Summary

• Sigillo's modem has fax capability
  
• To fax, direct the print job to the "Print to fax" pseudo-driver, part of the KDE Print Manager
• You can also use efax-gtk, but that's not been tested yet
  

Software

• sl-modem-source and sl-modem-daemon (see modem file)
• efax (core fax program -- not fully configured)
• efix (converts to tiff files)
• fax (script for sending faxes)
• efax-gtk (frontend)
• kdeprintfax (print to a fax device -- part of kdeprint, definitely useful)
• kfax (a fax viewer only)

Commands

• normal procedure is to print to the fax through KDE
• fax send [-l] [-v] { -m | number } filename...
• fax send -v 22850985 /tmp/kde-steen/kdeprint_hhcuWIkJ

• man fax
• man efax
• efax-gtk readme
  
• man efix
• discuss-subscribe@linmodems.org

Configuration and log files

• /etc/efax.rc (got some manual attention)
• /etc/cron.weekly/efax (deletes efax logfiles older than six weeks)
• /var/log/efax

Specifications

From version 2.9.9's instructions (which is the version I'm still using in January 2006), I get these specs:

Modem: V.92, V.90, V.34, V.32bis, V.23, V.22, V.21, Bell 103/212.
Flow control: V.42, MNP 2-4.
Compression: V.44, V.42bis, MNP5.
Fax: Class 1.
Voice: ADPCM voice compression, Digital Answering Machine.

However, there are no instructions on making the fax work.

Installation history

21 January 2006: configuring efax-gtk

Open efax-gtk and select Settings. Under the Params tab, the field "Initialization Params" had the value

Z &FE&D2S7=120 &C0 M1L0

Z &E&D2S7=120 &C0 M1L0

2 August 2004: fax support discovered

I discovered that the 2.9.8 version of the slamr modem driver now includes class 1 fax support!

First I simply tried to print to fax within KDE, but got the error

efax: 49:58 Error: modem command (&FE&D2S7=120) failed

It looks like the fax program is relying on the AT&FE&D2S7=120 command and getting an error.

I wrote SmartLink support and got the response was that indeed the AT&F command is not yet supported by slmodemd.  To work around this, modify the init string in /etc/efax.rc -- comment out this string:

INIT="-iZ -i&FE&D2S7=120 -i&C0"

and substitute this one:

INIT="-iZ -i&E0&D2S7=120 -i&C0"

This appears to have been all that is needed. (I suggested they allow AT&F as a dummy command instead of failing on it; the support guy agreed.)

To test, open kwrite and print a test document to the fax device. The log of kdeprintfax should look something like this:

Converting input files to PostScript

Sending fax to recipient

Sending to fax using: /usr/bin/fax NAME='Francis F Steen' DEV='modem' PAGE=letter FROM='' send  '23334748' '/tmp/kde-steen/kdeprint_n9IZbeXz'
/tmp/kde-steen/kdeprint_n9IZbeXz.nnn is up-to-date
efax: Tue Aug  3 17:12:10 2004 efax v 0.9a-001114 Copyright 1999 Ed Casas
efax: 12:10 opened /dev/modem
efax: 12:11 using /dev/slamr0 in class 1
efax: 12:11 dialing T23334748

efax: 12:28 connected
efax: 12:29 received UNKNOWN
efax: 12:29 Warning: bit-reversed HDLC frame, reversing bit order
efax: 12:30 received CSI - answering ID
efax: 12:30 remote ID ->             23334748
efax: 12:31 received DIS - answering capabilities
efax: 12:31 remote has no document(s) to send, and can receive
efax: 12:31 local   196lpi 14.4kbps 8.5"/215mm  any   1D    -     -  0ms
efax: 12:31 remote  196lpi 14.4kbps 8.5"/215mm  any   2D ECM-64   -  0ms
efax: 12:31 session 196lpi 14.4kbps 8.5"/215mm  any   1D    -     -  0ms
efax: 12:31 sent TSI - caller ID
efax: 12:32 sent DCS - session format
efax: 12:36 sent TCF - channel check of 2700 bytes
efax: 12:38 received CFR - channel OK
efax: 12:39 header:[2004/08/03 17:12   p. 1/1]
efax: 12:57 sent 20+2292 lines, 32752+0 bytes, 18 s  14556 bps
efax: 12:57 sent EOP - done
efax: 13:00 received MCF - page OK
efax: 13:00 sent -> /tmp/kde-steen/kdeprint_n9IZbeXz.001
efax: 13:00 sent DCN - disconnect
efax: 13:01 Warning: unexpected response "NO CARRIER"
efax: 13:01 done, returning 0 (success)