c't freeware shareware 2001 January/CT_SW0101.ISO/pc/software/kommunik/misc/valf2015.sit/ValueFax 2.0.15 Installer/ValueFax Release Notes

Text File | 1999-06-05 | 15KB | 322 lines

Release Notes for ValueFax

Version 2.0.15
1. "ValueFax Installer Wizard" to detect the modem's class and flow
   control command.
2. Coverpage and QuickFax message size can now be 1024 bytes. Please
   make sure you choose a small coverpage font size if you want to use
   a large coverpage message.
3. Simplified dialing if the area code field is left blank. In this
   mode, the user can enter destination fax numbers exactly as they
   are required to be dialed. ValueFax will not use the smart dialing
   feature which stripped off the area codes.
4. Fixed a Y2K bug in the dates of received faxes.

Version 2.0.14
1. OEM release - no registration required.

Version 2.0.11, 2.0.12 and 2.0.13

1. Added "Fax Preview" feature to view the fax before sending it.
2. Support for the PB5300 and PCMCIA modems
3. Fixed bug in hardware handshaking and background operation
4. Now allows '+' character in other side fax ID
5. Fixed bug with caused a crash with Ram Doubler 2.0 in some situations
6. Fixed a bug where FaxStatus or QuickFax crashed on some fast Macs.

Version 2.0.10
1. OEM release - no registration required.
2. Fixed a problem with sending multiple pages and receiving multiple
   pages with certain USRobotics modems.

Version 2.0.9
1. Now shows a better looking fax using special Apple technology. For
   slower Macs, the old way of displaying is also available.
2. Added option for hardware handshaking cable.
3. Added support for limiting reception to 9600. This is needed because
   many fax modems cannot successfully send a good page at 14400 bps.
4. Various bug fixes for better operation with Hayes and Supra modems.
5. Fixed a bug with manual dialing that tripped up some modems.
6. Fixed a bug with using Practical Peripherals Class 1 modems on a
   slow Mac.
7. Fixed a bug in ValueFax Manager that reset the transmit speed to 9600
   bps even when the user set it at 14400 bps.
8. Supports many popular modems as an installation option.

Version 2.0.8
1. Added support for credit card registrations.
2. The QuickFax message size has been increased to 500 characters.
3. Fixed crash of "ValueFax Background" on PCI Macs.
4. Added sorting of displayed phone numbers in the fax printer dialog
5. Now allows one program to open the modem and another to close
   it. This is needed for MacPPP type programs.
6. Added several workarounds for various bugs in USRobotics modems.
7. Added dialog for received fax page comments. This will allow users
   to search for specific received fax pages using the Find File feature.
8. Fixed bug that did not hang up some modems when a voice call came in.
9. Limits transmission speed to that specified for the phone entry.
10. Fixed bug that prevented operation using the Nisus WordProcessor.
11. Now warns user that flow control command is not accepted by modem.
12. added better error reporting on busy and no answer
13. added support for the PortShare Pro network.
14. Added option to place header line on each fax page.
15. Now detects the termination of a communications application more
   reliably so "ValueFax Background" can reacquire the serial port.
16. Fixed bug which caused the coverpage and QuickFax message to get
   clipped on the right.

Version 2.0.7
1. Added option to save received faxes in TIFF format too.
2. Now obeys maximum speed limits when using a Class 2 modem too. This
   way, you can restrict faxes to particular fax numbers to 9600 bps
   even when you have a 14400 bps modem because transmission at 14400
   bps gets garbled.
3. Fixed bug that prevented Class 1 operation on an 840 AV Mac.
4. Added support for Shiva NetModems.
5. Added support for accepting a modem reset string from the setup file.
6. Fixed incompatibilities with Quark, MacWritePro, FreeHand and Nisus.

Version 2.0.6

1. Fixed a bug that prevented receiving a fax from certain machines
   into a USR Sportster.
2. Fixed crash in ValueFax Fax driver with GreatWorks 2.0
3. Fixed crash in QuickFax with System 7.5.1 and PowerMac.
4. Adjusted timing in ValueFax Fax driver for Zoom 9624 modems

Version 2.0.5

ValueFax Bacground:

1. ValueFax background now detects launching of communications
   applications and disengages from the serial port. The names of
   these applications are in the file "Names of Comm Applications"
   in the "ValueFax fax folder". Most common applications have
   already been included in this file and users can add other names.
2. Now supports AV-macs using a Class 1 modem. This used to hang the
   Mac before.
3. The background program now optionally comes up in stopped mode
   on restart. If you select this option, to send background faxes or
   to receive faxes, you will have to start the background program
   from FaxStatus.
4. Added support for PCMCIA modems.

