********************************************* BGFAX BETA TEST RELEASE NOTES BGFAX 1.0 BETA 02 THU 22 JUL 93 -------------------------------- Finally, the long awaited BGFAX reconstruction ... If you hadn't heard, I lost all source code to BGFAX back to Alpha 5, so if you find any bugs, let me know! My other computer crashed, so I had to go buy a new one. I was running a 286/8, now am using an 386DX40. Cost me $1200, so hopefully I can recover some of that with BGFAX as shareware. New things in Beta 2 ... 1. NEW FAX SWITCH OPTION! Previously, only /FAX and /FCON were the valid commands for rear end mode. Now that I've got a new computer to play around with, I've noticed that if your modem reports only +FCON, on a really fast machine, BGFAX would NOT work. (Norton 7 CPU 41.0). To fix this problem, there are now three valid switch options: /FAX ... use if your modem reports "FAX" or "CONNECT FAX" when it REALLY is a fax connect. BGFAX will wait for "+FCON". /FCON ... use if your modem doesn't support the /FAX option. Will assume a frontend program has already trapped "+FCON" and will signal the other fax machine (blindly) to begin sending the page. WARNING: If you tell the remote end to send the page and it hasn't send you the "OK" signal, it will force both ends to immediately hangup. If this happens, try the new /FAST option rather than /FCON. /FAST ... use if your modem doesn't support the /FAX option *and* your computer is very, very fast. Instead of blindly telling the other fax machine to begin, it will wait for an "OK" signal. (On slower computers, the OK signal will get lost during the time it takes BGFAX to load.) 2. May have fixed a bug dealing with high resolution faxes in the ZFAX format. Let me know if printing still only yields half a page. Also, please note that I added a new fax command string segment in the BGFAX.CNF file ... here's the relevant line: in=ATM0+FAA=1;+FCR=1;+FDCC=1,5,0,2,0,0,0,0;+FLID="TRANQUILITY BASE" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +FDCC sets the DCE capability parameters. The first "1" means you allow high resolution faxes. Almost all faxmodems default it to 0, which means don't allow high resolution documents. The "5" means your top FAX (receive) speed is 14400 bps. IF YOUR FAXMODEM ONLY SUPPORTS 9600 BPS FAX CHANGE THAT "5" TO A "3" OR IT WON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!! The other numbers are just part of the defaults. They shouldn't really be needed, but to be safe, you might want to include them (if you have enough room in your init string configuration.) Also, in the FAXIN.LOG file, high resolution documents will be denoted by a signal asterick, *, between the fax DCE speed and saved filename. Normal resolution documents will just have a space. 3. Desqview detection. BGFAX will now return ticks to DV and will also use the video buffer reported by DV rather than blindly using $B800. 4. Oddball port support. Say you have a port configured at a base address of HEX 325 and IRQ 5. You would have the following line in your BGFAX.CNF file: po=325x5 ...or via rear end command line like: BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 325x5 Z 5. Some people called me voice and informed me that some oddball modems (can't remember which ones) would report something like: RING FAX CONNECT 14400/ARQ ... on a data call and ... RING FAX +FCON ... on a real fax call. After BGFAX frontend mode saw "FAX", it would assume only a +FCON would allow. (I never thought a data CONNECT message could occur, but now BGFAX will ignore the "FAX" token and only start fax protocol upon reception of "+FCON". Did I spell reception right this time? I spelled it 'receiption' in all previous release notes and program files and a couple of people noticed it. I haven't checked in a dictionary yet. BGFAX 1.0 BETA 01 SAT 19 JUN 93 -------------------------------- I have been getting reports from all over about ways people have been getting BGFAX to work with certain FidoNet front end mailers. See the included text file BGFAX.HLP to find setup hints for BGFAX and your mailer. Thanks to all the people that have included reports. BGFAX seems to be getting more stable as time moves on, so I have decided to move the test into the beta phase. Just like the alpha test, this is a public beta test, and all can run and test the software. Additions/Changes to BGFAX since the last Alpha version: 1. The previous alpha versions would sometimes hang requiring a user to press to manaully exit BGFAX if something odd happened during a connection (or if your front end mailer or modem accidently passes control of a non-fax call to BGFAX). Now, BGFAX attempts to handle these events better. A timeout will occur if no data is received from the modem within 60 seconds. Also, if a "RING" or "NO CARRIER" happens before those 60 seconds, it will force an exit of BGFAX as well. 2. On errorlevel 4 exits previously, the fax file name was not being passed in any manner. Now, when a fax is received, the program will exit with an errorlevel of 4 (as before) but it will also construct a DOFAX.BAT file which calls EXEFAX.BAT file with a single parameter (the fax file name). Here is an example DOFAX.BAT file constructed by BGFAX: C:\BGFAX\EXEFAX FAX0007.QFX In your EXEFAX.BAT file, you can try something like @ECHO OFF PRINTFAX %BGFAX%\%1 9PIN.QLP 3. Some people wanted BGFAX (in front end mode) to create DOBBS.BAT files just like FD and other frontend programs. The EC = entry before held the "string" that was to be inserted as the 4th parameter on the DOBBS.BAT file if an error correcting session was established. The following is what happens if you get a CONNECT 14400/ARQ and EC=/RELIABLE C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS 14400 1 876 /RELIABLE However, now, if you set EC= the program will echo the exact rest of the connect string as the 4th parameter (like FD), like so: C:\BGFAX\EXEBBS 14440 1 876 /ARQ 4. Some people liked the old method of passing parameters to BGFAX in rear end mode, and some people don't like having to use the BGFAX environment variable for rear end mode, so I combinded this wishes into one: BGFAX rearend mode can be started in the usual way (ie., BGFAX /FAX or BGFAX /FCON) as long as the BGFAX= environment variable is set as the BGFAX.CNF file is still rear. If you do something like this though ... (OPTIONAL) BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z BGFAX rear end mode will start WITHOUT USING THE BGFAX= ENVIRONMENT VARIBLE OR BGFAX.CNF CONFIGURATION FILE. First parameter is /FAX or /FCON Second parameter is the directory to store faxes in Third parameter is 1-4, the com port number, place a bang after the com port number if you use a ZyXEL (like so: 2!). Forth parameter is fax type, (Z or Q only) AN OPTIONAL FIFTH PARAMETER ALSO EXISTS ... you can specify a one to three digit node number if you want multiple nodes to receive faxes in the same directory. Example: BGFAX /FAX C:\BGFAX 1 Z 12 Would cause BGFAX to make a BGFAX12.LOG file rather than the normal BGFAX.LOG file, and will also allow incoming faxes at the same time from multiple nodes. (THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN REAR END MODE). 5. Elapsed time was being garbled during parts of the day (as well as the midnight crossover). Fixed. 6. A slight cosmetic change has been made so that people with monochrome monitors can see what's happening in the state window. 7. After looking at the source code, it looks like Alpha 11 shouldn't have worked with ZyXEL modems as the "!" port modifer wasn't being treated successfully. I'll have to get my ZyXEL friend to test out this beta for me tomorrow.