Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!comp.vuw.ac.nz!windy!gpwd!gpwrdcs
From: GPWRDCS@gp.govt.nz (Don Stokes, GPO)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: The future of FAX
Message-ID: <182@gp.govt.nz>
Date: 12 Aug 89 12:00:49 GMT
References: <90@csnz.co.nz>
Organization: Government Printing Office, Wellington, New Zealand
Lines: 31

In article <90@csnz.co.nz>, paul@csnz.co.nz (Paul Gillingwater) writes:
>[much carrying on about attaching fax to a computer]
>            Of course you might be able to achieve some of this
> functionality with a cheap PC linked via a LAN...  

Well, we (GPO) pulled off a such a scheme by parking a PC (cheapish AT)
on Ethernet and running DECnet/DOS and talking to it from VAXes. 

The system worked by having the a batch file on the PC (running MS-DOS)
looking at a virtual disk located on the VAX and testing if any files
were present.  If any were found, they would be passed to the fax board
for transmission and deleted.  Sending a fax was a simple matter of
formatting the message into a bit-map (this was a quick-n-dirty - this
part of the job could always be done on the PC) and dropping the file
into a directory on the VAX.  Very simple, used off-the-shelf software
and hardware for the actual transmission, and the PC could easily be
taken offline and used as a PC without any loss of transmission (ie
transmission would resume as soon as the batch file was re-started). 

The fax board was capable of receiving faxes while the PC was in use. I 
don't think this feature was used in the application being developed.

> Call Magic Tower BBS V21/23/22/22bis 24 hrs +0064 4 767 326

I do.

Don Stokes, Systems Programmer    /  /   Domain:                  don@gp.govt.nz
Government Printing Office,      /GP/   PSImail:          PSI%0530147000028::DON
Wellington, New Zealand         /  /   Bang:    ...!uunet!vuwcomp!windy!gpwd!don
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Machines work, people should think.