Fax printer driver:

5. Added support for faxing color documents as a grayscale image.
   You need to click on a checkbox in the fax printer dialog when
   sending a fax. Please note that converting color faxes to grayscale
   takes more time and actually faxing them takes a lot more time.
   So do not click ON this checkbox unless you really have a color
   document.
6. Added support for Zoom 9624 modems. These need sepcial timing.
7. Added support for LineLink modems which require special
   handling to fax the top line containing date and time etc.
8. Now ignores the incomplete handshake on the final page. Otherwise,
   the fax used to get rescheduled even when it was sent OK.
9. Now sends only normal mode faxes to machines that have been marked
   "Normal Only". Previously, this was not possible since if the
   machine actually supported fine mode, a fine mode fax was sent.
   You can use this feature to save money on long distance calls to
   certain numbers that don't need fine resolution.
10. Now sends AT&F instead of ATHZ for initialization. This works
   better for many modems.
11. Fixed bug that dropped speed from 2400 bps to 12200 by mistake
   when using Class1.
12. Added special support for Hayes 28.8 modems so ValueFax can
   receive a fax.
13. Fixed a bug that caused a bus error under certain circumstances
   when starting ValueFax Manager.
14. When printing multiple received faxes at the same time, the
   page setup dialog is shown only once now.
15. Added some defensive code to make sure that the system folder
   is not erased by mistake. This happened in rare situations due
   to unknown bugs in other software running on the system.
16. Does not dial a '1' in front of numbers starting with 0 or 1.
17. Fixed a bug in duplicate detection that ignored the company name
   and eliminated as duplicate faxes going to the same user name in
   different companies.
18. Page size and Fine/Normal settings are now remembered for the
   next time.
19. The fax printer dialog is now better organized.
20. Reduced the time needed to fax a document when using Class 1.
   Class 1 software will still require more time than Class 2.
21. Now saves the position of FaxStatus and QuickFax windows.
22. Now supports printing received faxes on Imagewriters.
23. Mac IIfx users using a Class 1 modem should select "compatible"
    for their serial port rather than "faster". However, ValueFax
    will now work even for "faster" serial ports.
24. ValueFax is now compatible with GreatWorks 2.0. Also, with Word 6.0
25. When sending a delayed fax, page images are saved as PICT files
    in the Job folder so you can preview the fax before it will be sent.

Version 2.0.4

1. ValueFax will now default to sending a fax at 9600 bps even when
   you are using a 14400 Class 1 modem and sending to another 14400
   bps modem. This is necessary because there are too many 14400 bps
   modems out there which are incompatible with each other. They will
   connect at 14400 but the received fax will be completely garbled.
   If you are sure that the modem you are sending to is compatible
   with your modem, you can edit the "phone book" file in "ValueFax
   fax folder" inside your system folder to change the word 9600 to
   14400 for the phone number you want. A user interface will be
   provided for doing this in a future release.
2. ValueFax will now quickly respond to command-dot when it is copying
   attachment pages.
3. Now allows dialing of the area code even if the number is in the
   same area code. You have to put a , in front of the number in the
   new number or fax number details dialog box. That is, enter the
   number as ,[phone] in the fax number field.
4. Fixed a bug that caused some fax modems to abort transmissions
   at the beginning of a page when transmitting a fax at 14400 bps.

Known Bugs:
1. If the ValueFax Manager's "Waiting Faxes Log" window is open when
   a waiting fax is sent, the sent fax is not removed from the waiting
   faxes queue. It will be resent unnecessarily. The workaround is to
   delete the waiting fax using the delete button in the "Waiting Faxes Log"
   window.

2. If the ValueFax Manager's "Waiting Faxes Log" window is open when
   another application is used to spool a fax, the fax will not be entered
   in the "waiting faxes" file and will not be sent. The workaround is to
   close the "Waiting Faxes Log" window as soon as you are done with it.

