ago. Bill ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 107 Thu Dec 22, 1994 AEO.MAG [] Go FSU! [] at 03:10 EST Charles, Sorry for the bad info. I'll pass your text along to Michael Burkley, for inclusion in the next issue. Thanks! --Travis @ AEO ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 108 Thu Dec 22, 1994 C.BINCKLEY [-- Chuck --] at 01:09 PST Charles, 1) Re occasional scrunched fax transmissions: I don't use Serial Fix because my FAX/modem is connected to the modem2 port on my MegaSTE. I have to use modem2 because I have a MIDI port expander connected to - and which only works with - modem1. I have flow control set to RTS/CTS. My FAX/modem is the PPI PM144MTII set at 14.4 BPS. My I/O buffers are about 16k. Noisy phone lines may be a possibility, but since the corrupted faxes were sent in the middle of a batch of multiple-page faxes going to about 20 recipients, and since _every_ line in the bad faxes was scrunched, and none of the others (as far as I can determine) had any bad lines, I don't believe this is the problem. 2) Re incorrect display and printing of received normal-rez faxes: The faxes in question are definitely normal-rez. I use ST high rez exclusively, so color monitor idiosyncracies don't apply. The question is: why does STFAX display the normal-rez fax at half-height (as if it was trying to display a fine-rez fax at normal-rez) while Gemview displays it correctly? 3) Re full justification problem with Speedo FAX driver: I guess I'll have to stick to TW3 for creating any faxes with full justification until somebody fixes Speedo (or until I can afford NVDI3) (8^})... Thanks for your help in these matters! -- Chuck -- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 109 Thu Dec 22, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 06:59 EST Charles, Where do you live? Maybe someone near you has a Wand. Will you be at the Toronto ACE '95 show? I'm thinking about attending on Saturday. I don't suppose that would give you enough time to do anything. Would you mind if I asked Migraph and Dr. Bob at if they could give you some help? They might get some benefit out of it, too. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 111 Thu Dec 22, 1994 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 07:35 CST Thanks Nathan, those kind words are highly valued buy people like myself. SAK:) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 114 Thu Dec 22, 1994 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 19:02 EST I called Migraph, and they tell me the Wand is no longer being manufactured. I had said helping to develop compatiblity with STraight FAX might help to sell Wands, but they said they have only five left. It looks as though Dr. Bob is our last hope. I dropped him a note about fixing ScanLite, but I'll probably follow it up with a snail mail letter. Ken Van ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 115 Thu Dec 22, 1994 J.TRAUTSCHOL [Missionware] at 21:11 CST Hi Charles... Thanks for the info on the "Phone Demonstrator Box". Whew - $500 eh? Certainly not cheap, but I can see where it would come in handy for testing and for shows. I'll have to look into it. Thanks. John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 116 Fri Dec 23, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 01:31 PST Have any of you had problems faxing Canada from the USA? I have a fax machine in Oakville, Ontario that I can't get STFax to complete more that one page to. I don't know the machine in Ontario and I supect it. STFax and I have never had this problem with before. I'm going to ask them the make of their fax machine but I thought I would bring this up for conversation. It seems odd. It's like my modem does not see the page acknowledgement. I see the light flash but STFax hangs and the fax machine hangs up. To these guys I have to do single pages. I just completed sending five pages. One of them gave the response page sent ok. All the others STFax hung and fax mahine hung up. I user aborted the send. Any suggestion or ideas? Thanks ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 117 Fri Dec 23, 1994 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 07:35 CST Thanks Charles, had me bitting my nails a little. >The modem hanging up when connecting is symptomatic of having the a phone >handset plugged into the "Line" jack and the phone line connected into the >"Phone" jack on the back of the modem. Most modems today have a relay that >will disconnect a phone handset connected to the "Phone" jack, to prevent >interference from someone accidentally picking up the phone handset and >causing the modem to drop the carrier. > NOT the case here, I'm using a Y connector at the wall jack with the phone on one and the modem on the other. And the Radio Shaft gizimo that attatches between the Answering Machine and the phone line from a separate wall jack. I have Silent answer ON. >If the problem were only on receiving and not sending, then I might suspect >that you had a non-Supra Rockwell based FAX Modem with Caller ID enabled. >Older Caller ID firmware would hangup immediately after answering if Caller ID >were enabled on these FAX Modems (Zoom, PC Logic). > The problem is only when receiving, but not all the time. However it is consistant; I can't receive Faxes from specific peoples Faxes; Like Toad Computers Fax. I have A Supra Fax 96 V.32 MODEM TEST RESULTS: ------------------- Modem Class : 0 (Data), 1 FAX, 2 FAX Caller ID : Present FAX Speed : 9600 Send & Receive Silent Answer : Present Chipset : ROCKWELL: V.32AC Firmware Info : V1.80-05 TR14-Jxxx-001 191 Buffer Size : 1024 Flow Control : Available >The Drop DTR option will simply cause the DTR signal to be dropped for a short >time period to force the FAX Modem to hangup. This will work provided that the >RS-232 cable has the DTR signal, the serial port in use has the DTR signal and >the modem is not configured to ignore the dropping of DTR. STraight FAX! will >only drop the DTR at the end of the FAX connection or a user abort, if this >option is enabled. Is there something else that may go wrong if by some chance My Modem cable doesn't support DTR and CD? How do you recommend that I test my cable? I have Caller I.D. truned off and I'm using Modem port 2 >If you are using STraight FAX! and another terminal program (STalker, Flash 2, >Aladdin, etc.) at the same time (i.e. both in memory and running at the same >time, by loading one or both as a desk accessory, or with a multitasking AES, >such as Geneva, MultiTOS or MagiC). Not the case here, I don't use Geneva or Multitos and I don't run Stalker as an ACC. I do however usually use ST FAX as a program after I am done with Aladdin , Aladdin initializes the modem with AT&F2, which is a modem internal factory setting. >Also, make sure that the terminal program restores the serial port back to its >proper state if you are using an SCC based port set at a baud rate higher than >19200 baud (i.e. Modem 2 or Serial 2 on a TT030 or MegaSTe, or the Modem port >on a Falcon030). I have modem port 2 set at 19200 baud, I guess I should change it, EH? Well How do I do that, The modem CPX only goes up to 19200? How do I get Aladdin to restore the modem port2 back to its proper setting, and what is it's proper setting? >I am not sure if you have version 2.20 or version 2.10 installed. I would >suggest upgrading to 2.20 as it is the latest version. I Have version 2.20. Also I Have TOS 3.05 >You can also try using both Class 1 and Class 2 modes, to see if this makes >any difference. In which parameters menu, Modem or Receive Fax? >No one said you violated any agreement. Just use the program on one computer >at a time. With most Atari systems, the program is usually installed on a hard >drive, which can to different computers at different times. That all I have ever done, there is only one of me; and all I could do is use one system at a time. I did ask for a clone for Xmas, (a clone of me). Thanks for the help so far...still seeking a solution though. SAK :/ ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 118 Fri Dec 23, 1994 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 09:13 EST If you are having a problem faxing that location near Toronto, look for trouble with the equipment, not the telephone lines. Companies such as Bell, AT&T, Sprint etc. are just as well known here as in the USA. It's the same stuff. Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 119 Fri Dec 23, 1994 T.GIRSCH [T.J.@ S-Mart] at 09:04 CST Chuck - Don't use RTS/CTS if you use the Modem 2 port. If you look at your specs, the CTS line is not connected on Modem 2. (I have NO idea why not). See MSTe manual page F-1. If you're using a TT, nevermind; RTS/CTS works fine there. If using MSTe, use X-ON/X-OFF -TJ ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 120 Fri Dec 23, 1994 J.LINK3 [Red Oscar] at 20:37 EST I use a Hayes Optima 14400 FAX 144 Smartmodem which is Group 3 compatible. Will STraightFAX work with this modem? What is the difference between FAX Groups 1, 2, and 3? Thanks! Jack ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 121 Sat Dec 24, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:06 EST David - Your problem sounds like one I used to have when I was using a Zoom AFX modem. STraight Fax! would just hand adn then time out after sending a page, not recognizing the acknowledgement. I added a tiny .prg called QVFIX.PRG to my auto folder and that cured it for me. Now, Charles has repeatedly said that this should have no effect on the problem, as it was written (I think) to cure the mysterious 'ghost' keypresses that occur on some machines. All I know is that with the prg in my auto folder I was faxing without problems, and without it, a few of the machines were giving me the type of trouble you seem to be having. The QVFIX.PRG is in the lib's here. Don't know if it will help you, but it helped me at the time. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 122 Fri Dec 23, 1994 C.BINCKLEY [-- Chuck --] at 23:01 PST TJ, If that's true, it could be causing a problem, although I would again expect it to be either much more random, or happen more often, rather than completely messing up a couple of faxes while letting dozens of others go out unmolested... On the other hand, I read a definite statement somewhere (and I have NO idea right now where I read this) that the info about the CTS line in the MSTe manual was erroneous - that the modem2 CTS line IS connected. It may have been in some material related to STalker, maybe in the Gribnif CAT or a readme file, but I just don't remember. I know I saw this somewhere, because when I first got the MIDI expander, I had heard about the CTS line not being connected, and had connected my modem to the MSTe's serial2 port. However, I had ALL kinds of transmission errors and software conflicts (I use LoadAladdin from TraceTech to run Aladdin from any port other than modem1, and it didn't like any kind of serial buffer expansion when using serial2), but they all went away when I switched to modem2 after reading about the CTS line on modem2 being OK... Maybe I'm nuts, but hopefully Someone Who Knows will set the record straight...(8^}) -- Chuck -- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 123 Fri Dec 23, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:12 PST Thanks Nathan, I think it is the fax machine too. I have faxed them five times and everytime I must send them one page at a time. Next time I will try to schedule the single pages and see what happens. I'm not really sure what changes I could try in STFAX. David <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 124 Fri Dec 23, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:56 PST Hi Matt, I found QVFIX1.Prg. Thanks for the suggestion. I have installed it and will try it. I'll let you know. :) And thanks Al for the upload! David <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 125 Sat Dec 24, 1994 MUSE [Tomas] at 00:07 PST Matt, Good stuff. I get random key-clicks while running STraight FAX. (Uh, is that what you were talking about?) :-) I've experienced problems that I attribute to the size of the FAX file I create. I try to expand GIFs and JPEGs and convert them to big IMGs for conversion into a FAX. Blowing them up improves the effectiveness of whatever dither (OK, F-S) is applied to the process. It looks great, but there is a limit on how big you can go. 200% usually works. GEM View will convert these files directly now, but I like my more time-consuming process. Charles, Is there a way to generate a FAX file longer than a page (assuming I'm sending to a continuous-paper FAX machine)? Also, any tips on how to get graphics of various sizes to maximize themselves on the page? ===Tomas=== ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 126 Sat Dec 24, 1994 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 06:06 EST That QVFIX program is quite a mystery ... I tried running it on my TT long ago and all I got was more frequent crashes in other programs. Well, whatever gets you through the night. :) gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 127 Sat Dec 24, 1994 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 15:48 EST QVFIX is actually OVFIX, which originated in the bowels of Atari U.S. some time back. I inadvertently released it without getting permission, but no one I contacted at Atari later on had any objection to it (possibly because no one still there knew what it did!). It was or is a patch for some kind of keyboard glitch that shows up in some desk accessories and possibly in some programs. (STeno benefitted from it in an earlier version but hasn't needed OV for a long time.) Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 128 Sun Dec 25, 1994 D.SMITH10 [dave] at 10:20 EST Dear Charles, This is my first attempt at using the mail system on Genie and I feel a little ackward,but here goes. I am having difficuly breaking dialtone on the modem intialization on my Mega St.My configuation has a T25 excellerator in it should that creat any problems with modem functions I have tried ST FAX on my Stacy only as atest to if it was the computor it works OK. I know your support is only on line but, I am having diffic ty as I don't have much experience at telecomunicating. I would appreciate a simplified explaination of how to go about uploading the sysinfo file for you to view Thank Dave ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 129 Sun Dec 25, 1994 D.STMARTIN [Binary Ink] at 15:57 EST David: I'd advise you to switch serial patches. I had a problem similar to what you describe. STraight FAX would just sit there a time out at the page acknowledgement prompt. I did a couple things simultaneously; I swtiched to the HSMOD serial patch (available now in version 4 in the libraries here), secondly, Charles recommended an increase in the buffer size (32K), The combination of these two actions solved the problem. You might also want to confirm that you indeed _do_ have RTS/CTS turn on. Good Luck! -- Dave @ Binary Ink ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 130 Sun Dec 25, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 18:17 PST I think I should say my serial patch program is HSMOD 4. I think I have is set up right. Anyway I just tried going back to SERIAL20 and I tried HSMOD 4 with QVFIX or OVFIX. I did not try SERIAL20 with OVFIX but I might later. Results the same so far, receiving fax times out and turns off. Thanks for all the suggestions. I will increase buffer size and check RTS setting. Thanks so much for the help! :) David <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 131 Mon Dec 26, 1994 J.LINK3 [Red Oscar] at 13:31 EST Happy Holidays All! I use a Hayes Optima 14400 FAX 144 modem which the documentation says is Group 3 compliant. Is this modem compatible with STraightFAX? What is the difference between FAX Groups 1, 2, and 3? Jack ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 132 Mon Dec 26, 1994 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 14:55 EST To: (Al) A.FASOLDT, OVFIX1.PRG was included