The FaxGate is a CommuniGate communication module supporting fax messaging. It converts messages to the fax format and sends them to remote fax machines. The module can receive incoming faxes and route them as messages to the recipient(s).
The module is multi-line, i.e. it can support several fax lines simultaneously.
When installed together with the Voice Gate, FaxGate can route incoming faxes to any recipient (locally or over e-mail), it can implement fax-on-demand and other fax-center features.
This version of FaxGate supports Class 2 fax modems connected via serial ports.
To compose and send messages as faxes, you can use not only CommuniGator, but also the print driver "FaxSender".
Installation
Place the FaxGate module into the Modules folder. That folder has been created inside the CommuniGate Folder in the System Folder on the computer running the CommuniGate Server. Restart the CommuniGate Server (by restarting the MacOS on that computer).
Configuration
You use the CommuniGator application to configure and monitor the FaxGate module.
1. Choose FaxGate from the "monitor" section of the Server menu. When the FaxGate monitor window appears, choose "Service Settings…" from the FaxGate menu.
Enter the Fax Station ID (your phone number or company name/slogan), and set the log level.
2. Choose "Add Line" from the FaxGate menu. The dialog box appears and allows you to select the serial port to use. We strongly recommend using virtual LineShare ports. The names of the LineShare ports appear in bold. The names of the ports that are in use with other applications or modules are shown dimmed. Select the port and click Enable.
3. The Line monitor appears in the FaxGate Monitor window. The Status field should say "Idle".
4. Choose "Line Settings…" from the FaxGate menu. The dialog box appears and allows you to set the parameters for this line: operation mode, maximum speeds, etc. Be careful with the "Log Level" option: if you set it to "All Info", the log file can grow in size very quickly, recording all low-level activity on this line.
5. If you want to support several fax lines simultaneously, choose "Add Line…" again and configure other lines in the same manner. Use the "Remove Line" menu item to disable fax services on a line/serial port.
Cover Pages
FaxGate uses the cover pages stored in the server Resource Base. You may use CommuniGator to create, remove and modify the cover pages. The "cover page" resource named "*Header*" is used to create a header placed on the top of each fax page sent.
If you do not explicitly specify the cover page to use, the cover page "*Default*" is used. If the message does not contain any subject, and the cover page has not been specified, no cover page is created.
To create a cover page or edit an existing one, choose "Cover Pages" from the Edit menu. Each cover page can contain a background picture and fields. Create a background picture with any drawing or painting application, copy it to the Clipboard and then Paste it into the Cover Page window.
To include the fields conatining your name, the date the message was sent, etc, use the Fields menu. That menu also allows you to set the font, size and style for the text that appears in the fields.
Redialing and Resending
When FaxGate fails to call some phone number (the number is busy, no answer, etc), it delays all messages to be sent to that number for several minutes. The delay time is increased after each attempt; After 10 attempts the module marks a message as "undelivered".
When reconnecting after a failure, FaxGate always resends the cover page (if any), and then continues with the page that has not been confirmed by the recipient's fax machine.
Multi-Lining
If FaxGate was configured to use several lines, it uses them simultaneously. If a message has several fax addresses, it can be sent simultaneously to those addresses.
Grouping
When the FaxGate module detects a message that should be sent to the same address as a message being sent at that moment, it sends it to that recipient immediately after the current message is sent, without disconnecting. So, all the messages in queue directed to one phone number are sent during one phone call.
Receiving Incoming faxes
All incoming fax messages are routed to the "Postmaster". If additional information about the recipient has been obtained from some source, the message is routed to that address. For example, after VoiceGate has detected password DTFM tones, and extracted the corresponding e-mail address of the recipient, it may detect fax tones on the line. In this case it passes the line to the FaxGate, and passes the information about the recipient to the FaxGate, too.
The upcoming version of FaxGate allows to specify 2 addresses (To: and Cc:) for faxes with unknown destination. The defaults are: To - to the local postmaster, Cc: - to the PrintGate (to allow automatic printing of the incoming faxes).
Attachments
This version supports the attachments of the type "TEXT" (plain text files), "PICT" and its own "fax format". To save a message in the fax format, the simplest way is to use the FaxSender printer driver to create a fax message, then open it with CommuniGator, choose "Save" from the File menu and select "Fax" as the format.
The "fax format" files do not require converting and can be used when the same document has to be faxed out many times (as data sheets). The files used for "Fax Back" or "Fax on Demand" also should be in the Fax Format.
FaxSender
FaxSender is the print (Chooser) driver to be used with CommuniGate. It employs the same Phone Book panel as the CommuiGator application, and it can be used with any application that supports printing. You can select "FaxSender" in the Chooser in order to send a fax, or you can have the "FaxSwitcher" extension installed. In the later case, when you select the FaxSender in the Chooser, you'll see the Option button which allows you to set the special-keys combination. You can set a combination and select your regular printer driver again.
If you press the selected key combination when choosing Page Setup or Print from an application File menu, the FaxSender driver replaces your regular printer driver and allows you to fax from an application without going through the Chooser.
To install this print driver on client machine(s), you should drag the FaxSender and FaxSwitcher icons to the System Folder icon. Finder will route them to the Extensions folder.
Fax E-mailing and Fax Routing
To use your FaxGate as a fax gate for e-mail, just send the e-mail message to nnnnnnn%FaxGate@your.domain.name, where nnnnnnn is the fax phone number, your.domain.name is the domain name you have assigned to the CommuniGate Server. If the phone number contains some special symbols or spaces, put it in the quote signs. Example: "+1-415-383-7461"%FaxGate@stalker.com
You can also use any other type of address format, either RFC822 or uucp:
<@stalker.com:"+1-415-383-7461"@FaxGate>
or
stalker.com!FaxGate!"+1-415-383-7461"
To simplify the addressing syntax, you can enter the following line into your Routing table:
In this case to send a fax via e-mail, the following syntax can be used:
nnnnnn@FaxGate.your.domain.name,
as: 4153837461@FaxGate.stalker.com
Note: make sure your network provider (if you use one) will route to you the messages addressed to <something>@<something>.your.domain.name.
To route all your faxes to some other CommuniGate server, enter the following line in the Routing table:
FaxGate = FaxGate@that.server.domain
where that.server.domain is the domain name of the CommuniGate Server you want to use for faxing. Without entering this into the Routing table, you can just send e-mail to that address - to use somebody else's server for faxing. This can save you money on long-distance and international fax calls. And this allows you to fax even if you don't have a fax modem.
