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Re: best package for fax machine?



On Thu, Nov 16, 2006 at 01:17:13AM -0600, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> I have a 200 MHz Pentium and a spare 350 Mz Pentium-II.  I would like
> to use one or the other with a laser printer and an external US
> Robotics fax modem as a dedicated fax machine, primarily for incoming
> faxes with a volume averaging about a hundred pages a day.
> 
> The prime software candidates in the Debian repository appear to be
> the mgetty suite and the hylafax suite.
> 
> It would be nice to use packages which are easy to configure, but of
> greater importance is a system which is robust and unlikely to give
> trouble when running unattended 24/7.  

I did this.  I used mgetty+sendfax.  I was able to use the distinctive
ring function of the modem so that it automatically answered incoming
fax calls.  I received email when there were incoming faxes so I could
turn on the printer and run printfaxs.  I suppose if your printer is
always on that you could automate this.

I was running Woody at the time.  I would assume that now its far easier
to configure.  However there will be several interrelated config files.
init has to run mgetty on the modem so you have to edit /etc/inittab,
mgetty itself needs configuring both for incoming and outgoing faxes.  

Editing the files is quick.  Reading the documentation takes a while.

Good luck.

Doug.



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