with early beta versions of MultiTOS that developers received. I am not sure if it was actually included with the release version of MultiTOS. The text below is paraphrased from the release notes from one of the early beta versions of MultiTOS, in reference to OVFIX1.PRG: "OVFIX1 is a TSR which tries to fix the keyboard overrun (Phantom Keyclick) problem. Install it in your AUTO folder (before MINT.PRG)." "OVFIX1 is a program that tries to fix the mouse overrun (Phantom Keyclick) problem. It works with or without MiNT/MultiTOS. Note that the Phantom Keyclick problem is NOT the Phantom Typist problem." As you can see, it is referred to as both a mouse and keyboard overrun fix. I suspect that it may fix both, as both the keyboard and mouse information are received from the keyboard microcontroller via a serial interface. To: (Nathan) POTECHIN, > If you are having a problem faxing that location near Toronto, look for > trouble with the equipment, not the telephone lines. Companies such as Bell, > AT&T, Sprint etc. are just as well known here as in the USA. It's the same > stuff. Problems faxing to Canada are a due to a provision in NAFTA, whereby only 72% of a transmitted FAX is allowed to be received, unless an 80% tariff is paid by the sending party ;-) To: J.LINK3, > I use a Hayes Optima 14400 FAX 144 Smartmodem which is Group 3 compatible. > Will STraightFAX work with this modem? What is the difference between FAX > Groups 1, 2, and 3? Thanks! We have never tested a Hayes Optima FAX Modem, but from what I understand they are Class 1 only FAX Modems. I would suggest that you download our SysInfo 2.10 program from the file library. It will test your FAX Modem and save our a report about the exact capabilities it supports. There is also a text file with SysInfo 2.10 that explains the differences between the various FAX Classes and FAX Groups. Basically FAX Groups are CCITT (now ITU) standards that all FAX devices must comply to. FAX groups 1 and 2 are basically obsolete now, and almost all FAX machines that connect to a POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) are Group 3. There is also a Group 4 FAX standard that is used for FAX Machines connected to digital ISDN lines. All FAX Modems that I have seen are Group 3 compatible, otherwise they could not communicate with FAX machines in use today. Group 3 defines low level protocol handshaking, timing, resolution, page sizes and data compression format. FAX Classes refer to the command set and protocol by which a computer communicates with a FAX Modem in order to have it send or receive FAXes. The Class 1 and 2 FAX command set are basically an extension to the AT command set, that is used to command the FAX Modem while in FAX Mode. You can easily test a FAX Modem to see which FAX Classes are supported by sending the command AT+FCLASS=? from any terminal program. The response will contain a list of the supported FAX Classes, such as 0,1 or 0,2, or 0,1,2. Note: Class 0 is the modem's data mode. There is a high probability that STraight FAX! 2.20 will operate with a Class 1 FAX Modem, provided that the modem vendor follows the Class 1 spec. In some FAX Modems this is not the case. We have internal beta versions of STraight FAX! that we are working on that now support Class 1 FAX Modems such as those from AT&T (DataPort 14.4/FAX and 9.6/FAX) and also support the Class 1 mode of the GVC/Exar based FAX Modems such as the Intel 144/144e and the GVC FAX Modems (which are both Class 1 and Class 2). In testing these FAX Modems in Class 1 mode, we found that they not only use a different command for setting the flow control mode (i.e. AT\Q1 and AT\Q3, vs. AT&K4 and AT&K3), but they do a number of other things differently, some that violate the Class 1 specification. If any users have one of these modems, they can contact us about getting the beta version instead of a standard 2.20 upgrade, that is now available. Note: this beta version contains only the changes to support the above mentioned FAX Modems, so please do not request this version if you are using a different FAX Modem. To: (Matt) M.RIVMAN1, > Your problem sounds like one I used to have when I was using a Zoom AFX modem. > STraight Fax! would just hand adn then time out after sending a page, not > recognizing the acknowledgement. The Zoom AFX Class 1 FAX Modem does not support RTS/CTS flow control. In fact it ignores the flow control command and returns an ERROR response. Use the XON/XOFF flow control mode and also enable the Auto Baud check box when using this FAX Modem. To: (Ken) K.VANDELLEN, > Where do you live? Maybe someone near you has a Wand. Will you be at the > Toronto ACE '95 show? I'm thinking about attending on Saturday. I don't > suppose that would give you enough time to do anything. NewSTar is located in Maryland, near Baltimore and Washington, D.C. However, with UPS, being nearby is not totally necessary. I dont know if NewSTar will be represented at the Toronto ACE '95 show by myself, but there is a good probability that Toad Computers will be there representing STraight FAX! (BTW, STraight FAX! 1.00 made its debut at the Toronto ACE '92 show). Its a bit early to tell at this time if I will be there in person. Besides having access to the Wand Scanner, it would be very helpful to have some form of information on the hardware interface to it. From what I know, it uses the same cartridge port interface as the Migraph Hand Scanner, so it probably has the same hardware address locations. > Would you mind if I asked Migraph and Dr. Bob at if they could give you some > help? They might get some benefit out of it, too. I am not sure what plans if any Dr. Bobware has with an upgrade to Scan Lite to support the Wand Scanner. BTW, even without a direct scan capability from a Wand Scanner, it is still possible to run STraight FAX! as a desk accessory OR application with a Multitasking AES at the same time as the Migraph Scanning Software (which I assume is available from within Touch Up) and then save the scanned output as an Image file. If the scan is made at 200 DPI, then it will be in the proper resolution for a Fine Rez FAX. BTW, the same offer goes if anyone wants to loan us a Class 2.0 FAX Modem such as a USR Courier FAX Modem or a ZyXEL FAX Modem. To: S.KALEITA, > on one and the modem on the other. And the Radio Shaft gizimo that attatches > between the Answering Machine and the phone line from a separate wall jack. > I have Silent answer ON. Exactly which Radio Shack gizmo are you using and how is it connected? Is this the device that will hangup an older type answering machine that does not automatically hang up when another extension (in this case the FAX Modem) picks up? There may be a problem with the way everyting is connected. Have you tried to receive a FAX without Silent Answer enabled, i.e. with the FAX Modem directly connected into the phone line? One of the models of Supra FAX Modems that I have is a Supra FAX Modem V.32 (9600 baud), and it works fine with Silent Answer enabled. > Is there something else that may go wrong if by some chance My Modem cable > doesn't support DTR and CD? How do you recommend that I test my cable? If you have an Ohmmeter, then test the RS-232 cable to verify that all the lines are connected. DTR is connected to pin 20 and CD is connected to pin 8 on a standard DB-25 RS-232 cable. You can also connect one of the RS-232 mini testers in line with the RS-232 cable and check the status of the DTR and CD signals. You can also do the following to verify the Check CD function. From a terminal program, type the command AT&C0. The CD LED should light up on the RS-232 mini tester or a FAX Modem that has a CD LED (unfortunately the Supra V.32/V.32bis FAX modems show the CD status with the 2 digit alphanumeric display and only show display 'CD' when a true carrier is present). Now save this into the FAX Modem setup with the AT&W command, then try initializing a Auto receive in STraight FAX! with Check CD active. If the CD can be detected, you should see the warning alert box