Back for another moan

[mshater]

Finally got a real distro up and running. Ubuntu is really nicely done. Of course I had to junk my tower and get a second hand one. With an AMD64 and 2G of mem it sings nicely.

Now to the moan. Fax programs and a good GUI seem to be strangers in the Linux world. I got Hylafax working with GUI - and long for MSFax. What a clunky kludgy apology for software this Lin stuff is. Actually enforcing a set format on the address book import. That sort of thing disappeared from the MS world so long ago I can't remember. If you use, as I do, a database and import only names and fax numbers for broadcasting then the lack of mapping is a serious drawback. It takes a pretty dim program to do what the apparent king of 'nix fax programs does. I am certainly not impressed at the thought of having to reformat all my databases just to keep this app happy. Perhaps I will find a workaround which will take six steps where one would do in Win.

Never mind, Macs use 'nix now and their software is usually good. And they run on Intel/AMD these days.

[MASONTX]

I'm not a faxer, so may be off on this, but most linux functions have more than one program for that purpose. I.E. Abi word, Open office, etc. Try and find a different fax program.

[mshater]

I have sought long and hard. They are few. Suse has one in its distro I believe. Otherwise you are into the realm of the dependency nightmare, if you can get one to work. Most are complete garbage. Hylafax is the best but it is crud compared to Win programs. As expected it will take several steps to do. Kaddressbook looked good BUT it will not import csv files with empty fields which Win progs do. It exports to vcf which Hylafax seems to like. It seems like if I am to stay with Linux I will have to change all my databases. I do not relish changing a few thousand fields even with find/replace.

Still looking for something that gets past 3/10 compared with Windows stuff.

Windows fax works directly from windows address book/contacts which both accurately import csv. It may not be the prettiest but it certainly works and is free.

[Mudgen]

I ran Hylafax on HP-UX years ago. What a nightmare that was....

[jselover]

I believe you have mistaken what Hylafax is, it is a fax server, and only provides a rudimentary front end. It is meant to be integrated into a larger process or processes, or you can provide your own front-end tailored to your needs.

In my case, I provide IT to many companies using Hylafax to send 1000's of fax a day. Our industrial strength accounting and inventory software sends our customer's invoices and statements via fax and e-mail, and Hylafax is fed documents directly from our programs. A single operator can submit 1000's of document to be faxed without ever entering a phone number, or slowing down to click 'OK' to send each of those faxes.
Hylafax has likely saved our customers millions in labour costs over the years.

At our office, our Asterisk phone system uses Hylafax to send and receive faxes over both land and SIP trunks, sending faxes from a number of sources and e-mailing received faxes to designated recipients.

So why do you think you have to reformat your databases to use them with hylafax?
Your app can do something as simple as calling a bash script to send one, or a thousand, fax without bothering you with the mundane details required to send a fax.

The script, or whatever front-end you choose, or create, can loop through a list of given records, loop through an entire database, or whatever you want, parsing the info Hylafax needs, and then telling Hylafax what to fax to whom. Hylafax will then reliably fax whatever to whoever, whenever, using real, or virtual SIP, modems.

I will admit I have not found a great front end for Hylafax, but then again, faxing and using csv files isn't rocket science, as faxing only accepts a few pieces of input. Further, I don't know anybody who bothers one offing faxes from a computer any more, as e-mail has pretty much killed off that use of faxing.

You seem pretty fond of MSFax, so I have to ask, why don't you just use MSFax? MSFax, to the best of my knowledge, is not a fax server. Is there a MSFax API, so other programs can send faxes in batch mode?

[mshater]

Thanks jselover. The point of using something like Ubuntu is to have a good desktop not reliant on the Seattle monster. However, your solution is simply not acceptable for the home user. We do not escape Win to go into script writing - we want it simple. An address book as part of the major desktop which cannot cope with importing csv with empty fields seems a major blunder.

I may well be misunderstanding Hylafax. I care not if it is a client, server or the whole boardroom. I just want to send targeted faxes in a simple manner.

Unfortunately MSFax cannot be separated from its parent OS or I would run it under Wine.

Overall Linux is good and secure but it still has a long way to go to be acceptable to the mass desktop market. There is no place for geeky workarounds in the domestic setting.

[mshater]

OK I give up. Will have to stick with Windows until Linux world wakes up to providing basic apps. Have given up trying to get any fax app in Linux even to wipe the boots of Win apps.

Hylafax is garbage for single user and GUI is no help. Fancy requiring an imported address book to be in first name, last name, fax, company format and absolutely nothing else. STOOPID

[MikeTbob]

Sometimes the best approach is the easiest, use Windows if it works. Linux is not for everyone. Hope you find what you need and enjoy using Windows.

[mshater]

The pity is the Linux IS good. It is just that for some reason a very popular app has not been mastered in 20 years. Surely a community that can produce good free 3D CAD can manage a small gui for faxing. The attempts I have come across are really awful, considering the actual hardware communication bits work underneath.

It does seem daft that one has to continue using Win for lack of a decent fax app. STOOPID is an understatement.

[EdCompSci]

Unfortunately MSFax cannot be separated from its parent OS or I would run it under Wine.

Just install your windows in VirtualBox or KVM and run Winfax as a virtual machine. Won't that work? Then you can still enjoy Linux.