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FaxMail Manual
Matthew Davey FaxMail is Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998 David Burns, Shyamal Somaroo, Matthew Davey. The program is issued under the GNU GPL.
FaxMail version 2.3
November 1998
FaxMail homepage:
http://wol.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk/FaxMail/
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Before installing FaxMail, check that your system contains the following components.
http://www.wizards.dupont.com/cristy/ImageMagick.html.
FaxMail uses a library directory to store the main Tcl script and a guide to the coverage of the email-fax system. Two binaries will be installed, one to check whether a particular fax number is covered, and a wrapper to call the Tcl script. To install FaxMail, proceed as follows:
gunzip -c FaxMail-2.3.tgz | tar x
cd FaxMail-2.3
sendmail or smail. On some systems (eg SunOS) you
will need to uncomment the line to link with `-lresolv'.
make
At this point you should be able to test the program by running it
from the current directory:
./FaxMail
make install
FaxMail is simply an interface to the Internet's Email-Fax gateway. When you send your email, a central server figures out whether the desired number is covered by the system. If so, it forwards your email to a computer that has agreed to provide a service to that number and that computer places the phonecall.
As such the service is as efficient as email is. Several attempts are made at delivering faxes and in all events the outcome will ultimately reach you via email (so you don't have to guess if the fax got there or not).
As with almost everything on the internet, it is up to each individual to make sure that they use the service responsibly (So no faxing of PhD theses and the like! ). Several ps files are better sent in succession rather than in one big email. This is likely to be quicker, the only possible drawback being a replication of the cover sheet at the remote end. It is perhaps wise not to send material of a highly confidential or important nature via this means. It's up to you though.
Finally, the success of the Email-Fax gateway depends on individuals and
organisations agreeing to provide the local fax service. If you have a
fax-modem and would like to help, check out
http://www.tpc.int/servers/jointpchowto.html for details.
www.tpc.int is also the starting point for information on the
Email-Fax gateway.
The first time you run FaxMail you will be presented with a small window
asking you to supply your contact details such as name, address and fax
number. These are used to produce a cover sheet for your fax. Once
this is done you can hit the `done' button to save the details in your
home directory in the .faxinit file.
To send a fax via email it is only necessary to supply a valid fax number and a message. The number should be input in the fields at the bottom of the window using the IDDD format (only numbers please) which is stripped of international access codes (no leading 0). So faxing to Cambridge UK, would require you to input
Country code: 44 Local code: 1223 Fax Number: xxxxxx
or if faxing Montreal Canada one would enter
Country code: 1 Local code: 514 Fax Number: xxxxxxx
The behaviour of the buttons is pretty much self-explanatory:
FAX: When you are happy with your fax, you send it using the FAX button.
RESET: Clear the entire fax message, including the list of files
to be attached.
PERSONAL: Amend your contact details.
COVERAGE:
Test whether your chosen number is accessible via the email-fax
system.
ABOUT: Addresses for fanmail.
ADDRESSES: Access the address book feature, described in the next
section.
ADD:
Select a filetype from the drop-down menu to include a file into your
fax.
DELETE:
Remove the highlighted file from the list of included files.
CLEAR:
Clear the test message box.
CHECK NUMBER:
Identical to COVERAGE button.
You can use FaxMail to keep an address book of frequently used numbers.
These are stored in the user's home directory in the file
.fax_addr. This file is automatically created the first time you
select the address book feature from the main window.
The address book simply associates an alias with the six fields defining
your recipient (country, area and local phone numbers, name,
organisation and email address). The left-hand side of the address book
shows the names of the currently defined aliases while the right-hand
side shows the definition of the currently selected alias. The fields
on the right-hand side may be edited at any time. The USE button
copies the currently selected alias into the main FaxMail window.
The remaining address book buttons have the following effects:
NEW: The user supplies an alias name and a new blank alias is
added to the address book.
DELETE: Delete the currently selected alias from the address
book.
RENAME: Rename the currently selected alias.
CLEAR: Blank the currently selected alias.
CLOSE: Close the address book window, optionally saving any
changes made to the address book.
FaxMail has been successfully installed under Linux, SunOS, OSF/1 and
HP-UX, as these were the systems available to the authors. As long as
you have reasonably a up to date versions of Tk/Tcl you should be able
to get FaxMail going. If tryfax.c fails to compile, you may need to
link with libresolv, see the Makefile.
If you have problems or think you have found any bugs, you can email
Matthew Davey at mcdavey@mrao.cam.ac.uk. Also, if you need to
make changes to compile on a new system, please let us know.
Enjoy!
FaxMail is based on the faxtool program written by David Burns and Shyamal Somaroo. Faxtool became FaxMail in 1997 when the address book and postscript file browser were added by Matthew Davey, the name was changed to avoid a clash with a different package.
FaxMail is Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998 David Burns, Shyamal Somaroo, Matthew Davey. The program is issued under the GNU GPL.
FaxMail homepage: http://wol.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk/FaxMail/
This document was generated on 13 November 1998 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.