<HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >How to print to a fax machine.</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.49"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="The Printing HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Windows-only printers" HREF="winprinters.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="How to generate something worth printing." HREF="authoring.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >The Printing HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="winprinters.html" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="authoring.html" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="FAXING" >13. How to print to a fax machine.</A ></H1 ><P > You can print to a fax machine with, or without, a modem. </P ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="USING-A-FAXMODEM" >13.1. Using a faxmodem</A ></H2 ><P > There are a number of fax programs out there that will let you fax and receive documents. One of the most powerful is Sam Leffler's <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" ><A HREF="http://www.hylafax.org/" TARGET="_top" >HylaFAX</A ></SPAN >. It supports all sorts of things from multiple modems to broadcasting. </P ><P > SuSE ships a Java HylaFax client which allegedly works on any Java platform (including Windows and GNU/Linux). There are also non-Java fax clients for most platforms; GNU/Linux can almost certainly handle your network faxing needs. </P ><P > <A NAME="AEN2678" ></A > Also available, and a better choice for smaller installations, is <B CLASS="COMMAND" ><A HREF="http://casas.ee.ubc.ca/efax/" TARGET="_top" >efax</A ></B >, a simple program which sends and receives faxes. The getty program <B CLASS="COMMAND" >mgetty</B > can receive faxes using <B CLASS="COMMAND" >efax</B > (and do voicemail or interactive logins). </P ><DIV CLASS="SECT3" ><H3 CLASS="SECT3" ><A NAME="FAX-FROM-PDQ" >13.1.1. Faxing from PDQ</A ></H3 ><P > PDQ doesn't ship with a fax interface declaration, but here's a simple one (which is only partly tested): <TABLE BORDER="0" BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0" WIDTH="100%" ><TR ><TD ><PRE CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING" >interface efax-0.1 { help "This interface uses the efax package's fax program to send a fax. You should first get efax's \"fax send\" working by itself by editing the file /etc/efax.rc and testing. Connect this interface to a generic postscript driver to define a fax machine \"printer\"". requires { "efax" "fax" } # Making phone number required means that the add printer wizard # will demand a phone number at add printer time. This is # undesirable, so it isn't explicitly required, even though it is # logically required. The send_exec script checks for the number. # You could skip the wizard by adding this printer by hand to # .printrc, mark this as required, and it might then prompt? argument { var = "PHONE_NUMBER" desc = "Phone Number" help = "The phone number to dial. Prefixes like 9 ought to be defined in your /etc/efax.rc file." } option { var = "RESOLUTION" desc = "Fax resolution" default_choice = "high" choice "low" { value = "-l" desc = "Low" help = "Low resolution on a fax is 96lpi." } choice "high" { value = "" desc = "High" help = "High resolution on a fax is 192lpi." } } # If you don't specify a phone number the job just fails, and # the only way to figure this out is to look at the error message # at the bottom of the job details. Hmm. send_exec { if [ "x$PHONE_NUMBER" != "x" ] then fax send $RESOLUTION $PHONE_NUMBER $INPUT else echo 'You must specify a phone number!' false fi } }</PRE ></TD ></TR ></TABLE > </P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="FAX-VIA-EMAIL" >13.2. Using the Remote Printing Service</A ></H2 ><P > There is an experimental service offered that lets you send an email message containing something you'd like printed such that it will appear on a fax machine elsewhere. Nice formats like postscript are supported, so even though global coverage is spotty, this can still be a very useful service. For more information on printing via the remote printing service, see the <A HREF="http://www.tpc.int/" TARGET="_top" >Remote Printing WWW Site</A >. </P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="FAX-VIA-WEB" >13.3. Commercial Faxing Services</A ></H2 ><P > A number of companies operate web-based faxing services. <A HREF="http://www.efax.com/" TARGET="_top" >EFax</A >, in particular, offers free inbound faxes (to your own dedicated fax number, no less) via email, and fax transmission for a fee. Other companies offer similar services. </P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="winprinters.html" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="authoring.html" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Windows-only printers</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >How to generate something worth printing.</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >