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Text File | 1993-04-09 | 15.8 KB | 414 lines

GPFax Version 2.30 Update Notes - April 1992 The following changes and improvements have been added to GPFax since the manual was published. *************************************************** * NOTE CLASS 1 Versions ONLY * *************************************************** There is now only ONE GPFax Class 1 program. You must ensure that you have told the program which modem you are using. Type of Modem With the Generic Class 1 version, you MUST specify you modem type when you run the program. This is done by either Setting a tooltype in the GPFax icon MODEMTYPE = COMMA (CommaV32/42 and Spirit II modems) MODEMTYPE = AVTEK (for Avtek Mega/Data fax) MODEMTYPE = HST (USRobotics Class 1) or from the CLI GPFax -m<modemtype> where <modemtype> is COMMA, AVTEK or HST These commands set the appropriate modem initialization string for your modem. Alternatively, you may edit the modem initialization string by displaying the Environment window. FAX/DATA Automatic detection between Fax and Data and all associated AREXX scripts are not available with the Class 1 version. --------------------------------------------------------------- General Features 2.30 A) Print Popup With earlier versions of GPFax, the process of creating and sending faxes was a two part process. For example, one had to 'Print' the document via gpfax's printer driver to create the fax file with a name of PRTxxx.p01, then manually select this file and the phone number to send it. As of version 2.26, this process can be combined into a one step operation which we call 'Print Popup'. In essence, when printing from another application, GPFax will popup a window allowing you to select the file name for the fax, the phone number and the time and date to send the file. This information will then be entered into the scheduler and the fax will be sent off automatically without further user intervention. From the 'Options' window, ensure that 'Prt Popup' and 'Scheduler' gadgets are selected. When 'Printing' from an application, the Print Popup window will appear. a) Enter the file name you wish to call this fax file, or leave at the default name (PRT). b) Enter the phone number or select the 'i' gadget to display the phonebook and select a number from there. c) Select the time and date to send the fax. If these settings are not changed, the fax will be sent immediately the printing has finished. d) Select 'Queue' to enter the above details into the scheduler so that fax can be queued to be sent. If no phone number has been selected, the file will simply be created and not transmitted. e) Select 'Store' to simply save the printed fax under the given file name and not send it. f) Select 'Abort' to cancel the fax printing. Note that with some programs this may bring up a requester such as 'not enough memory' or similar in your application software. B) GPFax on Workbench Under WB 2 or higher, GPFax may now be run either on its own CUSTOM screen or on the WORKBENCH screen. To use workbench either Add the TOOLTYPE SCREEN=WORKBENCH to the GPFax icon or Run GPFax from the CLI with the '-z' flag. When running from workbench, GPFax will display its own windows directly on the workbench screen with WB2 style look. All windows have depth and drag gadgets. If you depth arrange any of the windows, clicking on any gadget from any window will bring the 'currently active' window back to the front. Selecting the 'Window Close' gadget in any window is equivalent to selecting the appropriate 'Cancel' gadget C) Screen resolution for viewing faxes The screen on which faxes are displayed can now be chosen from the 'Options' window. The available choices depend on which version of WB you are running. Under WB 1.3 A cycle view gadget is displayed. Select 'HIRES' to use a 640 x 256 screen (200 for NTSC) Select 'HR-LACE' to use a 640 x 512 screen (400 for NTSC) Under WB 2.04/5 As above but the display will open using your 'Standard' overscan settings from Workbench. Under WB 2.1 and WB 3 An information 'i' gadget is displayed. Selecting this will display a standard Screen Mode Requester revealing the various monitor screen modes and overscan settings available with your particular equipment. When the screen mode requester is first displayed, because GPFax does not enforce any particular monitor type, the initial settings may not be correct. Choose an appropriate display mode and select 'OK'. NOTE: Some of the display modes may not be suitable either for GPFax or for your equipment. In general, select the largest display screen suitable for your equipment. Be aware that the larger the screen display, the larger the amount of CHIP memory required to display the fax. For 2024 users Select the appropriate 2024 monitor type to display the faxes on a 1024 x 1024 2024 screen. D) Fax Decode Routines The algorithms used to decode a fax have been completely re- written and are now between 200 and 500% faster, depending on the particular fax. E) Requester Windows The small GPFax Request windows which may appear from time to time have been changed to provide a more consistent design as well as providing more selection options. For example, the confirmation requester which is displayed if you attempt to delete entries from the LogBook now provides three options. F) Auto Answer - Ring Count Despite the telecommunications regulations in some countries, the MINIMUM number of RINGS before answering the phone has been dropped to ONE. The default value is still TWO but you may edit this back to ONE if required. Minor problems with GPFax not answering on the actual number of rings have also been fixed. G) Send Fax Safety Timer We have found that under some conditions some modems can lockup after dialling the number and keep the line open indefinitely instead of hanging up the phone. We have added a 3 minute (180 second) safety timer when sending a fax. If no response is received from the modem for this time, GPFax will hang up the modem and terminate the call. NOTE: GPFax depends on the modem sending back the correct responses as defined in the TR29 standard. If the modem fails under certain conditions, this is a hardware fault with the modem and not specifically the responsibility of the GPFax software. H) Disk and other Errors Error detection when saving incoming fax pages has been improved and will report 'DISK?" error if the file cannot be successfully written to disk. We have also tightened up the error checking when sending and receiving pages. For example, if the correct number of pages was not sent this is now specifically marked as a 'FAIL'. Again, we have found that some modems may fail and incorrectly report the correct status. I) Maximum Connection Speed Each Phonebook entry now has a MAXIMUM connect speed setting. This displays, 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600, AUTO. This settings allows you to select the initial MAXIMUM speed for the modem to use when connecting to a remote fax machine. Generally leave this on AUTO and let the modem determine the best speed. However, if you find that certain number always connect at a low speed, or, if the modem fails to connect to a remote system normally, drop the initial connect speed until you obtain a reliable connection. This options does not work on current Supra modems but will be fixed in later ROM revisions from Supra. J) Filerequester Pattern Recognition We have added pattern recognition to FileRequester file name gadget. Use either the standard AmigaDos patten matching of '#?' or the UNIX style with '*'. K) AREXX Commands The AREXX command COMPANYNAME <new company name> has been added. This option has been requested by a number of business users who operate different companies from the same phone number. It is a simple mechanism to remotely change the default company name in the GPFax environment. The cover page and the one line header at the top of each page uses the company name from the environment so this command allows you to easily change the name displayed on the transmitted cover page and fax header. WARNINGS A) This command will change the actual company name in the GPFax environment. If you subsequently cause the environment to be saved by manually changing any of the environment or Option settings, this new company name will be saved in the configuration. B) Normally, the company name displayed on any separate cover page generated by GPFax comes from the particular phonebook entry being dialled. After you use this AREXX command, the cover page name will be taken from the environment, NOT the phonebook entry. The AREXX command PRTPOPUP <ON/OFF> has been added. Functionality is the same as other flag switches ------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL NOTES 1) FINALCOPY II FinalCopy II problem when printing faxes! We had found that FinalCopy I and FinalCopy II worked fine with version 2.01 of GPFax. However, when our users upgraded their GPFax to later versions 2.21+, some version of FinalCopy II no longer printed faxes. Other programs such as PageStream, ProPage, ProWrite etc all worked as advertised. This has been an ongoing problem for a several months now and we have been getting a number of irate users of GPFax complaining bitterly to us. After considerable analysis of this problem, we found that FinalCopy II (Release 1 Sep 26.92) was the culprit and was specifically looking for a SPECIFIC PRIVATE Message port (named 'Woger.1') between the GPFax.driver and GPFax. With our updates, we made several changes to the driver and program to better implement fax printing. We even spent considerable time ensuring that our 'new' printer driver would better support FinalCopy! To safeguard our users, we changed to the GPFax MessagePort name to 'Woger.2' so as to avoid conflict. This problem has cost us more support time than any other single problem over last five months. Enough! If you are one of the people who suffer from this problem, COMPLAIN TO SOFTWOOD not us!! After discussing this problem with Softwood, they have kindly offered to upgrade users of earlier version of FinalCopy II to the later version which has been re- written to work correctly. 2) Commodore's Postscript Printer Driver Commodore's Postscript Printer Driver as released with OS version 2.1 up to 3.1 (40.6) do not work correctly with programs which print graphic dumps using 'strip printing'. GPFax uses this method when printing a fax which has not been fully decoded and displayed. If you can fully display the fax, fine. If not printing a fax from logbook will not work correctly at the time of this release. Commodore's problem not ours. 3) Versions of GPFax There are several version of GPFax available. These are GPFax - Supra Class II Version For Supra modems: Supra Fax Modem Plus and Supra Fax Modem V32 GPFax - Generic Class II Version For all other modems which support the TR29 Class II draft standard such as Maestro, ZyXel U 1496 and many others. GPFax - Special Avtek CD930 MegaPlusFax V32 Version Unlike most other modems, most NetComm M7F models as well as the Avtek CD930 model do not support RTS/CTS handshaking in fax mode. A special version is required to use Xon/Xoff handshaking. GPFax - Generic Class 1 Version For modems which support the Class I standard such as the Avtek Mega Data/Fax mode and NetComm Pocket Fax modem (which use the Rockwell 224ATF ship set) , the Comma Corp V3242 and Spirit II (which use the Analog Devices ship set), and the USRobotics modems. An cross-grade from one version to the other is available ONLY direct from GPSoftware at a special price. Contact us for details. 4) FAX/Data Auto Detection GPFax Class II products efficiently perform detection between FAX and DATA if supported by the modem.However, because of slightly different methods implemented by different manufacturers this feature can only be guaranteed on certain brands of modems. CLASS1 versions do not support Fax/Data detection. 5) Thank You! We thank you for your support in purchasing our products and welcome any suggestions you may have for added features in future releases of GPFax. 6) Support and Information For more information about GPFax, contact either Dr Greg Perry GPSoftware 21 Aloomba Road ASHGROVE QLD 4060 Ph/Fax: +61 7 366 1402 (Greg Perry) EMail: gregp@gpsoft.adsp.sub.org FidoNet: 3:640/304Greg Perry AmigaNet: 41:400/304 Greg Perry If you are having trouble with using GETTY, TRAPDOOR or other front ends to GPFAX, contact Richard Carde. Richard Carde Ph: +61 7 300 6315 or +61 7 300 6864 Fax: +61 7 366 1402 UUCP: richardc@vogue.adsp.sub.org InterNet: rc@splat.aarnet.edu.au FidoNet: 3:640/304Richard Carde AmigaNet: 41:400/304 Richard Carde ------------------- Dr Greg Perry, GPSoftware, Brisbane Australia 8th April 1993