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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!nntpserver.pppl.gov!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver2.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news00.sunet.se!sunic!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.isnet.is!news From: regebro@stacken.kth.se (Lennart Regebro) Newsgroups: alt.fax,comp.dcom.fax,alt.answers,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Object-Fax LAN Fax System, Frequently Asked Questions Supersedes: <offaq1-95@traffic.is> Followup-To: poster Date: 9 Oct 1995 16:02:33 GMT Organization: Traffic Software, T÷lvusamskpiti hf., Reykjavik. Lines: 502 Sender: lennart@bump.traffic.is (Lennart Regebro) Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Expires: Sat, 7 Dec 1995 12:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <offaq3-95@traffic.is> Reply-To: regebro@stacken.kth.se (Lennart Regebro) NNTP-Posting-Host: lane.traffic.is Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.dcom.fax:17208 alt.answers:12653 comp.answers:14747 news.answers:54845 Archive-name: fax-faq/Object-Fax Posting-Frequency: Bi-monthly Last-modified: 1995-09-25 Version: 3.1.1 Object-Fax Frequently Asked Questions v3.1.1, 25 Sep 1995. This is a list over common problems and questions about Traffic Software's Object-Fax. It is based on my experiences with technical support on Object-Fax and information from others, support engineers as well as customers. I will not be held responsible for any errors in or misuse of the information contained in this document, nor will any one else. I also have an GammaLink FAQ that can be of interest to GammaLink fax board users. Please note that this document is not an official Traffic Software document. Views and opinions are my views and opinions, not Traffic Software's. Copyright 1993-1995, Lennart Regebro. You may copy this document for personal use. If you want to redistribute this FAQ, please contact me first. This is so make sure that everyone that wants to redistribute this document always has access to the latest version. Keepers of Usenet FAQ archives do NOT need to ask me for permission. I do not view that as redistribution, as it is a part of the Usenet distribution apparatus. If you want the latest version, you can get it with World Wide Web in http://www.traffic.is/faqs/offaq.htm or with FTP from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/Object-Fax. If you do not have direct access by FTP or WWW, the rtfm.mit.edu site supports FTP by mail; send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following lines: send usenet/news.answers/fax-faq/Object-Fax quit If you don't have Internet access I can add you to a list of people that get this FAQ mailed or faxed directly to them whenever I update it. I can be contacted at lennart@bump.traffic.is, http://www.traffic.is/~lennart/ Information For more information about Traffic Software products and a pointer to your nearest distributor contact Traffic Software. There is also a list of distributors available on out WWW-site. Traffic Software Ltd. PO Box 12445, IS-132 Reykjavik, Iceland Tel: +354-587 7150, Fax: +354-587 7155 Office hours are 09.00 to 17.00 GMT. World Wide Web: http://www.traffic.is/ Anonymous FTP: ftp.traffic.is Technical Support First you should call your dealer. Your dealer knows more about your network than we do, and he speaks your language and is awake when you are. If he can't help you, you will probably be best off to call the distributor in your country. He also speaks your language, and he is also awake when you are. The Icelandic office will answer technical support if you can't get help by your distributor, but can usually not accept technical support calls over the phone. You can send a fax, marked with `Technical Support', or you can send e-mail to techsupp@traffic.is. Contents Part 1. General information ......................................4 1.1 What is Object-Fax? ......................................4 1.2 What is the use of LAN-faxing? ..........................4 1.3 What Object-Fax products are there? .....................4 1.4 What do I need to use Object-Fax? .......................4 1.5 What's the latest version of Object-Fax? ................5 Part 2. Object-Fax installation ..................................5 2.1 Object-Fax can't copy some files at install or Adduser ..5 2.2 Do I really need a search path? .........................5 2.3 What rights are needed? .................................5 2.4 What is the WP-CAS driver? [LITE / Single-User] .........5 2.5 Do I need to load SHARE? ................................5 2.6 How much memory is needed in Windows? ...................6 2.7 Object-Fax and NFS ......................................6 2.8 Object-Fax and Banyan Vines .............................6 Part 3. Object-Fax server: ......................................6 3.1 Why doesn't the server send anything? ...................6 3.2 Not accepted by CAS error. ..............................7 3.3 Why do I get a `FindKey 16Status' error? [Advanced] .....7 3.4 Why doesn't my national characters fax correctly? .......7 3.5 What should I think of when using GammaLink boards? .....7 3.6 I have problems printing to an IBM Proprinter ............7 3.7 What modems work with Object-Fax Lite/Single-user ........8 3.8 Tips for Multitech modems ................................8 3.9 My incoming faxes are all black. .........................8 3.10 Problems with error correction COPYTIFF (0). [Advanced] ..9 Part 4. Object-Fax Windows interface .............................9 4.1 The send box doesn't appear when I print. ...............9 4.2 The Cover Page Editor generates a GPF in USER.EXE. ......9 4.3 The The Cover Page doesn't work. ........................9 4.4 Word 2.0 crashes when I send faxes. .....................9 4.5 My `Send' dialog box is empty. There's no text! .........10 4.6 Object-Fax reports ``Requested file type not supported.'' 