that the modem is in use. Now go back and type the command AT&C1 and AT&W to setup the modem to only assert CD with a true Carrier. > I do however usually use ST FAX as a program after I am done with Aladdin , > Aladdin initializes the modem with AT&F2, which is a modem internal factory > setting. There is a bug in the Class 2 Rockwell firmware that Supra uses that will prevent the modem from properly initializing in Class 2 FAX Mode after it has been on-line in data mode (i.e. via Aladdin or any terminal program). This bug may be corrected in the newer Rockwell chipsets that Supra uses, but I think it is still in the chipset/firmware you have. You will need to toggle the modem power after using it in data mode, before using it in Class 2 FAX Mode. If you use Class 1 FAX Mode, then there will not be a problem. Try the following: Use the modem in data mode as normal with your terminal program. After you hangup, issue the command: AT+FLID? You should see several lines of text as the response. The text that appears is actually buffered characters from the last data connection. If you just get an OK response, with no other text, then your FAX Modem has the bug corrected. If it does, then toggle the modem's power and try the command again. This time you should just get the OK response. The AT+FLID? command is used to poll the FAX Modem for the value of the Local FAX ID. The reason this is done is that some Class 2 FAX Modems will actually save the value of the Local FAX ID in NV RAM when the command AT+FLID="{Local FAX ID}" is issued to set the Local FAX ID. Since NV RAM devices have limited write life cycles, STraight FAX! polls for the current value and if its the same as the value in the Dialing Preferences, it does not send the command to set the Local FAX ID. In Class 1 Mode, the Local FAX ID is not setup into the modem prior to the call, instead it is sent on the fly during the initial handshaking. Unfortunately, there is no way to clear the buffer in the modem without powering off and on. The ATZ command has no effect. > I have modem port 2 set at 19200 baud, I guess I should change it, EH? Well > How do I do that, The modem CPX only goes up to 19200? You only need to set the baud rate back to 19200 or lower on an SCC based serial port if the application using the port sets it beyond 19200 baud. > How do I get Aladdin to restore the modem port2 back to its proper setting, > and what is it's proper setting? I do not know, since I do not use Aladdin. However, I know Aladdin only knows about the ST Compatible MFP based serial port, so you must be using the Load Aladdin program to force Aladdin to use an SCC based port. Again, I do not use this this utility, so I refer you to the Load Aladdin documentation. You might also want to ask the Trace Technologies in their support area here in the ST RT. > I Have version 2.20. Also I Have TOS 3.05 I would strongly recommend anyone using TOS 2.05 on a Mega STe or TOS 3.05 on a TT030 to upgrade to TOS 2.06/3.06 respectively. There are serious bugs in the 2.05/3.05 XBIOS in the serial port handlers that require either SERPTCH2 from Atari or Serial Fix 2.0 just to make them minimally functional. TOS 2.06/3.06 may be the best $60 (approx) investment you can make in your Mega STe/TT030. There are also many other improvements in 2.06/3.06. As an example of why to use 2.06/3.06, at the Toad Fest we had access to a Mega STe with TOS 2.05 and 1 Meg of RAM. We borrowed 4 x 1 Meg SIMMs from Toad and installed them. We were getting all sorts of crashes. We then got a set of 2.06 ROMS from Toad and installed them. 2.06 has a memory test diagnostic that runs at startup. 2.05 does not have this. The memory test indicated there was a bad SIMM installed. Without 2.06 we would have never figured that the RAM was bad. > In which parameters menu, Modem or Receive Fax? In the Modem Prefs, the Modem Type specifies which Class is used for sending. In the Receive FAX Prefs, the Modem Type specifies which Class is used for receiving. To: (Tomas) MUSE, > I've experienced problems that I attribute to the size of the FAX file I > create. I try to expand GIFs and JPEGs and convert them to big IMGs for > conversion into a FAX. Blowing them up improves the effectiveness of whatever > dither (OK, F-S) is applied to the process. It looks great, but there is a > limit on how big you can go. Converting color graphic files into monochrome graphic files with various dither pattern algorithms creates several areas of concern: 1) If a 4 x 4 dither pattern is used to represnt a single color pixel in the original graphic, then the expansion of the graphic' size may exceed the size of a FAX, i.e. a 640 x 480 color screeen graphic would expand to 2560 x 1920, which is too wide to fit into a 1728 pixel wide FAX page. The resulting dithered graphic would either need to be clipped or scaled down (which would disturb the dither pattern's effectivness) in order to be sent as a FAX. 2) If you intend to send the dithered graphic as a Normal Rez FAX, then the aspect ratio of the dithered graphic should match that of a Normal Rez FAX during the conversion process for the best results, i.e. pixels that are twice as tall as wide. 3) Dither patterns create the worst case type of data for the FAX compression method, i.e. Modified Huffman Encoding. A 1728 pixel line of a 50% fill pattern (i.e. alternating 1's and 0's) will actually expand by a factor of 2.5 over the original size. Keep in mind that the FAX compression method was chosen based on the fact that text (either hand written or type written) would be the most common type of information that would be FAXed and that a scanner of a typical FAX machine could never create an exact match to a fill pattern (since there is no way to insure that the pixels on the page align exactly with the scanner's detection range for each pixel). > 200% usually works. GEM View will convert these files directly now, but I > like my more time-consuming process. Using GEM-View 3 with the STraight FAX! save module is probably the easiest method of converting a color graphic to a dithered FAX file. > Is there a way to generate a FAX file longer than a page (assuming I'm sending > to a continuous-paper FAX machine)? Also, any tips on how to get graphics of > various sizes to maximize themselves on the page? The Group 3 FAX standard does not require that a receiving FAX machine must accept a page of unlimited length. Some FAX machines and FAX Modems/FAX software may allow this. STraight FAX! will, assuming the FAX Modem will allow this. However, the problem you may have is that you may not have enough RAM to view the received FAX file (it takes about 450K bytes for a letter sized Fine Rez FAX page in its uncompressed format) and you have to clip it into separate FAX files of letter/lega size if you intend to print it. STraight FAX! will allow you to send pages longer than legal size. The easiest way to do this again, is probably with GEM-View 3. You can either pre-scale a graphic with a graphic editing program or view the graphic in STraight FAX! and select the "FAX Size View", command from the View Window popup menu. It will take a few seconds or so depending on the size of the graphic, the Page Size in the Page Prefs and the CPU speed, but a new window will appear with the graphic scaled to FAX size. Save this out as a FAX file and you will be ready to go. Expect some "blocky-ness" in the output if you are scaling a small graphic up to a FAX size. Expect some loss of detail if you are scaling a large graphic down to a FAX size. Another way to do this might be to use a bitmap auto trace utility to convert the graphic into a vector format, and then render this out at the proper size for a FAX page. To: D.FARRINGTO1, > I think it is the fax machine too. I have faxed them five times and everytime > I must send them one page at a time. Next time I will try to schedule the > single pages and see what happens. I'm not really sure what changes I could > try in STFAX. If your modem supports both Class 1 and Class 2, then