Bill,Although your modem may run above 14.4k, there is a de facto industry standard baud rate of 14.4k bauds for the
fax device.I do know that faster faxes exist. However you have to understand how a modem connection works. One modem calls the phone number of the other modem. The other side answers, and you can hear a sequence of whistles at various frequencies. Both modems talk to each other using these sounds. Each one starts at its highest possible frequency and they negotiate the best rate. Best means best compromise between speed and transmission errors. If you call a FAX machine built to work at 14.4k only, it would be of absolutely no help to increase the speed on your computer: it will be dropped by the negotiation! All modems can go slower than 14.4k because phone lines are sometimes very bad. To understand why a lower speed reduces the error rate, you will have to study how the RS232 protocole works. This is not the place for that, but you can read this masterpiece: http://www.lammertbies.nl/comm/info/RS-232_specs.html An additional issue is the need for many faxes to keep up printing with the incoming flow of data. By very far, the average non computerized fax machine is very much slower than your PC and its laser printer ...
Socket vs File: this concerns direct faxing from a word processor, such as OpenOffice, saving the hassle of file manipulations as you have been obliged to do.
OpenOffice has a utility program spadmin to add printers which can be used. efax (not efax-gtk) can be installed in the list. This is a "socket".So if you click "Print" you can directly select efax, which will prompt you for the other side phone number, and with the help of Ghostscript will convert the document which you want to send, text and graphics, into TIFF format and post it out. Which, by the way, is why I so much insisted to find out if there was or not a bug in GhostScript. The "socket" method can even be very much improved by managing the efax pseudo printer with CUPS as you do in Linux for all your real printers: then, you can spool faxes, no need to wait for one to have gone through to submit the next one. Now a last statement. I essentially never fax with a computer, I have no faxing experience, I have neither efax nor efax-gtk on any of the six Linux computers which I use. So what I write must be taken without any guarantee,
Jacques A4Skyhawk wrote:
Jacques: Wow! I learned a lot from your last response. Thanks. Yes, my first attempts were trying to fax .doc (created during my MS days) and .jpg files. It worked after I used OO.o Word Processor to convert the .doc to .ps with "print to file", and I used OO.o Presentation ("open existing presentation") to likewise convert the .jpg files to .ps w/ "print to file". I take it then that the .pdf file was successfully transmitted because it is a .ps based format? A couple questions - -my faxes transmitted at ~14kbps - is there an"option/command" somewhere to increase this speed? -I don't understand (even after reading the Help) how/why Iwould use the "socket" fax entry method as opposed to the "file" method ( which I used for my recent tx). Many thanks, Bill Jacques Goldberg wrote:Bill, Congratulations!However, unfortunately, I still did not get from you the file which failed: was it PostScript or not?You can see that I was right, the problem was neither efax (nor efax in gtk flavor) nor the modem.It **is** important to know if your failure was due to using a non-postscript file or to a bug in GhostScript or in a PostScript level incompatibility.You write: "In the efax-gtk Help section for "sending", it says "Before sending afax,..........It must be in postscript format (a format produced by all Unix/Linux word and document processors), and will be converted by theprogram into the correct tiffg3 fax format."This information is misleading: didn't you just succeed sending PDF, not PostScript ???????Now again, I repeat since you do not seem to have digested this. GhostScript can take ONLY PostScript files as input, no kind of other format. It renders out a large variety of formats matching a large number of printers and displays including the TIFF format used by all FAX machines. ONE input, a LOT of outputs to choose from.There is one thing which you must understand. Printers can only print graphics material, actually matrices of dots, be they ink jet or laser or whatever else. They do not have a mechanical typewriter in there. Displays and FAX machines show exactly the same way.So, you CANNOT print a doc file or a xls file or etc.... without first connverting it into graphics.I will assume that you are using OpenOffice to create your doc,xls,etc ... files.NONE of the formats available when you "Save as" is graphics. To be able to print or display or fax, you mustconvert the file. With displays OpenOffice does it automatically. To get a printable file, it offers you the EXPORT command (which excellently create a PDF graphucs file) or the PRINT TO FILE capability in the PRINT command. PRINT TO FILE converts into PostScript. Otherwise when you want to really print on real paper fromOpenOffice, you have to select a printer and the "printer properties" define what has to be done to build a graphics file matching a given printer: almost always it will create a temporary PostScript file then invoke GhostScript withthe right "properties" matching the printer.I would not like to let any reader believe that there are no other ways to convert graphics formats in Linux, nor that I am so ignorant as not to know which. Any reasonable Linux distributions contains ImageMagick which itself contains scores of converters, but discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx is not the place to discuss such issues. GhostScript is no more than one of those converters, converting POSTSCRIPT ONLY into PLENTY of formats for printer engines.If you were trying to FAX a doc or an xls file, no wonder that GhostScript bombed.But if you had converted your whatever file (doc, xls,...) into PostScript, then there might be a bug in GhostScript.This is why I keep insisting to see the very file which you were trying to fax out.The Ubuntu styled "bug report" which you earlier suggested to read https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/efax/+bug/384317contains this gem: "Only by exporting the file in . Pdf and after putting it into another folder, you can proceed to the fax."The author of this gem seemingly expected non graphics to become graphics by black magic without having to "export" his FAX object.Not to speak about "another folder". I wish you can find better readings ....When I read such things, I ask myself if there is or not a bug alltogether, except in the brain of the people who wrote about that alleged efax bug in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/efax/+bug/384317 .Ubuntu style, that is.Accessorily misleading and driving mad the innocent readers of that litterature.JacquesA4Skyhawk wrote:Jacques: Aha! Success! I am using efax-gtk in Ubuntu 9.04, and in File/Settings/View I changed the postscript viewer program from 'gv' to 'evince', so now when I use the file selection dialog to browse for the file to be faxed, then select it, then press "view", the document viewer will display the file -- but only if it is a .pdf or .jpg (the only 2 that have worked for me so far), and NOT if it is .doc or .xls. So I selected a .pdf file to fax, and it was successfully transmitted & received at the destination phone number. Praise all progress! In the efax-gtk Help section for "sending", it says "Before sending a fax,..........It must be in postscript format (a format produced by all Unix/Linux word and document processors), and will be converted by the program into the correct tiffg3 fax format." So what does this mean (I am still new -2 months -to the Linux OS, after many years using MS)? Does Ghostscript handle only certain file types? What types can be "translated" by Ghostscript? How are other filetypes converted into acceptable types? Re your request for my command line info, I haven't gotten anyfurther than $ sudo wvdial. I would prefer using the efax-gtk program than using the command line approach (probably because I am very inexperienced at it -- for example, I am still confused by what phone number needs to be put into the .conf file!). TIA,BillJacques Goldberg wrote:Dear Bill, May I kindly repeat my suggestion in my former mail?Could you please send me the file which you are trying to FAX, the exact copy of what you type as a command, and the exact and complete error message which you get?In your mail I only see: GPL Ghostscript 8.64: Unrecoveraable error, exit code 1.But, although I answered many mails today, I believe that you earlier quoted something more useful likethe file not being a PostScript file.GhostScript is a program which converts the contents of a PostScript file into matrices of points which can primarilybe printed, point by point, by a very large number of printers (with a dedicated driver for each model of printer), and accessorily do it as well to "print" on a display (one names this a "preview"). One of the output formats withinGhostScript is TIFF which is the only one which is understood by FAX hardware on a phone line.GhostScript has ABSOLUTELY NO INTERACTION WITH THE MODEM.So if the message which occurs to you is indeed GPL Ghostscript 8.64: Unrecoveraable error, exit code 1., then the problem is-definitely not with the modem -definitely not with efax / efax-gtk software which just INVOKES GhostScript-quite possibly that the file which you try to FAX out is NOT a PostScript file-quite possibly, if the file is indeed a PostScript file, that there is a bug in GhostScript, NOT IN EFAX-quite possibly, an incompatibility of PostScript definition level (there exist 3: level 1, level 2, level 3) betweenGhostScript version 8.64 and the software (which software? A word processor perhaps, or a maths application generating PostScript graphics) which has been used to create the file which you are trying to FAX out.This is why, I repeat, while the Ubuntu crap discussion is (almost) useless, I need to have your file, the command which fails, and the exact and complete failure messages visible on your screen.I just wrote "almost useless" because there is one valuable information in the crap: The "bug" disappears when the output of the word processor is set to come in PDF format. Not surprising, PDF is displayed among others by Acroread, not by GhostScript. The value of this info is to hopefully convince you that the problem is NOT withefax/efax-gtk nor with the modem. Best regards Jacques A4Skyhawk wrote:Jasques/Marvin: Thank you for explaining and clarifying the meaning of the "AT..../Not supported" report. And sage advice re reading the manual. I am doing that now. In the mean time, I found this bug report -- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/efax/+bug/384317 This is exactly the problem that I experience when I try to fax using theefax-gtk program from Ubuntu 9.04. BillJacques Goldberg wrote:No Bill, this does not indicate any further problem. You have asked the Vista device manager what your modem can do.The Vista device manager replied that the modem is not able to handle CALLER ID (using this command; thereare other ways, seeIf I understood correctly, you are trying to send a FAX, not to enable or disable Caller ID, so this is NOT another problem at this time, nor will it if you want some day to enable/disable caller ID when the modem is set to automatically receive faxes: the modem cannot do it. This is not a problem, this is a feature.http://www.troi.com/support/callerid.htmlJacques A4Skyhawk wrote:Marvin: When I "query" the modem from Win Vista/Device Mgr (I have a separate partition for WinVista), all responses look OK (to my inexperienced eye), except for command "AT#CLS=?", for which the Device Mgr reports "Command notsupported". Does this indicate another problem?TIA, Bill Lowther Marvin Stodolsky wrote:To setup the modem in the future, it should suffice to just: $ sudo modprobe agrserial Then after once following Jacques guidance below, again try dialout with: $ sudo wvdial MarvS On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 12:24 PM, Jacques Goldberg <Jacques.Goldberg@xxxxxxx> wrote:Bill, You simply did not understand S6 which is possibly not sufficiently explicit. Edit wvdial.conf as shown Find the following lines: ; Phone = ISDN = 0 ; Username = Init1 = ATZ ; Password = Remove the three semicolons Insert your ISP phone number after the first equal sign as in Phone = 111222333 and do the same for the Username and Password given to you by your ISP Jacques A4Skyhawk wrote:Marvin: Here is what you suggested (S#), followed by what I did and the results I got (R#): S1) First best to complete general support for dialout with the wvdial_jaunty_i386.zip at the bottom of http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/ Unpack under Linux with: $ unzip wvial*.zip Move into the new folder: $ cd wvdial_jaunty_i386 $ ls and install with: $ sudo dpkg -i *.deb R1) I looked at the packages available in the Synaptic Package Manager and saw "wvdial" and I installed it (v 1.60.1+nmu2 (jaunty)). I could not determine the version of the wvdial file at the linmodem url above, so please let me know if I should still proceed as you suggested. S2) Next best get the general driver update automation provided by package dkms R2) This paackage was already intalled on my system. S3) Then from http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/ltmodem/11c11040/ agrsm-tools_0.0.1_all.deb agrsm06pci_2.1.80~20090825_i386.de R3) I did the above. S4) If not run automatically, after these installations run; $ sudo agrsm-test R4) I did the above. Report shown below: Loading drivers: Drivers loaded: agrserial 19808 0 agrmodem 1340932 1 and symbolic link created: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 2009-10-10 21:39 /dev/ttySAGR -> /dev/ttyAGS3 Checking for utility wvdialconf Found /usr/bin/wvdialconf, preparing to run: wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf A file /etc/wvdial.conf already exists, first renaming to /etc/wvdial.200910103910 Modem Port Scan<*1>: S0 S1 S2 S3 ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- Agere SoftModem Version 2.1.80.0 ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK ttySAGR<*1>: Max speed is 115200; that should be safe. ttySAGR<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK /etc/wvdial.conf<Warn>: Can't open '/etc/wvdial.conf' for reading: No such file or directory /etc/wvdial.conf<Warn>: ...starting with blank configuration. ttySAGR<Info>: Speed 115200; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0" Found a modem on /dev/ttySAGR. Modem detection successful Read wdial.txt Then edit /etc/wvdial.conf with: sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf at the lines beginning with ; and deleting the ; < > " Then try a dialout with: sudo wvdial ************************************************************************* S5) from the above txt - Read wdial.txt R5) I could not read "wdial.txt" as