class 1 usefulness

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I have always agreed with you regarding the undesirability of class 1
faxing on a unix machine, but now I have the problem of faxing from a
laptop. The laptop presents a somewhat different picture. I am
running Linux 2.0.29 kernel on a an IBM Thinkpad 365XD with 40 MB ram
and 1.3 GB disk.

While this little box usually resides on one of 3 LANs (mine or either
of 2 clients'), it is sometimes called upon to travel on its own. In
these cases, it is very handy to be able to fax printouts to the
closest fax machine, thereby eliminating the need for me to carry a
printer. 

Since the laptop is always a single user system whenever it is off the
LAN (including not hooked up via ppp over a modem to my own network),
it behaves more like a DOS box than a Unix box, system load wise.

This appears to be a good case for class 1 fax support in sendfax.
Likewise, there is the occasional need to receive a fax from someone
while I am out in the field. So class 1 support in mgetty would be
helpful also.

I also have need to equip my system with a cell-phone modem hook-up.
So far, I have not found a configuration that I like. I would prefer
to keep class 2 fax capability. I also need full battery operation,
with capability to operate off of the inverter in my car for extended
periods of time. All the cell-phone set-ups I have seen to date plug
the modem cable into the same connector that the cigarette lighter
cord goes into, making it impossible to keep the cell phone connected
to both the power cord and the computer modem at the same time.

It was my intent to set-up uucp on the laptop and on the server back
home so that email could be transfered via uucp to the laptop. This
would minimize the air-time charges, since I would not have to call
the home server to poll for mail. The mail would just get moved to
the laptop as it came in. But to do this requires that the laptop be
always ready to receive a call on the cell modem, and the cell phone
must always be on and able to receive an incoming call. This would
require having both power and modem cables connected to the cell phone
at the same time.

So what I really want is a PCMCIA modem supported by Linux drivers
that will connect to a cell phone and allow the power and modem cables
to be simultaneously connected. Fax class 2 would be nice, but if
sendfax and mgetty begin to support class 1, then I guess class 1
would sufice.

Can anybody recommend an analog cell phone and a PCMCIA modem that
meet these requirements?

-- 
-------- "And there came a writing to him from Elijah" [2Ch 21:12] --------
Robert Jay Brown III rj@eli.elilabs.com http://www.elilabs.com 1 847 705-0424
Elijah Laboratories Inc.; 37 South Greenwood Avenue; Palatine, IL 60067-6328
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