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If you are interested in FAXing under Linux, contact us



Group temporary name:
SendFAX-IL - the Israeli Linux sendfax special interest group

Charter:
Specify and implement improvements to the FAX software, which currently
exists for Linux.  This will be accomplished by pursuing the following
goals:
1. Improve the existing Linux based FAX software to the point that
   it'll be as easy to install and administer as MS-Windows based
   FAX server software.
2. Develop a Client - Server software suite for Linux as server and
   other OSs (possible including Linux) as client to facilitate
   network faxing with a high level of integration in each OS.
Any new software developed by the group members shall be GPL'ed.
Any existing software to be modified by the group members must be
GPL'ed or at least allow improved versions to be GPL'ed.

Contact persons:
Omer Zak omerz@actcom.co.il
Schlomo Schapiro schapiro@inter.net.il

Context:
Several organizations need a centralized FAX server for sending (and
sometimes also for receiving) FAX messages.  Such a server typically
serves a network of machines, which run Windows 3.11/Windows 95, Mac
and/or other client software.  Due to obvious reasons, it is preferrable
that the server run Linux rather than Windows NT or another proprietary
operating system.

However, it was found that the existing software (at least in the case
of mgetty+sendfax and Responder based software) is still crude and
its installation requires manual editing of several files and high level
of expertise in Linux systems administration.

The aim of our group is to start a dialogue between users (actual and
potential) and developers, who are willing to invest time and effort
at improving the existing Linux-based FAX server software, and implementing
client and remote administration software which will run under other
OS'es.

One of us (Omer Zak) is already working on miscellaneous minor
improvements to the SendFAX+Respsonder system, as he is tailoring
it to the needs of a nonprofit organization, which uses a FAX server
to send a monthly FAX newsletter to its members.

What was done so far:
1. Two server-client based scripts (written in perl and Tcl/Tk), which
   allow an user working on a Windows 95 based PC to monitor and control
   the queues maintained by a FAX server in a Linux based system
   connected to the same network.
2. More flexible syntax of files, which contain lists of FAX numbers
   for sending FAX messages to groups.
3. Initial wish list of features - see below.

Work to be done:
1. Review existing FAX software (for both Windows and Linux) and
   add more items to the wish list.
2. Design aesthetically-looking and user-friendly GUIs for installation,
   configuration and control of routine FAX server operations.
3. Inform us about any special requirements of your company/nonprofit,
   which are not met by any existing FAX software.
4. If you have the time and inclination to do so, volunteer to implement
   some of the enhancements - especially if you can implement client
   and/or remote administration software for yet another OS.

WISH LIST
Initially, we expect the group to brainstorm several ideas for improving
the FAX server software and bestowing it with sufficiently high quality
to become a reason for an institution to install Linux just to take
advantage of the improved FAX server software.

1. Easy installation and configuration - by means of a GUI running
   under X-Window and/or in text mode (for systems without X-Window).
   The installation should be an out-of-the-box experience.
   When individual system variations are significant (for example,
   /dev/modem was not created yet), implement automatically
   the appropriate modifications to the various files, while asking for
   confirmation at each step.
   Special attention will be devoted to accommodation of the
   differences between different Linux distributions.
2. A way for the person sending a FAX message to specify FAX
   numbers of the receipient/s in a wordprocessor file, in addition
   to the existing Responder method of asking for FAX number/s
   after the file was "printed" to the FAX server.
3. Improve sendfax to support not only FAX modems which recognize
   Class 2 and Class 2.0 commands, but also Class 1 commands.
4. Develop applets which keep track of the FAX server status, and which
   run on the FAX server machine (in X-Window, text displays or whatever)
   and on client machines using their native display capabilities.
   The applets will keep track of sendfax's work and display an
   appropriate text message (or icon) and modify its contents accordingly.
5. Prevent smbclient from aborting faxrunq due to overflow of
   queued WinPOPUP messages, when faxrunq is adding several
   jobs to the FAX queue.
6. Improve Omer's server-client based scripts so that the client side
   display will be aesthetically pleasing when sending FAX messages
   and/or managing the FAX server.
7. Actually implement prioritization of FAXes in the queue.
8. Make the FAX server check the queue after each FAX transmission
   so that high priority jobs will get immediate attention, rather
   than when all jobs have been processed in the current iteration
   (essential when someone wants to send an urgent FAX message
   and faxrunq started working on a queue of 500 FAX jobs).
9. A way to export from Windows 3.11 MS-Mail and from Windows 95
   Outlook 97 mailing lists of FAX numbers (for organizations which
   already defined big groups of FAX receipients, and want to move
   the lists from Windows to the Linux FAX server).
10.Improved status monitoring and diagnosis - for example, detect
   when a misconfigured FAX modem takes too long to send FAX
   messages to too many destinations.
11.Sophisticated algorithm for retrying failed FAX transmissions:
   - Don't retransmit pages which were successfully transmitted in
     a previous attempt.
   - Redial immediately ONCE if the previous attempt was met by
     voice response (when the FAXmodem supports speech detection).
12.For modems which support voice output, implement voice
   announcement saying (for example) "Ze FAX, bevakasha lechaber
   et hafaksimila shelcha" when voice response is detected when
   trying to send a FAX message.
13.Friendly editor of lists of FAX numbers (for updating group
   memberships).
14.Choice of canned scripts to be executed when a FAX message
   was successfully sent, and when a FAX transmission failed.
   Some of the scripts for failed FAX transmissions will behave
   differently according to the reason of the failure.
15.Provide a way for the sophisticated user, who is writing a FAX
   message, to ask for special handling in case the FAX failed
   to be transmitted due to certain reasons (overriding the standard
   method of handling FAX transmission failures).
16.Implement alternate FAX numbers i.e. if 1st FAX number
   failed, then try 2nd FAX number defined for the same receipient.
17.Client and remote administration software to run under OS'es in
   addition to Linux and Windows 3.11/95.
18.Support of network FAXing via shared directories from MS-Outlook
   and MS-Exchange - for fuller integration with Windows environment.

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