Panther Faxing vs. Page Sender opins

anthlover · 10-25-2003, 09:34 PM

RE: Panther Faxing vs. Page Sender Faxing Opnions???

I have listed this under System because faxing is included with the system software....

Anyway... I have been a loyal Page Sender user. I have always felt Apple should have bundled Page Sender rather then FaxSTF which never recovered from Its Multiple parental Absorbtions, let alone the transtion to X though I have heard of late it was getting warmer...

I will not have my hands around Panther and its built in faxing until Monday nite.

Anyone have an opnions of how the two faxing options stack up.

Also anyone know whoose Fax program Apple is using (there own? or a bought one).

rusto · 10-25-2003, 11:36 PM

Currently using Page Sender...will try out the Panther fax Monday when I can send love notes to my wife's office as a test.

rusto · 10-26-2003, 04:18 PM

After fiddling with it a bit today, I believe faxing with Panther fax ability does merely that: you can fax documents out via your internal modem. Unlike Page Sender it doesn't seem to receive faxes or save copies of faxes sent.

rusto · 10-26-2003, 04:32 PM

Oops, I take back that part about not being able to recieve or save faxes: look in your System Prefs panel: Print & Fax.

anthlover · 10-26-2003, 06:37 PM

But the Devil is in the Detials...

rexwilson · 10-27-2003, 07:43 AM

the maker of Pagesender has posted a comparison chart at...

http://smilesoftware.com/pscompare.html

I'd be curious to hear others opinion of this chart (i.e. all the things that Panther supposedly can't do).

rusto · 10-27-2003, 08:11 AM

Hehe, nice chart. I guess it depends on how you interperet HOW you do various things with Panther's fax ability. Although I like Page Sender better (so far) allow me to show how you can do some of what he says you can't in Panther's fax:

View sent faxes - presumably you can view the original document you faxed (granted, not the actual fax generated and sent by Panther).
View failed faxes - same as above (I haven't had a failed fax yet so I don't know what logging occurs)
Resend faxes - I guess this means failed faxes. Again, you'd have to know the fax had failed, if you do, just click "fax" in print dialog again.
AppleScript recieved faxes - you can attach an Applescript to the Faxes folder to handle this

The last couple about what OS's you can use it in are kind of silly: you wouldn't have the built-in fax ability without Panther in the first place. But if you have various systems running different OS's running Page Sender would let you unify how things are done.

Again, Page Sender is a much more fleshed out solution for faxing than the one bundled with Panther. But many people so rarely need to fax, this free alternative might be just enough to do the job. I'd LOVE to elminate my need to fax but I have a few clients that can't seem to see the sense in using .pdf files instead.

anthlover · 10-27-2003, 10:34 AM

Thanx for all the input I am going to take it for a spin too..

Well the main cool thing about Page Sender is the Semi email interface for In Box, Out Box, Sent Items etc (not counting the spiffy elegant interface). Those were added in 3.x

Plain Englsih summary Logs have been a weak area in Page Sender though the out box with a failed item or Sent box with Sucessful sends kinds of reduces the need to thumb through logs.

If panther offers "real English Logs" that would be a viable alternative.

**Lastly I am quite curios who wrote Panther Fax

jbc · 10-27-2003, 11:30 AM

Interesting different angles on faxing. We won't be updating to Panther for a couple weeks, so an additional question for the Panther fax users.

Can Panther's faxing be accessed from the command line? Our needs are for faceless background faxing via Applescript or shell script. Right now we're using efax. Just curious if we'll be able to replace this with Panther.

rexwilson · 10-27-2003, 01:00 PM

I've been playing with Panther's faxing, and am having trouble getting it to automatically send out an email when a new fax is received.
Does anybody know where/how to debug this?
Does it keep a log somewhere of its attempts to generate an email and its possible reasons for not doing so.

This also brings up the question of how one tells Panther what is the default email application you want it to use.

rusto · 10-27-2003, 02:05 PM

The fax prefs are here: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.FaxPrefs.plist but no help there regarding logs.

Default email app is set in Mail.app General prefs now.

rexwilson · 10-27-2003, 02:38 PM

Thanks, Rusto.
Still unable to get an email sent after fax receipt.

I verified the contents of /Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.FaxPrefs.plist, and indeed, it accurately contains the info I entered via the Preferences Pane regarinding my request to be sent an email upon receipt of a fax.
When I send it a test fax, it answers the modem and stores the PDF file just fine, but doesn't appear to make any attempt to send (or report any error messages about failing to send) the email.

