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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Machines work, people should think.