class 1

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Hi,

Frank B. Brokken wrote:
>  We have been using mgetty+sendfax for a fairly long time now. In the past
> we used getty and getty_ps, but these programs are absolutely no match for
> mgetty. Mgetty is a very felxible program to use, and quite some time ago we
> decided to stop using getty and getty_ps and to switch to mgetty completely.

Glad to hear that.

>  However, for reasons unknown to us, current modems have changed from class
> 2 modems to class 1 modems. 

You might want to read about this in the mgetty list archives. It boils
down to "there is only 1 Mb ROM available, and the vendor has to choose
betwen voice-over-data and fax class 2, and voice is the better buzzword".

> This causes severe problems, as mgetty does (up to
> now) not support class 1 modems. Currently we're using release 1.1.8-Jul27,
> which is distributed by Debian.

Yep. There is no class 1 support yet.

>  Since we're using the fax capabilities of our modems rather frequently, we
> now basically have the following options:
> 
>  1. Stop using modems for fax-purposes, and buy fax-machines

Not a good idea.

>  2. Switch to efax

Not good either.

>  3. Wait for class 1 support in mgetty.

See below.

 4. Buy a modem like ELSA or USR Courier / USR Sportster that still
	 has class 2. 

What about that option?

 5. Use *older* Rockwell modems that can only do 33.6, or old ZyXEL
	 1496's, that do only do 19.200 but can do rock-solid fax.

What about this?

>  Option 1 isn't preferred: the nice feature of having your incoming 
> fax-files inside your computer is lost, and it costs $$s to buy a Fax machine.

Definitely.

>  Option 2 isn't preferred: we experience great problems in receiving faxes
> with efax.

I never liked efax. BUT: there is a general reliability problem with
class 1. You simply *CANNOT* provide very reliable service with class 1
on a loaded machine that might be swapping, or might impose unforeseeable
delays on program's responses.

>  So that takes us to option 3: waiting for class 1 support for
> mgetty. Consequently, we would be interested in information about any plans to
> include class 1 support in mgetty. Is there any chance of class 1 support in
> mgetty in the near future ? Is there maybe already a preliminary release that
> we might test and install ? In short: we're more or less depending on you in
> this regard.

I'll definitely plan to implement and test something. BUT: correctly
implementing class 1 is *VERY MUCH* [VERY VERY VERY MUCH] work, as you
have to implement all the stuff in fax T.30 manually, including carrier
changing, error recovery, etc.pp.

So this will take time. I have no idea how much time, but much time in
any case. It might be faster if someone needs it that urgently that he is
willing to pay a lot money for it, but I even can't guarantee this.

And, if I find out after implementing, that it isn't stable and robust
enough, I might even drop it again...

gert

-- 
USENET is *not* the non-clickable part of WWW!
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Gert Doering - Munich, Germany      gert@greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025    gert.doering@physik.tu-muenchen.de
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