10-25-2003, 09:34 PM	#1
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,620	Panther Faxing vs. Page Sender opins RE: Panther Faxing vs. Page Sender Faxing Opnions??? I have listed this under System because faxing is included with the system software.... Anyway... I have been a loyal Page Sender user. I have always felt Apple should have bundled Page Sender rather then FaxSTF which never recovered from Its Multiple parental Absorbtions, let alone the transtion to X though I have heard of late it was getting warmer... I will not have my hands around Panther and its built in faxing until Monday nite. Anyone have an opnions of how the two faxing options stack up. Also anyone know whoose Fax program Apple is using (there own? or a bought one).

10-25-2003, 11:36 PM	#2
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	Currently using Page Sender...will try out the Panther fax Monday when I can send love notes to my wife's office as a test. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

10-26-2003, 04:18 PM	#3
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	After fiddling with it a bit today, I believe faxing with Panther fax ability does merely that: you can fax documents out via your internal modem. Unlike Page Sender it doesn't seem to receive faxes or save copies of faxes sent. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

10-26-2003, 04:32 PM	#4
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	Oops, I take back that part about not being able to recieve or save faxes: look in your System Prefs panel: Print & Fax. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

10-26-2003, 06:37 PM	#5
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,620	Yup it is suppose to do it all... But the Devil is in the Detials...

10-27-2003, 07:43 AM	#6
rexwilson Prospect Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 23	the maker of Pagesender has posted a comparison chart at... http://smilesoftware.com/pscompare.html I'd be curious to hear others opinion of this chart (i.e. all the things that Panther supposedly can't do).

10-27-2003, 08:11 AM	#7
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	Hehe, nice chart. I guess it depends on how you interperet HOW you do various things with Panther's fax ability. Although I like Page Sender better (so far) allow me to show how you can do some of what he says you can't in Panther's fax: View sent faxes - presumably you can view the original document you faxed (granted, not the actual fax generated and sent by Panther). View failed faxes - same as above (I haven't had a failed fax yet so I don't know what logging occurs) Resend faxes - I guess this means failed faxes. Again, you'd have to know the fax had failed, if you do, just click "fax" in print dialog again. AppleScript recieved faxes - you can attach an Applescript to the Faxes folder to handle this The last couple about what OS's you can use it in are kind of silly: you wouldn't have the built-in fax ability without Panther in the first place. But if you have various systems running different OS's running Page Sender would let you unify how things are done. Again, Page Sender is a much more fleshed out solution for faxing than the one bundled with Panther. But many people so rarely need to fax, this free alternative might be just enough to do the job. I'd LOVE to elminate my need to fax but I have a few clients that can't seem to see the sense in using .pdf files instead. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

10-27-2003, 10:34 AM	#8
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,620	Thanx for all the input I am going to take it for a spin too Thanx for all the input I am going to take it for a spin too.. Well the main cool thing about Page Sender is the Semi email interface for In Box, Out Box, Sent Items etc (not counting the spiffy elegant interface). Those were added in 3.x Plain Englsih summary Logs have been a weak area in Page Sender though the out box with a failed item or Sent box with Sucessful sends kinds of reduces the need to thumb through logs. If panther offers "real English Logs" that would be a viable alternative. **Lastly I am quite curios who wrote Panther Fax

10-27-2003, 11:30 AM	#9
jbc All Star Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Chico, CA Posts: 686	Interesting different angles on faxing. We won't be updating to Panther for a couple weeks, so an additional question for the Panther fax users. Can Panther's faxing be accessed from the command line? Our needs are for faceless background faxing via Applescript or shell script. Right now we're using efax. Just curious if we'll be able to replace this with Panther.

10-27-2003, 01:00 PM	#10
rexwilson Prospect Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 23	I've been playing with Panther's faxing, and am having trouble getting it to automatically send out an email when a new fax is received. Does anybody know where/how to debug this? Does it keep a log somewhere of its attempts to generate an email and its possible reasons for not doing so. This also brings up the question of how one tells Panther what is the default email application you want it to use.

10-27-2003, 02:05 PM	#11
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	The fax prefs are here: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.FaxPrefs.plist but no help there regarding logs. Default email app is set in Mail.app General prefs now. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

10-27-2003, 02:38 PM	#12
rexwilson Prospect Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 23	Thanks, Rusto. Still unable to get an email sent after fax receipt. I verified the contents of /Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.FaxPrefs.plist, and indeed, it accurately contains the info I entered via the Preferences Pane regarinding my request to be sent an email upon receipt of a fax. When I send it a test fax, it answers the modem and stores the PDF file just fine, but doesn't appear to make any attempt to send (or report any error messages about failing to send) the email.