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On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Douglas Handy wrote:
What recommendations do people have for a product to allow outbound faxes to be generated from the 400?
We've used two products for this: FAX400 and HylaFax. And I far prefer using HylaFax. Here is a list of pros/cons for each (remember these are a reflection of our experience and may not be the same for everyone):
FAX400 pros:* Fairly straightforward to create the faxes themselves. Any spool file may be faxed. If you already have printouts with overlays, etc. then faxing them shouldn't be too hard.
* Doesn't necessarily require any hardware beyond a fax modem. * Integrates well with iSeries applications. * Supported by IBM. FAX400 cons:* Way too hard to set up initially. I don't remember all the details of why it took us so long to get it working. But it did require several calls to IBM. * Resource hog. Our iSeries isn't a big one, and faxing really sapped the iSeries resources. * Slow performer. It takes several minutes before the modem starts dialing. And during that 3-5 minutes the system is dedicating as many resources as possible to the fax job. Keep in mind that I'm not referring to send time (i.e, the amount of time during which the modem is off-hook) but only to fax preparation time. * I don't know if it integrates well or at all with non-iSeries fax clients. I am not aware of any non-iSeries FAX400 clients.
* Expensive. HylaFax pros:* Free. HylaFax is licensed under the GPL and is available from http://www.hylafax.org
* Runs on an inexpensive linux or other *nix computer.* Can handle banks of modems for multiple simultaneous sending to handle extremely large loads.
* Completion notices delivered via email with detailed error reporting. * Supports a huge variety of modems.* Fast. Fax preparation is complete within a few seconds even on old, slow hardware such as a pentium II 400 MHz. * Supports a number of quality options to enhance delivery speed or quality of print. * Supports a large number of fax clients, including *nix, MS Windows, and Java.
* Supported by iFAX solutions (http://www.ifax.com). HylaFax cons:* Does not run natively on OS/400 (depending on your site this may not be a problem). * Does not integrate as smoothly with iSeries applications as FAX400 does.
We solved the iSeries integration problem by writing a java hylafax client for the iSeries (we hired David Gibbs to do it and he has done a fantastic job). Our current solution requires an ASCII text be created instead of a spool file. We create the ASCII file as either plain text or we use PostScript. David and I have discussed a new method which uses data queues and would allow us to fax any file at all without having to convert it to ASCII first.
I and the customer are very happy with the results. Our PostScript/HylaFax output looks much nicer than the FAX400 spool file with overlay output. And the HylaFax solution runs far faster than the FAX400 solution and was easier to install. Plus all the Windows PCs can fax using the HylaFax server. Our FAX400 customer now uses both HylaFax and FAX400.
We are willing to make our java hylafax client for iSeries available to anyone. We will license it under the GPL or other suitable license (keep in mind that since it is simply called, a GPL license does not place any restrictions on a proprietary program to use it).
midrange.com
James Rich
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