Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 03:47:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Bill Tillman <btillman99@yahoo.com> To: Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org>, FreeBSD Questions <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Sending a Fax Message-ID: <462351.71539.qm@web36505.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <723BE905-95AC-4B07-AD31-3D149F06527E@lafn.org> References: <723BE905-95AC-4B07-AD31-3D149F06527E@lafn.org>
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=0A________________________________=0AFrom: Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org>=0A= To: FreeBSD Questions <questions@freebsd.org>=0ASent: Thu, May 5, 2011 10:2= 1:29 PM=0ASubject: Sending a Fax=0A=0AOne of my clients needs to send a lot= of faxes.=A0 He has a Brother 8680DN which =0Awill fax.=A0 Any ideas how t= o send a file to it and get it to send a fax?=A0 I am =0Anot finding anythi= ng beyond printing for that unit via =0AGoogle.____________________________= ___________________=0Afreebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list=0Ahttp://l= ists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions=0ATo unsubscribe, send = any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"=0A=0A=0AI read the = other replies to your post so let me put in my 2 cents worth. For the =0Ala= st few years, I have basically abandoned faxing in favor of e-mailing PDF a= nd =0Aother document files. Paperless is not only more efficient but its gr= een too. =0AStill there are those who must or insist on=A0cutting down huge= swaths or forest =0Ain order to send out more paper which will only end up= in the land-fills. OK =0Athat's my 2 cents worth so now I will address you= r question.=0A=0AI would assume that the Brother Fax machine you have shoul= d be able to handle =0Anetwork printing which means it should handle networ= k faxing. It not then it =0Awill almost certainly have to be decommissioned= if network faxing is what you're =0Aafter. Some have said you can get Free= BSD using Linux emulation to talk to it, =0Abut unless you really know what= you're doing this will be like reinventing the =0Awheel. Personally, I dou= bt you could get this to work and even if you did, it =0Awould be such a co= mplex setup that no one but you would know how it works and =0Athe next IT = person who steps up to manage it will curse the day you were born. =0ANot t= o mention getting your people in userland to understand and use this =0Apro= cess will prove fruitless because unless the users can simply point and cli= ck =0Ait will never be accepted by them. So unless you plan on being there = to hold the =0Auser's hand throughout each fax.....get the picture.=0A=0AHy= laFAX is a nice alternative and the port in FreeBSD has been tried and test= ed =0Aby many and it has earned it's stripes. But you will need a modem of = some kind =0Ato work with it and I doubt that the modem inside the Brother = unit you have will =0Awork. On top of that, if your client is using Windows= as their workstation OS =0Athen you wil need a client to interface with Hy= laFAX unless again you plan on =0Abeing there to massage and handhold them = through the entire process. There are =0Aseveral Windows clients available = for HylaFAX, a few of them are free but =0Arequire more than a point and cl= ick process to run. The makers of HylaFAX have =0Aan excellent client which= works just like a simple print queue process but it =0Acosts $35 per seat.= Other clients are available and cost a few $$ per seat as =0Awell. I have = a nice setup with HylaFAX and Windows clients but I just don't fax =0Aanymo= re so I hardly ever use it.=0A=0AI assume the Brother machine will do other= tasks like printing, scanning, etc... =0Abut to get it to interface with F= reeBSD will be a major undertaking. No offense =0Abut the users in this gro= up will make suggestions which sounf=A0like you just =0Asimply plug-n-play.= When in reality, it will take a huge effort for which there =0Awill be lit= tle or no documentation available and in many cases will never work =0Ain t= he first place because drivers don't exist for what you want to do.
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