I could not find it. S6) from the above txt - Then edit /etc/wvdial.conf with: sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf at the lines beginning with ; and deleting the ; < > " R6) I did the above and left the line blank, so the .conf looks like the following [Dialer Defaults] Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 Modem Type = Analog Modem ; Phone = ISDN = 0 ; Username = Init1 = ATZ ; Password = Modem = /dev/ttySAGR Baud = 115200 S7) Then try a dialout with: sudo wvdial R7) I get the following :~$ sudo wvdial --> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60 --> Initializing modem. --> Sending: ATZ ATZ OK --> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 OK --> Modem initialized. --> Configuration does not specify a valid phone number. --> Configuration does not specify a valid login name. --> Configuration does not specify a valid password *********************************************************************** I have disabled "Play alerts and sound affects" in Sound. What is my next step? Should I download efax and efax-gtk? TIA, Bill Lowther Marvin Stodolsky wrote:Bill, If fax is not functional under Microsoft, likely it will not be under Linux either. Many of the cheap consumer Winmodems are not Fax competent. If you need robust fax service, best purchase a Controller Chipset (hardware) modem. Read the InfoGeneral.txt for details. for more ordinary dialout services with your: Communication controller: Agere Systems Device 0620" CLASS=0780 PCIDEV=11c1:0620 SUBSYS=11c1:0620 IRQ=5 IDENT=agrsm Under CPU=i686, Ubuntu Linux version 2.6.28-15-generic First best to complete general support for dialout with the wvdial_jaunty_i386.zip at the bottom of http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/ Unpack under Linux with: $ unzip wvial*.zip Move into the new folder: $ cd wvdial_jaunty_i386 $ ls and install with: $ sudo dpkg -i *.deb Next best get the general driver update automation provided by package dkms: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=dkms&searchon=names&suite=jaunty§ion=allThen from http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/ltmodem/11c11040/agrsm-tools_0.0.1_all.deb agrsm06pci_2.1.80~20090825_i386.deb In a common folder with the dkms and these to packages, all can be co-installed with: $ sudo dpkg -i *.deb If not run automatically, after these installations run; $ sudo agrsm-test Write back to the List (not me directly) if further help is needed. Sometimes it is necessary to disable Sound (pulseaudio) to achieve service with this modem and the agrsm software, see below. MarvS =========== ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jan Groenewald <jan@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 1:33 PM Subject: Re: Jan, South Africa, 2.6.27-7-generic, Agere on Jaunty To: Marvin Stodolsky <marvin.stodolsky@xxxxxxxxx> Hi On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 10:48:23AM -0400, Marvin Stodolsky wrote: You can't blacklist snd-hda-intel as the agrsm drivers depend on it for 11c11040 chips Try: $ sudo /etc/init.d/pulseaudio stop before the modem tests. OK, it tries to dial. \o/ /etc/init.d/pulseadio {stop,force-stop} does not work; says pulseaudio configured on a per user session basis. I had to use some methods in http://idyllictux.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/ubuntu-904-jaunty-keeping-the-beast-pulseaudio-at-bay/ sudo mv /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio /root/ sudo update-rc.d -f pulseaudio remove asoundconf unset-pulseaudio /etc/pulse/client.conf:autospawn = no System > Preferences > Sound >> all set to pulse (I will later try to enable Alsa while using the modem; this way it is all off; jaunty with intrepid kernel.) Attached some files. I think I need to check with the owner of the account on the username/password again, the username looked funny with two @ signs in it, but they reassured me that is what the provider told them. I use gnome-ppp for a user in the dialout and dip groups. regards, Jan -- On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 11:19 PM, Bill <donnabill22@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Dear Sir/Madam: I recently purchase a new eMachine computer (model #ET1161-05), with Windows Vista Home Basic included. I have installed Ubuntu 9.04 on one partition of the hard drive and kept the Windows on another partition. Vista Home Basic does not support faxing operation, however, there is a modem that is detected by Device Manager. I have run the scanModem program. The attached report confirms that there is an Agere modem on board. At this point I am confused as to whether or not it can be used in a Linux system. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. In the event that the Agere modem cannot be used, or if modifying it would be beyond my abilities (this is my first experience with Linux - all previous computers had Windows), what would you recommend regarding new modem/driver purchase/installation? I am in the USA. TIA, Bill Lowther