try the other FAX Class. See if this helps out. Have you verified that the single pages are actually received OK on the other end? To: T.GIRSCH, > Don't use RTS/CTS if you use the Modem 2 port. If you look at your specs, the > CTS line is not connected on Modem 2. (I have NO idea why not). See MSTe > manual page F-1. If you're using a TT, nevermind; RTS/CTS works fine there. > If using MSTe, use X-ON/X-OFF The info on page F-1 of the Mega STe manual is incorrect with respect to the signals available on Modem 2. Other developer documentation I have indicates that it supports the standard RS-232 signals such as CTS, CD, and DSR. Since Modem 2 and Serial 2 are both implemented with the Zilog SCC chip, try using Serial 2 instead of Modem 2. Serial 2 will be available as long as you are not using the LAN port. If you want to see an example of another typo/editor mistake, look on page F-3 under Monitor, where the text "{art D.6}" appears after 13-pin DIN. To: (Dave) D.SMITH10, > This is my first attempt at using the mail system on Genie and I > feel a little ackward,but here goes. I am having difficuly breaking dialtone > on the modem intialization on my Mega St.My configuation has a T25 > excellerator in it should that creat any problems with modem functions Using an accelerator should not be any problem, as STraight FAX! has been tested on 8 MHz ST's, 16 MHz accelerated ST's and Mega STe's, 33 MHz TT030's, 16 MHz Falcon030's, etc. What do you mean by "breaking dialtone"? > I have tried ST FAX on my Stacy only as atest to if it was the computor it > works OK. I know your support is only on line but, I am having diffic ty as I > don't have much experience at telecomunicating. I would appreciate a > simplified explaination of how to go about uploading the sysinfo file for > you to view STraight FAX! support is available both on-line here on GEnie, via the Toad Computers BBS, via EMail on the Internet to c.s.smeton@genie.geis.com, via voice at 410-544-6943 during normal business hours on the east coast and via FAX at 410-544-1329. All of these support locations are listed in the STraight FAX! manual. The SYSINFO.TXT file may be uploaded as an attacted file to a GEMail message or you may send it as the text of a GEMail message. This is performed from the Mail page on GEnie (MAIL or M200). If you are going to upload SYSINFO.TXT as an attached file to a GEMail message, then you might want to first compress it with a utility such as ARC, ST-ZIP, LHARC, etc. to reduce its size, which will save you on the upload time. If you are going send it as the text of a GEMail message, then from the message editor type *U (for upload), then use the ASCII Upload feature of your terminal program to upload the SYSINFO.TXT file as ASCII text. When the upload is finished, hit Control-C and the editor prompt should return, the type *S to save the message. Someone else here on GEnie (i.e. one of the Sysops) may be able to direct you to a tutorial on how to send GEMail messages. To: (David) D.FARRINGTO1, To: (Binary Ink) D.STMARTIN, > acknowledgement prompt. I did a couple things simultaneously; I swtiched to > the HSMOD serial patch (available now in version 4 in the libraries here), > I think I should say my serial patch program is HSMOD 4. I think I have is set > up right. Anyway I just tried going back to SERIAL20 and I tried HSMOD 4 with > QVFIX or OVFIX. I did not try SERIAL20 with OVFIX but I might later. Results > the same so far, receiving fax times out and turns off. The HS Modem 4 serial patch is not recommended and we do not guarantee that STraight FAX! will operate with it. From our tests with HS Modem 4 (and its earlier versions), it re-maps the baud rate codes that the Rsconf XBIOS call uses to configure a serial port. As such, STraight FAX! is unable to set the baud rate of the serial port to 19200 baud as is required for proper FAX operation. This _may_ be OK for some FAX Modems, but it will prevent other FAX Modems from working with STraight FAX! The only serial patches we support are those contained on the STraight FAX! master disk, which are supplied by Atari to correct documented bugs in the serial port operation of various TOS versions and Serial Fix 2.0 from Medical Designs software. We also support using BConMap 2 with Atari's FPATCH2 on the Falcon030. To: (Chuck) C.BINCKLEY, > my MegaSTE. I have to use modem2 because I have a MIDI port expander connected > to - and which only works with - modem1. I have flow control set to RTS/CTS. > My FAX/modem is the PPI PM144MTII set at 14.4 BPS. My I/O buffers are about > 16k. Try Serial 2 on the Mega STe, its also an SCC serial port based. Also, try XON/XOFF flow control and set the I/O buffers to 32767 bytes each (this memory is only allocated during a send or when AUTO receive is enabled). > The faxes in question are definitely normal-rez. I use ST high rez > exclusively, so color monitor idiosyncracies don't apply. The question is: why > does STFAX display the normal-rez fax at half-height (as if it was trying to > display a fine-rez fax at normal-rez) while Gemview displays it correctly? When STraight FAX! displays a FAX file or any other graphic file, it displays each pixel one for one on the screen (within the window's area) to that of the graphic. This causes a Normal Rez FAX to appear at half its true height. The reason it is displayed this way, is to allow you to edit the FAX as any other graphic would be. It also allows more of a Normal Rez FAX to be seen at one time. Now if you export a FAX file to an Image file (or other format), Normal Rez FAX files will have each horizontal line doubled in the exported graphic file. So if you export a Normal Rez FAX as an Image file, and then view it, you will see the exported FAX at the true aspect ratio (on a mono monitor). The GEM-View 3 load module for STraight FAX! (which we developed), also doubles each line of a Normal Rez FAX, as this is also treated as an export function. BTW, In the next version of STraight FAX!, a new feature will be added: In the View Window Popup Menu, when a FAX file is being viewed, instead of the "FAX Size View" command being present in the popup, the command "Normal Rez View" will be present if the FAX being displayed is Fine Rez and "Fine Rez View" will be present if the FAX being displayed is Normal Rez. This will create a new window with the original displayed FAX changed to the other FAX rez. ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 133 Mon Dec 26, 1994 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 19:42 EST Charles, Thanks again for another mine of information! Love your explanation of the problem faxing to Canada. Hmmm, perhaps you can incorporate a fix for NAFTA into STraight Fax? ;) gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 134 Mon Dec 26, 1994 MUSE [Tomas] at 17:57 PST Charles, Thanks very much for the information. Happy Holidays. ===Tomas=== ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 137 Tue Dec 27, 1994 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 15:47 PST Charles: Thanks for your answers and I will try to clarify what I have been doing to try to solve my problem. >There is a bug in the Class 2 Rockwell firmware that Supra uses that will >prevent the modem from properly initializing in Class 2 FAX Mode after it has >been on-line in data mode (i.e. via Aladdin or any terminal program). This is something I thought was resolved when I change my ROMs. I have a ZOOM V.32bis modem, version ROM V2.00 TR14-Jxxx001 048, using ROCKWELL chip set V.32AC. My modem did return the characters and then a "OK". I think I will contact ZOOM BBS and see if any upgrade chips are available. I have a MEGA STE using TOS 2.06. Thinking about it I have not tried a "naked system" to the problem fax machine. Maybe it's one of my TSR's? >If your modem supports both Class 1 and Class 2, then try the other FAX Class. >See if this helps out. Have you verified that the single pages are actually >received OK on the other end? I have tried both Class 1 & 2. During Class 1 the receive