Re: flexfax: Modem config.tty** Database

[Phil Watkinson <pkw@elgro.co.uk>]

At 23:43 28/12/98 -0800, Torsten Mueller wrote:
>Hello,
>
>as i said some days ago, i will "open" a database for config.tty**
>files for Hylafax.
>
>It`s now online. You could see it at
>http://www.xtremeweb.de/hyla/
>

Hi,

I think your online database is very good; the WODA software (if 
that is the name of the interface) looks very handy.

Can I suggest a couple of changes to the database structure?

I wonder if it maybe preferable to keep the config data in a 
seperate (text) file, and simply show a hyperlink to it in the
database record. This would :

    * make it easier for users to download - the current display
      unfortunately has many lines wrapped round;

    * reduce the size of the database, where more than one modem
      uses the same config file;

    * the browse screen would be more compact.

It would also (ah, the real reason!) make it easier to merge back
into the HylaFAX distribution the fruits of your labours (and those
of your contributors).

HylaFAX keeps generic and specific prototype config files in the
/var/spool/fax/config directory, which are used by the faxaddmodem
script to create an individual config file. The man page for
faxaddmodem gives a clear account on how this works. Sometime in 
the future it would be great if these files could be updated with
the information from your database.

In a previous mail, you asked if there were other fields to add to
the database, in particular ATI commands. The responses from ATI 
commands seem to vary so much from protocol to protocol and from
maker to maker. Can I suggest, instead, a single field to hold the
class and the flow control for the modem?

The new field would hold a combination of either 'CLASS1', 'CLASS2'
or 'CLASS2.0' *and* 'RTSCTS' or 'XONXOFF'.

So, the entry for a modem would be, for example :

     Manufacturer :        Multi-Tech Systems
     Model        :        MT2834ZDX
     Operation    :        CLASS2 RTSCTS
     Config File  :        mt-1432.txt
     Comments     :        Works well with standard config file 
                           mt-1432 from HylaFAX v4.0pl2.
     Sender       :        Phil Watkinson <pkw@elgro.co.uk>

What you do think?

A final thought. Carsten Hoeger <choeger@suse.de> is writing a
graphical version of faxsetup with the faxaddmodem functionality.
Rather than using the probemodem script, the current version allows
the user to select their modem from a list. Your database (in a flat
file form) would fulfill his needs for that list.... is it something
on which you could collaborate?

Sorry for a long post,

mfG,
Phil Watkinson,
Boston, UK.