Re: [hylafax-users] Hylafax FSP DLL for Windows 2000/XP

[Pedro Rocadas <procadas@yahoo.com>]

--- Dmitry Bely <dbely@mail.ru> wrote:
> Pedro Rocadas <procadas@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> > Strange, usually WHFC fits the basic needs and is
> > open-source now. You are allowed to improve it.
> 
> I did not know that WHFC was open source. But franky
> speaking, it did not
> change anything: I still think that virtual FSP DLL
> is the best way for
> Windows users.

Ok.

> 
> >> - Unacceptable fax image quality due to using
> >> Postscript printer driver and
> >> Ghostscript rasterizer (the latest Cypheus has
> TIFF
> >> printer driver, but I
> >> did not tested it).
> >
> > Or you use special fax machines or I'm lost here.
> 
> Send the same page containing, say, 6pt text in
> draft mode using WHFC and
> any commercial Windows fax software, and you'll see
> the difference even on
> the ideal line (WHFC's page will be unreadable). The
> problem is that
> the quality of Ghostscript rasterizer, that Hylafax
> uses, cannot even be
> compared with Windows one.
> 
> The only way around is to use TIFF printing (like
> last Cypheus
> does).
> 
> > Faxing always present quality problems. Think
> noisy
> > lines and you are in troubles...
> 
> Nope; it has nothing to do with noisy lines.
> 

Aaah, I understand your problem now. If the fax fails,
re-sending the file you loose quality. I ask about
that on the list and you know what? Just change the
notify.awk to attach the failed fax in PDF format and
you will never loose quality again.

> >> - Deep fax knowledge is required to configure and
> >> use them, that average
> >> corporate user does not have.
> >
> > Uh? My users only needed to put the fax number and
> > voilá! But, if they needed to configure anything,
> a
> > document with print screens explaining how to do
> it
> > solve the issue. Lusers are lusers but they have a
> > brain after all :-)).
> 
> When your user sees "No EOP or MPS after 3 tries"
> message, does he/she
> really understand what's going on? :-)

Change notify.awk alert messages...

> 
> >> - They require a lot of additional libraries,
> >> non-standard phonebooks etc.,
> >> being themselves multimegabyte monsters.
> >
> > You really tested WHFC?
> 
> Which standard WHFC address book conform to? :-) Is
> there LDAP support?
> Corporate users are very angry, if they have to
> create the separate
> address book for each software package installed...

I'm almost 99% sure that WHFC support LDAP.

> 
> >> - They cannot be easily distributed in the
> corporate
> >> network. 
> >
> > Uh? I'm not an windows expert but, you can make a
> > script to automate the installation right?
> 
> You can make everything by hand :-), but WHFC is not
> packaged info MSI out
> of the box and does not support distribution via
> Group policy.
>

Use the source Luke :-).
 
> >> - They are not reliable enough (those versions
> that
> >> I've tested)
> >
> > Wich are?
> 
> Some (older?) Cypheus version. Last time I tried it,
> it used to miss some
> event and continue to request the status of an
> unexisting server jobs. Fax
> sending then became impossible.

Understandable.

> 
> >> - They provide no cover page support.
> >
> > Do you really tested WHFC?
> 
> AFAIK WHFC only supports Hylafax native cover pages
> that are in fact
> unusable because there is not convenient tool to
> create them. Windows fax
> service cover pages are *way* better, and you can
> fill them right in the
> faxing dialog.

Understandable.

> 
> >> - They do not show the fax call in progress and
> >> generate heavy Hylafax
> >> server load due to the constant polling.
> >
> > Do you really tested WHFC?
> 
> WHFC (and Cypheus) *polls* server each predefined
> time interval, say 60
> sec. It means that the status of your job cannot be
> updated more
> frequently. It also means, that if you have 60
> clients in your network, and
> all of them are idle, the Hylafax server still will
> be busy processing
> their queries. On the contrary, Hylafax triggers
> implement event driven
> model, when Hylafax immediately informs the client
> that some interesting
> event has happened. AFAIK, none of existing Windows
> cliens can utilize
> this feature.

You want update times less than 60 secs?? Generally, a
fax spent 1 min or more to be delivered (depending in
how "complex" is your job). I know because our jobs
are very light. I have periods of considerable
workloads and I never saw hylafax degradation. Your
users are so "paranoid" that they want a notification
if the first attempt failled? Mine just want Ok:good
Failled:resend.

> 
> >> - The best existing Windows fax client (Cypheus)
> is
> >> expensive enough: $30
> >> pear seat in the medium or large corporate
> network
> >> is probably not the very
> >> low price.
> >
> > Try different comercial software and you will
> think
> > different :-).
> 
> Maybe, but I now I have everything I need. And
> numerous software that is
> compatible with Windows fax service is now
> compatible with Hylafax, which
> is used as a transport layer.
> 

You don't get the point. I don't advice any client in
particular but seems to me that Cypheus it's not so
expensive. 

> [...]
> 
> >> Now I am thinking what to do with this work. Is
> >> there any interest to such
> >> software? Probably I will not release it under
> open
> >> source license (for
> >> my TIFF library and some other issues). But
> closed
> >> sources mean a lot of
> >> user support, for which I simply does not have
> >> enough time. Should this
> >> software cost some money?
> >
> > You are not obligued to release any of your code,
> but
> > think, you are using HylaFAX. Imagine the original
> > author of HylaFAx not releasing the
> code...probably
> > you will be using EXPENSIVE commercial fax
> software,
> > unreliable and worse, with the felling that you
> trough
> > away alot of money...As I said, you are free to do
> > whatever you want.
> 
> Thanks for you opinion.
> 
> - Dmitry Bely

Last note: We pay a guy to costumize our map table in
our AS/400 iron, I'm not an AS/400 expert. I spent
hours testing the best options to integrate AS/400
with hylafax. You can make an idea about how could
cost a commercial package? Fax server, email server,
user license...I could keep the stuff for myself and
my company. But we got so much from HylaFAX
development that we decide to share the information.
But as I said, the decision it's yours.  

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