RE: flexfax: Setting up a Hylafax system.

[Greg Breland <gbreland@healthtech.net>]

>I have one general and three specific questions:
>
>Has this type of configuration been used, and with what success?
>

We have a larger load than you have, although more sporadic.  We have 8
modems and range from  400 to 5000 pages per day.  Most of our faxes are
only a couple of pages long, we have never tried to send anything over 12
pages.  This could be a problem as I think HylaFax resends the whole
document if an error occurs, not just the pages that did not make it.  We
have had one recipient receive 20 faxes from us before it got through.
There might be a setting to solve this, but 99.9% or our faxes are 2 pages
and this is not really a problem for us.

>
>How would one determine the number of fax lines needed, and how easy or
>difficult is it to add lines to Hylafax?
>

This is hard to say.  A one page takes about 50 to 55 seconds, with each
additional page taking 10-20 seconds, depending on the complexity.  Sending
large faxes allows you to send more pages, because you don't have the
connect and hang-up as much, which takes most of the time.

>
>Does the conversion definition to TFF files work with PDF successfully?(I
>would think so from the Hylafax web site, but would like to confirm this).
>

Sounds like you are not going to be automating the process on the server
anyway.  By automating on the server, I mean sounds like someone will call
in and request a fax and then a support person will initiate the fax by
hand.  You are not setting up an automated faxback service.  Since this is
the case, I would use the client side to do all the document conversions
needed.  There is a great client for Windows machines called WHFC.
Basically this program uses a Post Script printer driver to convert the
output sent to a printer by a program to postscript.  It then sends this
postscript to the Hylafax server, which has a PStoFax program.  So faxing
works just like printing to a network printer....that happens to be very
very far away.  So to print a PDF document after setting up WHFC, I pull up
the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Reader.  I choose File->Print.  I select
the pages I want to print and I choose a printer called "Fax Server".  This
printer is a dummy printer port setup by WHFC and uses the "Apple 1600 PS"
driver that comes with most versions of windows.  After hitting print, a
dialog box comes up asking for some information such as fax number, fax
cover comments, and such.  After clicking ok, the fax is sent to the server.
After a couple of minutes, I receive an email saying that my fax has been
delivered to the fax number and I am done.

>
>Is it possible to send pages that are not in numeric order?(i.e. 2.D above)
>

Depends on the program on the client you are printing out of.  Most will.

>
>Thank you for any assistance with these questions.
>
>Lou Valente
>louv@crutchfield.com