machine "times out" during training. My modem settings are 99 seconds. This is the reason I get from STFAX. With Class 2 everything seem to go fine, just not past 1 page. They are receiving the faxes from me. The single page comes through. >The only serial patches we support are those contained on the STraight FAX! >master disk, which are supplied by Atari to correct documented bugs in the >serial port operation of various TOS versions and Serial Fix 2.0 from Medical >Designs software. We also support using BConMap 2 with Atari's FPATCH2 on the >Falcon030. I be switching back to Serial Fix 2.0 as of the end of this letter. Thanks for your help. I will try a striped machine, look for new ROMs, and change my patch program. I will try to find out the make of the offending fax machine. I will let you know what happens. This process will take time. I only fax them about once a month with bill and requests for parts. They are a business and I can't just try anytime. David <>< ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 139 Wed Dec 28, 1994 MUSE [Tomas] at 02:17 PST Charles, GEM-View is indeed a very convenient way to convert a jpeg to a FAX file, but the results have been disappointing at times. I need more direct control of contrast and brightness. If you are familar with PicSwitch 1.01, it allows these things to be adjusted easily on GIFs. I have no similar tool for Jpegs. I was just over in the Calligrapher topic lamenting the state of the GDOS driver that Calligrapher uses to generate FAX files. As you are aware, some of Cal's effects (like shadowed boxes) do not translate correctly to FAX format. Figuring we'll never get Atari to fix their part of the driver, I'm wondering whether Straight FAX! will ever accept postscript input? ===Tomas=== ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 141 Wed Dec 28, 1994 J.LINK3 [Red Oscar] at 16:26 EST To: C.S.SMETON Thanks for clearing up the confusion between FAX Group and Class designations. I've d/l'ed the SYSINFO file and the modem registers as Class 1 as you thought. I went ahead and ordered STraightFAX today. Guess if I can't get it to work, we'll just have to find a way to make it! Thanks again. Jack ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 142 Wed Dec 28, 1994 P.NEREO [Philip] at 21:50 PST A friend is trying to set up STFax 2.10 on his TOS 2.06 Mega STE, and cannot get the modem to send anything. It is a Cal Com modem, model 1442-Ex. It works OK with Aladdin, and can receive faxes OK. When we try to run the modem test in Sysinfo 2.1, it bombs right before the end of the test. On the modem label, it says FAX CCITT V.29/27 TER V.21 Ch2, if that means anything to anyone. Anyone heard anything about these modems? ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 144 Thu Dec 29, 1994 M.WEILERT2 [Matt] at 12:51 PST RE: msg 116 David, As it turns out, I have an Engineer friend in Oakville I sent something to snail mail and your msg gives me the excuse to fax him asking for a response . I'll post my results. Happy New Year! Matt @ WeilInfo ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 145 Thu Dec 29, 1994 K.HULET at 21:36 EST Does anyone know if Intel and Infocom 14.4 FAX modems will work with STraight FAX? External versions of these are under $90.00. Thanks......Ken ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 158 Fri Dec 30, 1994 C.BINCKLEY [-- Chuck --] at 23:17 PST Charles, Thanks for the info! I'll try the serial2 port again, but like I said, I had a lot of problems (mostly in Aladdin) when I was using serial2 instead of modem2. Mainly a LOT of CRC errors during downloads. I'll let you know if I can get it to work reliably. The new VIEW features sound great, and the explanation of the appearance of normal rez faxes in the viewer makes perfect sense - but why doesn't STFAX double the pixel height of normal rez faxes when it PRINTS them? Thanks again for the great support! -- Chuck -- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 169 Sun Jan 01, 1995 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 17:40 EST The thread on humour related to the Pentium and NAFTA is now present in: >Category 18, Topic 15 Sun Jan 01, 1995 >BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 16:14 EST >Sub: HUMOUR or a reasonable facsimile!! > >Here is the place to post humourous or in your mind humourous posts on >anything computer related. Don't be shy and post away. Please remember what >good and bad taste are and the rules of GEnie. HAVE SOME FUN!!! ENJOY!! ~~~~Brian H. Harvey ... Written on Sunday 01 January 1995 at 06:18 p.m. AST ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 170 Sun Jan 01, 1995 C.S.SMETON [NewSTar Tech] at 19:02 EST To All STraight FAX! Owners: Happy New Year 1995! We are currently looking at support for the following: 1) NVDI 3 from 2B System Software in Germany, which is both a replacement for Speedo GDOS (supporting Speedo and True Type fonts) and a VDI screen accelerator. While NVDI 3 is a Speedo GDOS replacement, it does not use the existing printer drivers supplied with Speedo GDOS (4.xx or 5.xx). It has its own form of printer drivers (.SYS) that allow multiple printer support from two basic printer drivers, i.e. one for dot matrix pin printers (Epson FX, LQ, etc.) and one for page printers (i.e. HP Desk Jet, Laser Jet, etc.). NVDI 3 includes its own versions of the MEMORY.SYS, META.SYS and Atari SLM Laser Printer drivers that are included with Speedo GDOS. Also, NVDI 3 comes with a special Image file driver that will create standard Image files in a user selected resolution. Currently there is no STraight FAX! printer driver for use with NVDI 3, as the existing STraight FAX! Speedo GDOS printer driver will not work properly with NVDI 3. We are in the processs of contacting 2B System Software in Germany in order to obtain the necessary information to create a STraight FAX! for NVDI 3. Until that occurs, a workaround is available that will allow for sending of Fine Resolution FAXes by using the Image file driver set to 196 DPI. The STraight FAX! program (STFAX.PRG) is compatible with NVDI 3 and its supplied drivers for both printing of FAX/Image files and rendering of GEM Metafiles with the MEMORY.SYS driver. STraight FAX! 2.20 does have a small problem displaying the name of the selected printer driver in the Print Preferences with NVDI 3. This problem also occurs in the Page Setup of Atari Works and is due to the fact that NVDI 3 returns the driver name in a different format than the way the vrq_devinfo () call is defined by Atari. We have made changes that now recognize either way that the driver name is returned, which will be in the next release of STraight FAX!. However, the formatting of the driver name does not affect the actual printing process. NVDI 3 also presents itself (via the FSMC cookie) as if it is Speedo GDOS 5.00. This is the GDOS type that will be displayed in the Print Preferences with STraight FAX! as of version 2.20. The next release of STraight FAX! will detect that NVDI is the type of GDOS installed. The next release of the STraight FAX! Manager CPX will also be updated to support configuration of the STraight FAX! NVDI 3 driver (assuming it can be developed). 2) HS Modem 4, the shareware serial port patch/enhancer from Germany. We are currently evaluating and testing STraight FAX! with this driver as an alternative to Serial Fix 2.0. HS Modem 4 has many options and some may not be supported (i.e. HS Modem has support for hardware modified serial ports). At this time we still recommend Serial Fix 2.0 for the ST compatible modem port (Modem 1). For those users who wish to experiment with HS Modem 4 (the latest version that we have seen), be aware of the following: HS Modem 4 allows creation of its own its own I/O Buffers for each of the serial ports drivers are installed for. These buffers may be up to 65534 bytes in size. If an installed buffer is larger than the buffer size specifed in the Modem Preferences, then the larger existing buffer will be used. If you use HS Modem 4, then other AUTO folder I/O buffer utilities such as the AUXINIT.PRG that comes with Gribnif's STalker 3 should be disabled. Other serial port patches such as Serial Fix 2.0, Atari's TOS 1.04 Fix 2, Atari's Serial Patch 2 and Bconmap 2 should be disabled when using HS Modem 4. Falcon030 users should still install FPATCH2.PRG before the HS Modem AUTO folder programs. Be sure to select the proper driver for the types of serial ports available on your computer and also try configuring the driver with the default configuration at first. 