10 Part 5. Object-Fax DOS interface: ...............................10 5.1 Faxes sent from DOS will be rejected. ...................10 5.2 Nothing happens when I send faxes from TSRDOS. ..........10 Part 1. General information 1.1 What is Object-Fax? Object-Fax is LAN-fax system. What that means is that it is an application with which users on a LAN can send faxes with a centrally placed fax-server. Please note the difference between LAN- fax and ordinary computerised faxing, in which every user who faxes has its own fax modem and telephone line. Object-Fax is a system originally built for networking, and not a standalone fax system with network support as an add-on. Object-Fax can handle large amounts of faxing since it supports up to four fax- servers on one network. Each fax server can have several lines of simultaneous faxing, the maximum number of lines depending on which fax board you have. A SatisFAXion board has a maximum of eight, and the GammaFax board has a maximum of 30 lines per server. I can recommend the GammaFax boards with all of my heart. They are very good boards. If you have one you might like to check out my FAQ on that subject too. They don't work for the Single-User or Lite versions of Object-Fax so with them you would probably be best off with a PureData SatisFAXion board. 1.2 What is the use of LAN-faxing? With LAN-fax you get a faster and easier way to send faxes for everybody on a network. A good LAN-fax system will pay for itself simply with all the time you will save not having to send faxes manually. Printing out and sending a document by fax will generally take ten minutes (according to the International Computer Facsimile Association). With Object-Fax it takes less than one minute. 1.3 What Object-Fax products are there? There are three versions of Object-Fax. Object-Fax Advanced, Object- Fax Lite and Object-Fax Single User. Object-Fax Advanced is the `big' product with all the nice features. It needs a dedicated fax server running DOS and an intelligent fax board. Object-Fax Lite is a version for small networks (2-15 people). Object-Fax Lite doesn't have support for DOS, API, PostScript or PCL. It only has support for one server with one line. However, it can use Class 1/Class 2 modems. It can also use CAS-compatible modems, like PureData or Intel SatisFAXion. The server is a Windows application, so it can be non-dedicated. Object Fax Single-User is almost the same as Object- Fax Lite, but with only one user licence instead of five. 1.4 What do I need to use Object-Fax? You need one Object-Fax server licence and as many user licenses you want. The server licence includes five users. You will also need a network with Windows installed, unless you are running the Single- User version. For the Advanced version you will also need a PC to use as a dedicated fax-server. I recommend a 386 with 2MB of memory as a fax server. For Object-Fax Lite you need a fax modem or a fax board that is Class 1, Class 2 or CAS compatible. For the Advanced version you need a GammaFax board, a PureData Faxination board, a PureData/Intel SatisFAXtion or another CAS compatible board. 1.5 What's the latest version of Object-Fax? It's Version 3.50, APR 21 1995. If you have any problems not in this file, you should upgrade. There is also version 3.02, which is a free upgrade from 3.0 or 3.01. It has all of the bug fixes, but none of the new features of 3.50. Part 2. Object-Fax installation 2.1 Object-Fax can't copy some files at install or Adduser. This happens when you don't have enough rights in the Windows system directory. Often on networks this directory is a common read-only directory to which only administrators have access. You should install Object-Fax once, including running ADDUSER.EXE, as an administrator to copy the files properly. If you know that the files are there already you can ignore the error, otherwise it should be enough to copy them manually afterwards. The files actually copied are in the DIST directory under Object-Fax. 2.2 Do I really need a search path? Object-Fax 3.x ADDUSER.EXE want's to add the Object-Fax directory to my search path. If you are running out of search paths, you can get by without a path to Object-Fax. Some of the files in the Object-Fax directory has to be in the search path, so you can get around this by copying these files to another directory that is in the search path. Those files are TMFAX.DRV, IMGX.DLL, IM10XTIF.DEL, IM10XDCX.DEL, CPFIELD.EXE, CPTEXT.EXE and CPEDIT.EXE. Just remember that you copied them to another directory. If you upgrade Object-Fax later you need to copy these files again, since they might have changed. Please note that this not the same files as for 3.0 and 3.01. 