Version 2.0.3

1. Added support for modem type and initialization string. This still
   does not have a user interface but it is available by editing the
   file named "setup" in the "ValueFax fax folder" inside the system
   folder.  You should use TeachText or SimpleText to perform this
   editing. If you use a word processor, please remember to save this
   file as "text only". This feature will have a user interface in the
   next release.
   The last two lines of the "setup" file are as follows:

   Modem model: Generic Class 2
   XON/XOFF flow control string: AT\Q1

   {If you are upgrading from ValueFax 2.0.2, these two lines will
   not be in the setup file. You should then start "ValueFax Manager"
   and change any setting and quit. Doing this will update the
   setup file to include the above lines upto the ':' on each line.}

   * Users using the Hayes Acura and Hayes Optima 9600 or 14400 modems
    ( Hayes Optima 144+Fax144, Hayes Optima 96+Fax96,
    Hayes Acura 144+Fax144, Hayes Acura 96+Fax96)
   should edit these two lines to:

   Modem model: Hayes Acura or Optima
   XON/XOFF flow control string: ATW0&K3

   * Users using the MultiTech Class 2 modems
    (MultiTech MT932, MultiTech MT1432ZDX, MultiTech MT1432BAI)
   should edit these two lines to:

   Modem model: MultiTech MT{the model number}
   XON/XOFF flow control string: AT\Q1

   * Users using the USR HST Class 1 modems
   should edit these two lines to:

   Modem model: USR HST
   XON/XOFF flow control string: AT&H2&I2

   * Users using all other modems do not need to edit the setup
   file unless their modems have some special flow control command
   to put the modem in XON/XOFF flow control mode. You can experiment
   with this command but that is not necessary for most modems.

   * In any case, do not put commands such as AT&F or ATZ in this
   string since that will prevent proper working of ValueFax.
2. Fixed bug that used to mess up phone numbers if they were entered
   without company names.
3. Fixed bug where very long names in the new number dialog used to
   crash the program.
4. Now sends +FCLASS=0 when stopping modem from FaxStatus. This puts
   the modem in data mode so you can then run your communications
   programs.
5. Now closes the serial port and disengages from the modem when a
   communications program is started and the user is using a Class 1
   modem. This was working before only when using Class 2 modems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 2.0.2

1. Added support for US Robotics HST modems.

Known Bugs:
1. When you quit the "ValueFax Manager" application, the background
   program is automatically reset and restarted even when it was stopped
   by the user via FaxStatus. The workaround is to stop the background
   program again via FaxStatus.
2. If the ValueFax Manager's "Waiting Faxes Log" window is open when
   a waiting fax is sent, the sent fax is not removed from the waiting
   faxes queue. It will be resent unnecessarily. The workaround is to
   delete the waiting fax using the delete button in the "Waiting Faxes Log"
   window.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 2.0.1

ValueFax Background Program:
1. Now sending ATH+FCLASS=0 when a data communications application
   starts up. This is needed by some data communications programs.
2. Now allows starting a data communications application even when
   the ValueFax Background Program is resetting the modem. This used
   to crash the Mac in release 2.0.
3. The ValueFax Background Program now retries harder to send commands
   to the modem. Sometimes a modem would ignore some commands.


ValueFax fax driver:
1. When adding a new phone number, company name is now optional.
   Also, buttons are grayed out until the required information is
   entered in new number dialog. Previously, the person_name had
   to be unique but now the person_name and company_name
   combination has to be unique to allow two persons of the same
   name in two different companies. It is now possible to cut and
   paste the information in the new number dialog.
2. The driver now stops working after 20 faxes instead of 10.

ValueFax Manager:
1. The program now remembers window positions for the three log
   windows and the phone book and distribution list windows.
2. Now shows port name in addition to icon in "setup dialing options"
   dialog. This was needed for internal serial cards.
3. When adding a new phone number, company name is now optional.
   Also, buttons are grayed out until the required information is
   entered in new number dialog. Previously, the person_name had
   to be unique but now the person_name and company_name
   combination has to be unique to allow two persons of the same
   name in two different companies. It is now possible to cut and
   paste the information in the new number dialog.
4. The "received faxes log" is now updated automatically even if
   a new fax was received when the user had this log window
   open.
5. Now allows * in the phone number.
6. You can now skip the delete alert by holding down the option key
   when clicking on the delete button in the three log windows and
   the phone book and distribution list windows.
7. The program now allows multiple entries in a list to be
   deleted simultaneously.
8. When displaying a multiple page fax, the program remembers
   the orientation and scale when going to another page.
9. Changed "Command" to "Control" in Direct Fax Keys.
10. In the phone book and the distribution list windows, the
   button named "details" changed to "Edit".
11. Now using a better looking flash screen.

Installation:
1. The "ValueFax release notes", the "ValueFax Users Manual"
   and the "ValueFax Registration" program are now installed
   in a folder called "ValueFax 2.0.1" in the topmost folder.
   These used to be inside the "ValueFax Fax Folder" inside
   the system folder. Users will normally not have to look
   inside the system folder anymore.
2. The installation program now overwrites the QuickFax and
   FaxStatus desk accesories if files of the same name already
   exist. This was needed if the user was upgrading from
   other fax software.