3) Class 2.0 FAX Modems, such as the US Robotics Courier FAX Modems (which are Class 1 and Class 2.0) and the ZyXel FAX Modem (which are Class 2 and Class 2.0). In order to support Class 2.0, we need to first know if there is enough demand for it. Since the only FAX Modems that we know of currently that support Class 2.0 also support either Class 1 or Class 2, these FAX Modems can be used with the current version of STraight FAX!. We also will need one or more beta testers that have Class 2.0 compatible FAX Modems. If anyone is interested, please contact us by private GEMail. To: F.ZIMMERMAN3, > Yeah, I *like* these Pentium jokes! Ok..ok...we'll give the Pentium users a > chance...(even though they can't run Straight Fax)....how about this: STraight FAX! does run on Pentium and 486 based systems under GEMulator. BTW, STraight FAX! does not seem to run (yet) under MagiC Mac, which is an Atari Emulator for 680x0 Macintosh computers from 2B System Software in Germany. But who knows, it might one day... To: C.BINCKLEY, > The new VIEW features sound great, and the explanation of the appearance of > normal rez faxes in the viewer makes perfect sense - but why doesn't STFAX > double the pixel height of normal rez faxes when it PRINTS them? STraight FAX! does print out Normal Resolution FAXes at the proper aspect ratio via GDOS. It does this by specifying the page size to print to, as such the GDOS driver performs the necessary scaling. To: S.BLACKBURN, > What is this thing about faxes being sent at 68% or whatever? Faxes arn't > going through? Are they taxing faxes? It was meant as a joke, hence the smily face ;-) at the end of the message. I think we can all move the NAFTA and Pentium Jokes to the proper category now that the holidays are almost over. To: K.HULET, > Does anyone know if Intel and Infocom 14.4 FAX modems will work with STraight > FAX? External versions of these are under $90.00. Intel FAX Modems that are Class 2 compatible should work with STraight FAX! 2.20, provided that the Init String is set to \Q1 for XON/XOFF Flow Control and \Q3 for RTS/CTS flow control. The next version of STraight FAX! will detect the Intel FAX Modems (which are actually Rockwell chipsets with Exar/GVC firmware). The next version of STraight FAX! will also work in the Class 1 mode of the Intel/Exar/GVC FAX Modems, which operate in a similar manner to the AT&T FAX Modems (i.e. they break the Class 1 rules a bit). I am not directly familiar with the Infocom 14.4 FAX Modems, but if any one can send me a SysInfo report on them it might be helpful. Do you know if they are Class 1, Class 2 or both? (see the next message...) To: P.NEREO, > A friend is trying to set up STFax 2.10 on his TOS 2.06 Mega STE, and cannot > get the modem to send anything. It is a Cal Com modem, model 1442-Ex. It works > OK with Aladdin, and can receive faxes OK. When we try to run the modem test > in Sysinfo 2.1, it bombs right before the end of the test. On the modem label, > it says FAX CCITT V.29/27 TER V.21 Ch2, if that means anything to anyone. First, I would suggest that your friend upgrade to 2.20. Second, a SysInfo report on the Cal Com FAX Modem would be helpful if there are any partial results before it crashes. Third, if you can tell me a bit more about these FAX Modems such as are they know if they are Class 1, Class 2 or both, i.e what does AT+FCLASS=? return? What command do they use for Flow Control, i.e. AT&K4 and AT&K3 or AT\Q1 and AT\Q3 ? If the modem is Class 2, then enter Class 2 mode with AT+FCLASS=2 and then what do the commands AT+FREV?, AT+FMDL?, AT+FMFR?, AT+FBUF?, AT+FDCS=?, AT+FDIS=?, AT+FDCC=? and AT+FAA=? return? If its Class 1, then enter Class 1 mode with AT+FCLASS=1 and then what do the commands AT+FTM=?, AT+FRM=?, AT+FRH=?, AT+FTH=? and AT+FAE=? return? What do the commands ATI3, ATI4 and ATI5 return? Also, you might want to try an older version of Sys Info, as version 2.10 may be doing something that is not in the older versions that is causing the crash. For instance, some FAX Modems such as the Intel and GVC respond to the AT&V command differently. They display a page of info, then require a carriage return to display another page of info, etc. Sys Info 2.10 has problems with this, since it expects one page of info only from the AT&V command, as the Rockwell and most other FAX Modems do. BTW, Sys Info 2.10 tries some commands that STraight FAX! does not use. It does this in order to determine more information about the FAX Modem that is listed in the report. Some of these commands _could_ be the reason for the problems with some FAX Modems. To: MUSE, > I was just over in the Calligrapher topic lamenting the state of the GDOS > driver that Calligrapher uses to generate FAX files. As you are aware, some > of Cal's effects (like shadowed boxes) do not translate correctly to FAX > format. Figuring we'll never get Atari to fix their part of the driver, I'm > wondering whether Straight FAX! will ever accept postscript input? The problem with Calligrapher can be tied back to the developer's decision to use the obsolete orginal Atari GDOS 1.1 printer drivers instead of the Font GDOS deivers (which were available at the time it was developed) or even the newer Speedo GDOS drivers. Calligrapher 3 uses a built in form of GDOS (derived from Codehead's G+Plus I suspect), which also makes it a bit non-standard. You cant blame Atari for no longer supporting the original GDOS (1.x), when Font GDOS (2.x), FSM GDOS (3.x), Speedo GDOS (4.x and 5.x) have been developed since then. From what I have heard Working Title is no longer in business. That makes things even more difficult in the support area. Rendering PostScript files into a bitmapped format is an application in itself. The UltraScript PostScript interpreter for the Atari never supported output to a graphic file format, although interestingly the PC version does support PCX and TIFF file output in various resolutions including FAX sizes. The CompoScript Postscript interpreter does have an Image file driver, and it _may_ (although I am not 100% sure) also support the same printer drivers that Compo's That's Write 3 uses, so the STraight FAX! That's Write 3 driver _may_ work with it. There is also the public domain GhostScript, which also may have some sort of Image file output support. To: Supra FAX Modem Users, Newer models of the Supra FAX Modems firmware have a new S register that will allow changing the way that the Silent Answer mode operates. The new S register is S192 and it is defined as follows (as per information found in the Supra support area on another on-line service and the Supra FTP site ftp.supra.com): ----------------- S192 Special Function Control Bit (Decimal Value) 0 (1) Silent Answer Snoop Mode (1 is Default when SA mode is enabled) 0 "Standard" Full CNG (1100Hz tone for 500ms +/-15%, then a 3000ms +/-15% period w/o a 1100Hz tone longer than 100ms. "Snoop" occurs for 3 seconds after each ring, and for 12 seconds after the last ring.) 1 "Fast" CNG Tone Only (1100Hz tone for 500ms +/-15%. "Snoop" occurs for 3 seconds after each ring, and for 5 seconds after the last ring. Voices, Music, or Signals containing 1100Hz for 500ms may cause false detection.) 