2.3 What rights are needed? Both the Object-Fax server and the users need to create, delete and modify files. On a NetWare network this means [RWCEMF] rights. 2.4 What is the WP-CAS driver? [LITE / Single-User] The WP-CAS driver is a driver for Class 1 and Class 2 modems. You need it if you have one of those. 2.5 Do I need to load SHARE? Yes. Object-Fax 3.x is an OLE 2.0 application. To run OLE 2.0 you need to load share. You can load share from DOS with `SHARE.EXE /L:500 /F:5100'. You can also load the Windows only version of share shipped with Windows for WorkGroups, VSHARE.386, by adding it to SYSTEM.INI under the [386Enh] section with DEVICE=VSHARE.386. This is done by default in Windows 3.11 and higher. The Object-Fax DOS gateway does NOT need share. 2.6 How much memory is needed in Windows? Object-Fax needs to create the fax in memory when printing. This means that while printing you will need quite a lot of memory. Make sure you have at least 4 MB free. You can do this by increasing the swap file size. If you want to use the OCR feature, you need at lest 8 MB memory and an 8 MB swap file, usually more. 2.7 Object-Fax and NFS NFS does not support file sharing and record locking. Therefore different NFS implementations do this differently. If your file sharing and record locking hasn't been set-up properly Object-Fax may crash with Btrieve error messages like B-ERROR 5 (Duplicate Key) and other weird Btrieve errors. If you have NFS you should talk to your NFS vendors to receive information on how to set up your NFS software so it works with Btrieve and other shared file databases. 2.8 Object-Fax and Banyan Vines There is a problem with GammaFax and Banyan Vines. This is not an Object-Fax problem per se, but it makes the Object-Fax gateway to crash with an error message. Users of GammaFax should read my GammaFax FAQ. Part 3. Object-Fax server 3.1 Why doesn't the server send anything? First, check if you have any faxes in the outgoing queue. If not, you haven't actually sent a fax. Otherwise check the following things: 3.1.1 Does the Object-Fax server find the fax? If the first fax in the queue has status `Sending' the Object-Fax server has found the fax and sent it to the fax board software. If the fax fails or the fax just stays as `sending' forever the problem usually isn't Object-Fax's, but lies with the configuration of the fax board software. 3.1.2 Check the time and date of the fax server. It should be the same as the sending clients. Otherwise the fax will not be sent until the fax server's time reaches that of the Windows clients. If you have the Advanced version, look at the server screen. If the time and date on the server screen aren't changing the server has crashed. 3.1.3 The queue file may be corrupted. Delete OBJFAX\INI\EVENT.DAT. 3.1.4 Wrong line specified. In TM2.INI you can specify `LINE' and `SERVER'. If you specify SERVER=2 and LINE=5 then it will only use the fifth line of the second server. If the second server doesn't have line 5 set to outgoing, the fax will never leave the queue. 3.2 Not accepted by CAS error. The `Not accepted by CAS' means that Object-Fax was unable to submit the fax to the fax boards. Check that the Fax card path is set correct. It is stored in the CAS environment variable. The CAS queues may also bee damaged. 3.3 Why do I get a `FindKey 16Status' error? [Advanced] Check the length of your USERID environment variable. It is probably longer than the maximum of eight characters. 3.4 Why doesn't my national characters fax correctly? This could have a couple of reasons. First, you should set up your fax modem to use national characters. The way to do that differs between different fax modems, so you have to consult you documentation. This should give you national characters on CAS cover pages and text files sent from DOS. If you are using the PostScript or the PCL converter problems with national characters are probably due to the font you are using. Not all fonts support all national characters. In such a case, changing font is the only solution. 3.5 What should I think of when using GammaLink boards? Two things. First, be sure that you have version 5.1 if you are using GammaFax XP boards. Earlier versions are not supported with Object-Fax and GammaFax XP boards. GammaFax version 5.0 and 5.2 are buggy. Avoid them. 4.5.1 works pretty good, but is old. Version 5.3 is new, but we haven't found any problems yet. Secondly, be sure to add the line GFXFORM x 3 for every board you use into the GFAX.$DC (x means board number). If you get black faxes, and use GFXFORM try to look at the faxes with the GammaFax viewer, FAXD to see if the problem is corrupt files or the fax viewer. Black faxes should not occur with version 3.02 or 3.50, unless there have been transmission errors. 3.6 I have problems printing to an IBM Proprinter Try changing to Epson FX-80. 3.7 What modems work with Object-Fax Lite/Single-user In theory all CAS and Class 1/2 modems should work. But life's not perfect, so I include a list of tested modems. The ones listed under `Doesn't Work' might very well work if you set them up correctly. They don't work out of the box though. If you get one of these modems to work, please drop me a note, and I will include it in the FAQ. Newer USR modems have Class 2 or Class 2.0 support. These might work. My recommendation for the Lite/Single-User version is to use the PureData or Intel SatisFAXion boards. WORKS: Modems: Producer: Driver AST Exec NoteBook AST Class 1 Fax/Datamodem 14400 Dynalink Class 1/2 Fax modem CVC Class 2 FerFax Ferrary CAS Ibislink Internal 9624VQH Simpson Computer Inc. Class 1 Multimodem II MT932 Multitech Class 2 Prodem 2496M (External) PRODEM Technology Inc. Class 1/2 Prodem 2496CM (Internal) PRODEM Technology Inc. Class 1/2 SatisFAXion 100,400 Intel CAS UFOMate P9624MX E-tech Class 1 DOESN'T WORK (with Object-Fax): Modems: Producer: Driver Courier HST DUAL Standard USR/Miracom Class 1 Fax modem Discovery 1414CX Datatronics Class 2 Fax modem GVC28800 GVC Class 1/2 Hidem 14400/FAX Hidem Class 2 Hidem 14400P/FAX Hidem Class 1 Lasat PCMCIA LASAT Class 1 LightSpeed LightSpeed Technology Class 2 Medas Micro Data Systems Class 2 UFOMate P192MX E-Tech UFOMate P1496MX E-Tech 3.8 Tips for Multitech modems Try changing the `Wait for carrier field' to 40sec instead of the 60sec default. This will prevent the fax driver to stop answering after receiving a normal phone call. 3.9 My incoming faxes are all black. Black faxes should not occur with version 3.02 or 3.50, unless there have been transmission errors, so make sure you have that version. Since this is a GammaFax problem, see 3.5, and the GammaFax FAQ. 3.10 Problems with error correction COPYTIFF (0). [Advanced] By default the 3.5 installation program installs itself with the /SWAP parameter to be able to run in less memory. On some computers this does not work. Try to remove the /SWAP parameter (it's in OBJFAX.BAT). You may then get memory problems so you must free up as much memory as possible. If you can't free up enough memory there is an unsupported version of the gateway available from Traffic Software that only supports GammaFax boards and doesn't support the PCL or PostScript converters. It uses less memory. Part 4. Object-Fax Windows interface: 4.1 The send box doesn't appear when I print. This problem can appear if you have little or no space left on your local hard drive(s). It can also appear if Windows is low on memory or resources. If it never has worked, the Object-Fax driver is probably not installed correctly. Check that you have a file called TM2.INI in you Windows directory, and check that you have access to the Object-Fax printer drivers OBJFAX.DRV & TMFAX.DRV. The drivers should be in the OBJFAX directory or in the search path. Also, the UNIDRV.DLL should be in your path. Use the version in OBJFAX\DIST\ if you have problems. 4.2 The Cover Page Editor generates a GPF in USER.EXE. The most common reason for this is not loading share. See question 2.5. 4.3 The Cover Page doesn't work. If you get errors like `Can't launch server application' or you can't add fields or text to my cover then the Cover Page fields, then the Cover Page text might not be registered correctly in the OLE 2.0 object database. To fix that run the Object-Fax programs CPEDIT, CPFIELD.EXE and CPTEXT.EXE. They will then update the OLE database. There is also a bug in some of the Windows drivers for S3 graphics boards that causes the fields to be blank. In that case, complain to your vendor over their buggy drivers, and use another driver meanwhile. You can get an early version of the S3 drivers from our FTP site as S3_12.ZIP. Try that one. 4.4 Word crashes when I send faxes. This bug is fixed in a newer TMFAX.DRV driver available via your distributor. The file size is 22064 bytes. If you run Object-Fax version 3.01 or earlier and Word 2.0 crashes when you exit, that's a bug in Word 2.0 that we hope we have managed to work around in 3.02. Please upgrade either Object-Fax or Word. 4.5 My `Send' dialog box is empty. There's no text! This is because you have an old version of the language file. The language files are DLL's with the translated text used in Object- Fax. The are named after the country in question. The send dialog box is completely re-done in version 3.0, so if you use a v2.12 language file you will get this error. Call you dealer to get the new language file or delete it to run an English version of Object- Fax. 4.6 Object-Fax reports ``Requested file type not supported'' Check that there are no files in the Windows system directory called IMG*.*, TMFAX.DRV or OBJFAX.DRV. These files should not be there. If they are, delete them, unless you put them there to save a search path (see 2.2). Part 5. Object-Fax DOS interface: 5.1 Faxes sent from DOS will be rejected. The gateway says that my user ID is unknown. This means that your user ID is unregistered. You need to register the user ID both from Windows. This message can also appear if your user ID is longer than eight characters. 5.2 Nothing happens when I send faxes from TSRDOS. I get the send box, but the fax doesn't appear in the queue. Check that you have started the file-API. Edit OBJFAX.BAT so that OBJFAXG is started with the parameter /API. Note that you have to use capital letters.