1 (2) Reserved 2 (4) Reserved 3 (8) Reserved 4 (16) Reserved 5 (32) Reserved 6 (64) Reserved 7 (128) Reserved ----------------- The Supra FAX Modem can be tested to see if the firmware supports this S register by issuing it from a terminal program, i.e. if the command returns an ERROR response, then its not supported and if it returns an "OK" response it is supported. Try the commands ATS192=0 and ATS192=1. If the firmware does not support S192, then try contacting Supra about the available ROM upgrade options or Flash ROM upgrade options for the newer Supra 28.8 FAX Modems. If there is a problem with Silent Answer being able to properly detect the FAX CNG tone then try the following (assuming the command is supported in the firmware): Set/Add "S192=0" for Standard Mode or "S192=1" for Fast Mode to the Init String in the Modem Preferences in STraight FAX!. Charles Smeton NewSTar Technology Management ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 171 Mon Jan 02, 1995 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 00:36 EST Charles, GhostScript does support a few different image formats for output. I have not tested them very much but the newest version 2.6.1 is in the library. -- Albert @ AEO ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 172 Mon Jan 02, 1995 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 12:39 CST >Exactly which Radio Shack gizmo are you using and how is it >connected? Is this the device that will hangup an older type >answering machine that does not automatically hang up when another >extension (in this case the FAX Modem) picks up? >There may be a problem with the way everyting is connected. It's the DuoFone TeleProtector,Voice and Data guard. This device actually just seems to disconnect the answering machine from the phone line when someone picks up the phone or the modem picks up the phone. I don't believe this has any thing to do with my problem, because when ever I experience this problem with the modem hanging up the phone. I always turn off the answering machine and try that, and also I try to do a manual receive Fax. >Have you tried to receive a FAX without Silent Answer enabled, i.e. >with the FAX Modem directly connected into the phone line? > I have the Fax Modem directly connected to the phone line. The wall jack has a line splitter on it, the phone is in one socket and the modem is in the other. The answering machine is on the other side of the room, first the DuoFone TeleProtector then the Answering machine. I have played with Slient Answer on and off and there doesn't seem to be any difference. I will say however that when I first purchased the modem, auto receive and silent answer didn't work and I had sent the modem back for repair; TWICE, for the same reason. To my knowledge it has been working fine ever since. >> Is there something else that may go wrong if by some chance My >>Modem cable doesn't support DTR and CD? How do you recommend that I >>test my cable? > If you have an Ohmmeter, then test the RS-232 >cable to verify that all the lines are connected. DTR is connected to >pin 20 and CD is connected to pin 8 on a standard DB-25 RS-232 cable. All the lines are connected properly in my cables. According to the TT manual Pin 20 of a DB-25 RS-232,is connected to pin 2(receive Data); on the TT. And pin 8 on the DB-25, is connected to pin 5(ground), on the TT. So that means that the CD is connected to ground. Is this correct? It seems to me that pin 8 on the DB-25, should be connected to pin #1,(carrier detect) on the TT(DB-9). Now according to the 25 to 9 pin adapter, Pin 7 of the DB-25 is connected to the carrier detect pin on the TT,(pin #1). This is at least the way my 25pin to 9pin adapter does it. >You can also do the following to verify the Check CD function. > >From a terminal program, type the command AT&C0. The CD LED should >light up on the RS-232 mini tester or a FAX Modem that has a CD LED >(unfortunately the Supra V.32/V.32bis FAX modems show the CD status >with the 2 digit alphanumeric display and only show display 'CD' when >a true carrier is present). Now save this into the FAX Modem setup >with the AT&W command, then try initializing a Auto receive in >STraight FAX! with Check CD active. If the CD can be detected, you >should see the warning alert box that the modem is in use. > I Don't get any warning at all. And the modem only displays an OK. >There is a bug in the Class 2 Rockwell firmware that Supra uses that >will prevent the modem from properly initializing in Class 2 FAX Mode >after it has been on-line in data mode (i.e. via Aladdin or any >terminal program). This bug may be corrected in the newer Rockwell >chipsets that Supra uses, but I think it is still in the >chipset/firmware you have. You will need to toggle the modem power >after using it in data mode, before using it in Class 2 FAX Mode. If >you use Class 1 FAX Mode, then there will not be a problem. >Try the following: > >Use the modem in data mode as normal with your terminal program. > >After you hangup, issue the command: > >AT+FLID? > >You should see several lines of text as the response. The text that >appears is actually buffered characters from the last data >connection. If you just get an OK response, with no other text, then >your FAX Modem has the bug corrected. If it does, then toggle the >modem's power and try the command again. This time you should just >get the OK response. When I had My modem in for repairs, Supra upgraded the Chip sets. All I get is an OK, so I guess that means that this bug is not present in my modem. I will test this again however, and I guess this is the first reason why I may need to upgrade My TOS, I was holding off on upgrading only because I never noticed any thing wrong with my system and 3.06 doesn't really offer any new and improved features. I was kinda of hoping for a new version of TOS that may support MultiTOS or something else new and improved. I haven't had a real need for 1.44 floppies. Thanks again for all your help, does it seem that TOS 3.05 is the problem? Because I don't seem to detect that anything is wrong with my current system setup. Please advise! Steve Kaleita :) ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 173 Mon Jan 02, 1995 S.KALEITA [SAK] at 14:48 CST Sorry...My last post was to Charles. Steve kaleita ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 174 Mon Jan 02, 1995 C.BINCKLEY [-- Chuck --] at 14:29 PST Charles, Reading back through the messages in this topic, I came across some references to the Practial Peripherals PM144MTII faxmodem regarding problems with SYSINFO getting information from it. Specifically: >The next version of SysInfo will try AT+FDIS=?, AT+FDCS=? and >AT+FDCC=? until a non ERROR response is received. Most Class 2 FAX >Modems support all of these commands, but the PPI FAX Modems do not. After some experimenting, I found that the PPI is inconsistent in it's use of the "=" character - with some commands it produces an ERROR, with others, NOT using it produces an ERROR, and with still others, you get get what appear to be the same results but in different formats with and without the "=". FYI, these are the results I got: WITH "=": WITHOUT "=": -------------------------------------- ---------------------------- at+frev=? at+frev? ERROR Version 1.03 OK at+fmdl=? at+fmdl? ERROR PM14400FXMT [40R4] OK at+fmfr=? at+fmfr? ERROR (c) Practical Peripherals... OK at+ftm=? at+ftm? 24,48,72,73,74,96,97,98,121,122,145,146 ERROR OK at+frm=? at+frm? 24,48,72,73,74,96,97,98,121,122,145,146 ERROR OK at+fth=? at+fth? 3 ERROR OK at+frh=? at+frh? 3 ERROR OK at+flid=? at+flid? (20),(32-127) [BLANK LINE...] OK OK at+fdcs=? at+fdcs? ERROR 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 OK at+fdis=? at+fdis? (0,1),(0-5),0,(0-2),(0),(0),(0),(0-7) 1,5,0,2,0,0,0,0 OK OK at+fdcc=? at+fdcc? (0,1),(0-5),0,(0-2),(0),(0),(0),(0-7) 1,5,0,2,0,0,0,0 OK OK at+fclass=? at+fclass? 0,1,2 000 OK OK You can pass this on to Toad for future versions of SYSINFO, or I'll email it to them later. Hope it helps in some way... -- Chuck -- ------------ Category 4, Topic 24 Message 175 Mon Jan 02, 1995 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 18:30 EST Charles, As always, the amount of information you deliver is astounding! Thanks for the info, and best wishes for a happy and successful '95, Matt ------------